I am happy enough with the body to start adding fins.
Same deal, these are swiped on and then shaped after.
Here I am going to mention something that is really hard to avoid when you aren't thinking about it, it is very easy to start narrowing down as you move away from the punty. Make a conscious effort to keep everything the same thickness. The "good" part of the gather is only as large as the thinnest section of your cross section.
Here I am doing the second fin:
For certain types of fish (like a clowfish) you can put a thin layer of a different color over top of the fin.
Here I am just making a bit of an indent on the front for a subtle mouth. It doesn't have to be deep. None is better than too much.
Now we begin the brutal process of encasing the front section.
Keep the glass away from the tail so that you have room to add it. You are mainly just trying to protect the fins so they don't crack off.
The more clear glass around the murrini, the easier they will be to use since distortion is generally worse around the edges. After half an hour of adding clear around a half pound gather you probbably wont care though.
If this is your first murrini, I highly suggest you put it on a boro punty as soon as you can. I have been through this enough to not panic when it hits the floor, but it probbably isn't something you want to do.
... OH GOD WHERE DID IT GO???
I have had a gather land on a piece of paper and set it on fire, I suggest keeping water nearby.
After the inevitable panic where you hope like hell it isn't in your lap, pick it up with mashers and punty onto it with
boro.
And then calmly keep encasing with clear...
I have dropped gathers quite a few times (and many more than once) and never had them break, they should be too hot for that.