Is there a tutorial anywhere for a checkerboard murrini?
 

I've been working on simple murrini off & on for a while. I can do bullseyes and barnacles and simple lines & curves. But I've been looking at some antique beads with checkerboard patterns...squares!!!!...and I'm totally stumped in figuring out how they're made. Is it really as simple as "stacking" rods in a checkerboard pattern? How do round pieces go square? How do you control what seem like inevitable air bubbles?

Doesn't one of Cindy J's books have a section on simple murrine? You might ck there...

Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye out!

Best,
Lea

Search around for info on pattern bars. If you go the bullseye route and use flat glass you can make some super crisp and complex ones. Tack fuse and pull in the flame.
Or with some careful construction and attention to the heat base, build them square by square with rod in the flame.
Square out the first rod. Apply the next, true it up again to form a rectangle and repeat for the first row, then move on to the second, third etc. You just need to keep the previous layers stiff enough to hold the edges while you apply each new "square".
Easy right?

Are you going to be working in 104? If so, maybe choosing some of the stiffer colors would be best - until you get a feel. Of course, the probable combo of black and white hold their own integral complexities - white has to be one of the most "soupy" colors ever; and of course, coupled with black, it just wants to bleed! If you're using black, try Hades...it's the bestest BLACK GLASS EVER!

I have a couple suggestions:

1. Map out, on a scrap of paper, the layout of how you want to "stack/layer" your glass. Below is an example of how I did my Skull murrini. I'd had terrible trouble with it until I did the "simplification" of this mapping. Using "circles" drawn on the outline of your image (representing the stacking/striping of rods), this will help you decide, layer by layer, how to "stack" your colors:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...kullLayout.jpg

As you can see here, I started with a gather of white, which I shaped into the half-round upper portion of the Skull. Flipping it over and working layer by layer, I built the remainder of the image - and you should use clear to "fill in" where there is no image to help hold your variably-sized shapes (such as where the upper jaw tapers on my Skull).

2. Consider getting some sturdy punties - I had difficulty with boro punties, so I bought some of Noodlesaurus' steel punties. They are amazing and stable for larger gathers. Here's a link in case you're interested:

http://www.noodlesaurus.com/catalog....Fcategory%3D17

Here's my resulting murrini, along with the "test" micro marble I made, quick-quick, just to see how it looked:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ullMarble4.jpg

3. If you have a steel spatula, this will help to "square up" your flat edges of the squares in the checkerboard, color by color.

Good luck with it! Hope this helps encourage you to give it a try! It may take a couple runs, but I'm sure you'll get it!
De

Deanne... thanks so much for your info.

Karen
Volkano Exotik

Corina has the second half of her checkerboard murrini on her website in video..

http://www.corinabeads.com/pages/web-video.php

There is a picture of it and link nearly down at the bottom of the page

Thanks Beau & Deanne! Yanno what's really funny? No matter what "hobby" I end up getting involved with, I seem to end up needing graph paper at some point. Weird! :biggrin:

Checkerboard murrini
 

Trying to find how to for this. Link is now longer valid.
Thank you.