Murrini

For a long time I've wanted to do some murrini work with colored porcelains. This is a process similar to what many of the polymer clay artists do when they build canes. However, with porcelain it is a bit trickier. More attention has to be given to getting the various pieces to stick together and rolling the 'cane' to smaller and smaller forms doesn't really work. Some reduction can be done by careful pinching and pulling but in general the design must be built more or less the size you want it. You can enlarge it some by cutting thicker slices and rolling them to enlarge it but again care must be taken to avoid distorting the pattern. The accompanying photo shows the first murrini that I have done. The smaller slices shown are basically just cut from the piece and sanded a bit to smooth them out well. The larger ones were rolled to enlarge the design. There were several issues I encountered with this pattern that I think I can eliminate in future designs to make future ones better. However, for a first attempt I think this came out pretty good and for what I was making them for I think they will work out quite well. I will be using them for a component in some pendants that I will be working on in the next few weeks. When I get some done and fired I'll post the finished results as well.