How do you use murrini?

turquoise · February 15, 2009, 10:38:56 PM

Hi
I got some lovely murrini and I had a go at using them but first of all it pinged off the bead then I melted it too much and it looked like a horrid blob.

Any advice for using them welcome.

Thanks
Vic

flowerjasper · February 15, 2009, 10:55:00 PM

i have murrini from martin and from jolene,
the way i find works for me is to heat a spot on the bead where you want it to go, then pick up your murrini , holding it towards the top( so the tweezers dont stick to your bead), gently warm the murrini so it doesnt explode... none of jolenes have as yet! and stick it on the hot bit,
then warm up so the murrini melts in, you can plunge the middle, spot encase or just melt flat,

these are murrini from martin pushed in as they melt, then plunged and spot encased.

these have jolenes murrini melted flat.
hope this helps!
sandy

Lush! · February 16, 2009, 10:53:43 AM

I agree with Sandy - preheat the murrini (keep it on top of the kiln or just in the doorway) and melt in very slowly. I also help it to settle in by gently pressing with my brass shaper or marver. Heat, press, heat, press ... and eventually ... poke!

Steampunkglass · February 16, 2009, 01:24:45 PM

Personally I use mine by leaving them in a drawer under my bench.... but I guess that's not really much help

I also end up with mis-shapen blobs too! I think I am too heavy handed with them though, but I do get nice effects using them as the seed for implosion beads

lemon kitten · February 18, 2009, 04:53:00 PM

I have alwys had no problems applying Murrini till I got the Minor Burner. Last time I tired to apply some pre made Murrini (I usually make my own) it went very milky had like a film on it, when it was on the cooled bead. Can anyone explain what may have gone wrong? I actually tried another bead with the same Murrini on it and the same thing happened, could I possibly be getting it too hot?

Janey x

Lush! · February 18, 2009, 04:59:18 PM

Sounds like you had some EDP in there? Milky film = devitrified I think. If it is EDP you need to give it a good heat up again before popping the kiln.

afina · February 18, 2009, 06:15:06 PM

Hi Janey!
Was there some white in the pre made murrini? If these were Moretti-Murrini, the white in them creeps out under the clear and tends to devit very easily. That's why I started making my own...

lemon kitten · February 19, 2009, 02:39:33 PM

No EDP but plenty of white....anything i can do to stop this happening again? I'd love to use some of them...they're really nice

Janey x

afina · March 04, 2009, 08:06:33 PM

Try to cover them completely with clear right after applying, before you melt them in. But if there is just one tiny spot left, the white will creep out again...

lemon kitten · March 05, 2009, 09:05:55 AM

I actually treated them the same as if they were EDP, as in, I got them hot again after they'd gone cooler and it worked....but I WILL try the encasing before I melt in as I tend to encase murrini anyway.

Janey x