An Afternoon with
Ann Wierbinski
Murrini Madness
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Hi, my name is Ann. I’ve been working with glass since I took my very first class in November of 2011. My first few years I spent pretty much every Wednesday at the Lorton Workhouse Art Center but once I was able to set up my home studio I turned glass into my second job.
Prior to getting into glass I had been making murrini in polymer clay, long before it became a well known thing, think 1986. I used to make miniature foods and gingerbread houses using my clay murrini and sell them at dollhouse shows that my parents used to sell their furniture at. So, in the natural progression of things I decided I needed to figure out how to make murrini with glass.
I was so inspired by DeAnne Buchanan’s murrini that I would see on the Lampwork ETC page. I did finally figure it out and now I try to make as many murrini as I can!
I recently moved from the Northern VA area of the state down to the VA Beach area and with that move I have retired after 30 years of being an RN and now focus on my glass as my full time job. I am so very blessed to be able to spend my time doing what I love! I sell my beads in monthly trunk shows on Facebook and also on ETSY, and I sell my murrini on ETSY.
After the Demo Update!
(If you missed it, remember that members can watch the recorded demo on the Facebook Members’ Page, check it out! And if you aren’t a member but would like to be, visit the Membership page)
Ann Wierbinski makes all kinds of murrini from small and simple to large and complex, and all in between. She demonstrated how to make a simple fish murrini for this demo.
Ann began by showing us the different tools she uses, starting with large stainless steel punties, She also shared information on the glass she uses (and reminded us to keep the connection warm!) and the order in which she adds the glass, as well as how best to apply it, and the length she makes the murrini gather in order to handle it.
Ann gave us some of her hints on how to have success, such as applying the glass in layers – layer, heat, marver – and repeat as needed. She warned us “pushing glass around firmly can skew details you have already put in your murrini, so you don’t want to smush your glass around.”
Ann began building the murrini on one of the punties, adding the eye, mouth and fins as she went Continuing to build the murrini until she was pleased with the shape, Ann added clear (she uses Zephyr) to get the murrini as round as possible without adding too big a border of clear. Ann tries to add as little clear around the outside as possible when adding to the actual picture shape. When she is selling her murrini, Ann wants the buyer to get the picture shape as near as possible to the advertised size, i.e. 4mm or 6mm.
Once she adds clear to the ends and has punties attached to both ends of the murrini, Ann starts heating it through. This is where she may use all the tubes of her Carlisle Hellcat torch, although she says it is not required to have such a powerful torch. She showed us how she heats it to an even heat and tests to see if it is ready. Once the glass is ready, Ann starts pulling, and reminds us the faster you pull, the smaller your murrini, thus, the slower you pull, the larger your murrini. You need to watch the presentation to see how she pulls this fish murrini! Such fun!
Ann has a YouTube Channel with murrini tutorials and many other tutorials available.
She also has a Smiley Face tutorial in the March 2018 Soda Lime Times issue and a Snowflake tutorial in the November 2020 Soda Lime Times issue. Back issues of the Soda Lime Times are available on Etsy here.
Thank you Ann, for sharing your time and expertise with us!
To see more of Ann’s work, visit her on her Facebook page and on her Etsy store.
Members can watch the recording of Ann’s presentation on the Facebook Members’ page.