View Single Post
  #1  
Old 2007-08-18, 7:02pm
RyanTheNumberImp RyanTheNumberImp is offline
Super Duper
 
Join Date: Oct 30, 2005
Location: Calgary, Canada
Posts: 541
Default Making a fish murrini

I will tie this tutorial in with my Aquarium Bead Tutorial: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=63277
And my Kiln Polishing Murrini tutorial: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=63045

Making murrini of any kind involves working for long periods of time with really, really, big globs of glass. It is quite advanced, and only gets more difficult as you add glass. Not only that, but in my opinion, the hardest part is stretching it out. It hurts to screw up hours of work during the pull.

The general procedure is to form the cross section of whatever you are trying to make, then to pull it out into as much cane as possible. This cane can be sliced into murrini which all contain the same picture.


Murrini can range from simple patterns formed with a optic mold, to more complex free handed shapes such as fish, to complex shapes requiring several different pulls such as a butterfly.
Even though I am only doing a fish (and a simple one at that), this tutorial is still extremely long, so dial up beware.

If you have never tried pulling large gathers I suggest playing with mixing colors. If you can't pull a gather into an even rod 4-6mm in diameter (the average size of a rod) I would avoid going through all the work of a full sized murrini.


And finally, really importantly, start much smaller than you think you should. Murrini have a habit of growing way faster than you expected. Remember that you are going to be adding twice again as much clear as you already have in color. I spent three hours putting together a clownfish whose gather I ended up having to tack fuse and stick on a shelf in hopes that someday I will have the firepower to pull it.

To start, here is how I arrange my glass

Boro punties are all colored on the end. I have two diameters, thick for pulling, thin for working.


Not much to say here, I will be aiming for a fish similar to a rasbora. I really wanted a red fish so I changed the colors a bit.


And my glass + tonnes of shorts.

To start I will be pulling a cane for the eye. I wasn't thinking whatsoever while doing this and accidentally mixed up the colors.


This is just a pretty simple encased stringer, pulled a bit thicker.




I then cut off the black rod and set it aside


I will be starting the fish with the triangle on its body. The order that I make a fish varies a lot on the pattern, but I generally like to either start with the head or a place near the center.


Note how I arrange the rods so that one is being melted while the other is being preheated.

I will build up this shape into a triangle by adding glass and shaping it:



I then encase the triangle with a lighter red for the body:




While making a murrini, my encasing and adding glass generally involves melting a large gather and swiping it down, then repeat. With tools it is pretty easy to get nearly any shape or pattern.
[/size]
__________________
GTT Mirage, GTT Lynx, Smith's Little Torch

Last edited by RyanTheNumberImp; 2007-08-18 at 10:35pm.
Reply With Quote