Murrini Tips anyone?

[Cathie]

does anyone have any tips on working murrini? I get alot of scum on the top of the slice when I heat it. I have tried topping it with clear, but it still gets ugly.

[RSimmons]

If you've got a larger murrini then you'll probably need to physically polish the surface to reduce or eliminate the scumming. This is especially important if the slices are cut with a relatively coarse diamond saw. I use a very fine lapidary blade to cut my butterfly slices and they come off the saw polished to a pretty good finish. Coarser blades will leave a rougher surface that translates to tiny bubbles when you put it on or in a bead. Most people who make paperweights will polish to a high gloss finish on a flat lap. It's a PTA, but it's be best way to do it.

Robert

[Yellow Dog Girl]

Best tip I ever got for the murrini that you want to cap with clear is to pick it up with clear - heat the tip of a clear rod, then press down on the murrini to pick it up, transfer it to your bead.

I'm *pretty sure* I got this tip from Michael Barley in a class -

[Cathie]

ok I will give that try

[RSimmons]

Here's a short tutorial on placing murrini on beads:

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/images/boc100127murrini01.pdf

The scumming issue is another matter and is best handled by pre-polishing.

Robert

[CO_Phantom]

Robert--

What kind of glass saw do you have for cutting your butterfly murrini? I haven't bought a glass saw yet, but it's on my wish list.

Also, what brand of flat lap do you have? That's also on my wish list....looking to acquire both this year.

-Amy

[RSimmons]

I have a HiTech 6" lap for polishing. My saw is a slightly modified MK 370 wet tile saw. You can see it in use here:http://cutnstrut.mkdiamond.com/cutnstrut_listing?cat_id=9
The real key to cutting murrini is in the blade. At the moment I'm using MK Diamond Saber 1000 lapidary blades. These are super-thin kerf blades and are a little tricky to get consistently repeatable thickness cuts, but the surface is usually good enough to go onto a bead surface with minimal processing. I've been looking into getting a slightly smaller saw just for ease of use but I haven't gone there yet. I've been considering the Qep 1YRL8, but want to look at it a little more closely before I put any money in it.

Robert

[Carolyn M]

I use murrini in all my beads right now and I have never got scum. I also rarely top with clear. Renee of Jetage Studio has done a good tutorial which you can access on her site. It is basically melt, pat, melt, pat, melt, pat, done

[theglasszone]

One tip I'd like to add if you are going to use the technique where you heat a clear rod and basically pick up your murrini and apply, cutting the rod and instantly capping the murrini: PRE-HEAT!!!!

Those murrini might shock if you don't pre-heat them on a mug warmer a bit, and you'd hate to waste 'em!

De

[RSimmons]

I pre-heat to 850 in a curling iron heater that does primary duty as a rod warmer. A hot plate does pretty well, too. Move quickly with the puntil.

Robert

[CO_Phantom]

I still want to see the butterfly or other murrini cut into thin slices. I would LOVE to see a tutorial on that because getting slices that thin and then polishing them just fascinates me.

-Amy

[RSimmons]

Here are a couple of shots of me cutting my Beads of Courage Hero murrini. It's almost an inch in diameter and the cut is about 1.5mm. You can see the slice coming off to the left side of the blade in the second photo.

Robert

196417196418

[FourTailsLampwork]

I preheat murrini on the top of my AIM kiln; does the job pretty well :)

[Karen Hardy]

Honestly - if anyone wants to get really good at this and
charge to saw cut murrinis from canes, I would TOTALLY pay
someone to cut mine.

[CO_Phantom]

HMM.....Good idea Karen!!

That might be a good way to pay for the saw....;)

-Amy

[Ofilia]

does anyone have any tips on working murrini? I get alot of scum on the top of the slice when I heat it. I have tried topping it with clear, but it still gets ugly.

Hi Cathi, is your question based on when you use the Italian commercially made murrine? The ones that have (specifically) white in them? If so, then that is a divit issue you are having. The Italian white in their millefiore cane will do that.

The tip I got from an old Italian lampworker was work VERY fast, and don't keep reheating over and over the spot. Doing the thin clear case can help, but is sometimes a noticible feature you are not looking for and will change who the surface flow of the image can be as well.

[2kids&atorch]

I have actually found that when I am using my own, handmade murrini, some of the glass I use for the outer edge of the cane will sometimes float up onto the surface of the clear and give it a cloudy look, not scummy, really, but more like it is clouding the clear. I decided that the next time I make my own murrini I will try to use a transparent color or just plain clear to completely coat the outer layer of the "mass" before pulling it. I really think viscosity or some unknown element is causing the opaque outside layer to drift across the top of my clear dot when I'm melting it.

[RSimmons]

Surface tension and very tiny bubbles are combining to give you a cloudy look.

Robert

[artwhim]

Robert, your BOC Hero murrini are amazing!