New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Folded Strip Leaves 1 of 3

This tutorial will be in 3 parts as I am hoping to cover several types of leaves using folded strips.

 

Bamboo Leaves & Long Grass

For bamboo leaves, take 2, A4 size 3mm strips of two shades of green and start folding as shown in the pic below. Make sure you start with the dark color and fold each  mountaim fold higher than the previous one at both the top and bottom ends. Make sure it tapers more at the top of the leaf and only slightly at the bottom.

 When you are reaching the end of the first strip insert the second strip as shown below and fold the longest mountain fold then taper it down to complete the leaf.

Once completed it should look like the pic below.

Now apply glue to the bottom mountain folds and glue another strip around the bottom of the leaf. At this point  you may create the stem by extending the strip beyond the bottom most fold the folding the strip back on itself and gluing it.

Now cut the mountain folds at the top o and straighten them so they do not bend and look like loops.

 

Now glue the strip up to the longest strip which would be half of the leaf. Then apply glue to a bit of the strip that extends beyond and then fold it on itself and paste it to create the tip of the leaf after which apply glue to the other side as shown below and glue around the rest of the leaf to complete it.

Once done your bamboo leaf should look like the one below.

For long grass use 2 strips of 22 or 24' and taper more by increasing the distance between mountain fold at the top. The bottom should taper slightly just to get a curve.

I usually fold the paper so that I can get thickness at the bottom of the leaf unlike in husking where the bottom pivots at one point.

I hope you found this tutorial useful. If you did, I would love to hear from you.

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Quilled Picture of Nature Landscape Scene - Bird Among the Bamboo

Its been a while since my last post !! I have been exploring Chinese and Japanese paintings and I came up with the idea of quilling some bamboo as it looks so elegant.  Then I thought I'd add a bird to break the monotony and ended up with this quilled nature scene.

The bamboo shoots are made by folding strips of many shades of green. I am quite delighted at the results as it looks quite similar to the actual shading of the bamboo.

The leaves too are made with folded strips which I have glued three dimensionally with some curving out of the background.This effect is more noticeable on the leaves on the right of the image as the idea struck me when I was doing that part of the quilled picture. Now that I am more experienced in quilling landscapes  I usually try and pay more attention to perspective to get a more natural look.

If you  take a look at my other quilled birds like my Swan Lake, Parrot , Bird in a Bower, Humming Bird and Robin, I have always used the background elements to create the 3d effect rather than curving the body of the bird.( maybe that's what I will try out next!!)

I previously quilled bamboo too for my piece called Sunset & Silhouette  but used basic tear shapes and was not too thrilled at the results, so here I folded the strips as I mentioned before and got much better results.

If you wish to create your own designs, my advise to you is, take a concept you like and come up with ideas of how best you can quill it!! Try to do something different from what everyone is doing. Then go ahead and do it. If it turns out bad, just tip it into the bin!! After all nothing creative is a waste of time, we all learn far more thru our mistakes.

Here is a closeup showing more details

Would love to have your comments as always

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New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Giving Dimension to Single and Muti Rowed Flowers

I have seen many a beautifully quilled flower frame with quilled flowers glued with only the front perspective as I guess you find it difficult to affix it to a calyx, so here is a tutorial of my method, to help you make your quilled petaled flowers 3d the easy way.

To learn and understand quickly, look at the pictures to get an overall idea, and then read this tutorial in full to comprehend the steps and concepts involved. Next, read it again while you follow the instruction. Finally, try making it without looking at the tutorial and better still use your own ingenuity if you think of an easier way.

I cover both single row and multi row flowers in this tutorial so it may be long.

 

Single Row 3d Quilled Flowers

The first step is to make the tear shaped basic shape. Refer my tutorial here if you do not know how.

Then make them into a flower with a small hole in the middle. You apply glue to the sides of the pinched end and not to the tip.

Now allow it to dry enough to be able to pick up the flower without it falling apart. Then make the calyx cup as in my tutorial here. Make sure it is larger than the hole in the flower and it covers it comfortably. If you wish to make flowers with narrow tubes or calyx, then you can try my tutorial here.

Allow it to dry well after gluing the inside so it does not get pushed back flat when you press it. Use a hair dryer to work fast with PVC glue.

Now apply glue  very lightly around the center of the  flower where there are spaces between the tips of the tear shaped petals and to the top and a short distance inside the cup. Allow to dry till the glue becomes a clear liquid and becomes sticky. Then with the quilling tool or the back of a brush push the flower into the cup as shown and coax it to stick to the calyx. If required use a hair dryer to dry the glue.

You can push each petal in and sideways towards the wall of the calyx if you want to increase the curvature. Make sure it remains  pushed in while it dries.


Now take a 5.5"  4mm yellow strip and a 2.5" 3mm red strip. Then fold the red strip in half length wise and apply glue as in the pic.

 

Then glue it to the top of the yellow strip with half covering the front and the other half covering the back. the red will cover only a portion of the yellow strip. This will act like the pollen once cut. Now fold the strip into as many folds as you like and fringe it as thin as possible and unfold it. It should look like the pic below.

Now starting at the yellow end, make a fringed flower and glue it to the center. If you have a thin pointed forceps or a needle forceps you can push the center into the hole to get more curvature to the flower.
Once done, your flower will look like the first image in this section.

  Multilayer 3d Flower

 

This follows the same method as the above, so make 3, 8 petaled flowers using A4 size, 3/4 A4 size and  1/2 A4 size 3mm strips.

Make 3 flowers as shown with holes in the middle and a calyx which diameter is larger than the hole in the largest flower.

 Now glue the first  flower to the calyx and push it with the back if your quilling tool and allow to dry in the curved position. Use a hairdryer to quicken the drying if required or use a glue gun.

Repeat the process for the 2nd and 3rd flowers. Make sure the petals of the 2nd flower is positioned between the petals of the 1st flower. Allow the PVC glue to become clear before you do the pasting and if necessary push the pointed end of the petal down with a toothpick/ quilling tool and  let dry to get more curvature. Do not be scared to manipulate the petals the way you desire to get the shape you want. A natural flower is never perfect so do not aim for perfection if you want it to look natural. In case the petals come out apply glue and stick it back.

Alternate Method For 2nd Row

Once you have made the flower with one layer you can glue the petals individually between petals to the middle of the flower so that you can control the slant of each petal if you wish and complete the flower with a fringed yellow flower for the middle using a 4mm strip fringed fine.

 In the above pic the flower to the right is made by arranging the 2nd and 3rd row petals, separately as in my first tutorial on dimensional flowers  after the first row was glued as explained above. You should adopt the method you are comfortable with.

You can also make 3d flowers by adopting the method given in my coil rose tutorial and then affixing the calyx to the flower making sure the paper base is not visible.

Hope you found this tutorial useful and easy to follow and  can take the time to tell me what you think.

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Quilled Flower Frame - A Bouquet of Roses

Its been ages since I quilled something as easy as a rose, so I thought I'd make a bunch  of 3d quilled roses and here it is .... a bouquet of blood red roses with one, white one, to break the monotony.

The paper was a bit smooth and slippery so I crumpled it for an antique look. The roses are on tubular stems and not on wire stems as I wanted it to be thick.

On hind sight, I think I should have gone for the darker green for the leaves, however, I have made  3d leaves and then stuck it to the stem. The leaves are slightly fringed and fan folded.

For the buds, I made a bell shape as in my tutorial in order to make it look like a bud instead of a cone.

I am looking forward to reading all your comments as always.

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Graphic Quilled Picture Frame - Sunflower and Swallowtail Butterfly

I have been meaning to blog this graphic quilled picture of a butterfly among sunflowers for a long while but never got down to it till today.

As you can see I have graphic quilled the flowers while the butterfly is made with basic shapes. The leaves are made with fan folded strips. The flower centers are fringed flowers.
 I have used similar techniques for
Bird in a Bower
Tinkerbell
Bambi
Thumper, to name just a few of my graphic quilling projects.

The design was inspired by a free pic available on the net, which I decided to quill. I think  this type of quilling is good for cards too, and would be different from the quilled card that everyone makes.

I would love to have your thoughts on this project.

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New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Shaping Pegs For 3D Flowers & Butterflies

This tutorial is on how I shape pegs (tight coils) to make receptacles for flowers, thorax and abdomen for butterflies. You do not need special molds or tools and as you can see you can get cone or bell shapes very easily.

To learn fast, read this tutorial in full to get  an idea of the steps and concepts then read it again while you follow the steps creating the item. Then try the item out without looking at the tutorial and you will remember it without effort.

 


Tools That Are Useful

I find the above tools invaluable for quilling small items and for shaping pegs. The narrow tip glue applicator is an empty fabric 3d paint applicator which I filled with glue. When I want just a tad of glue I merely use gravity and do not press the bottle. When not in use cover the tip with wet sponge or a cap.

A toothpick sharpened with a blade is useful for rolling the pegs without large holes in the center.  I sharpen it to increase friction so that I can turn the toothpick to roll the strip . Roll the toothpick over the end of the strip, applying a little pressure so that the strip rolls around the tip, then roll the strip around the sharpened end using thumb and forefinger. Once a portion of the strip is wound round the toothpick you can roll the toothpick to finish the peg and glue it. Ensure that you do not wind it too tightly. What is most important is the tension which should be neither too tight or too loose. If you find the inner coils are too tight allow a minute unwind and then glue it.

You will need to practice a bit if you are using a toothpick. You can even wind it with your fingers to complete the peg. The toothpick is only required to ensure the inner hole is small as in the pic below.

Always use 2 strips to make the peg for stronger more shapely objects. Once you have rolled the peg and glued it, roll over the top with your quilling tool to flatten it uniformly.

Now to shape it. Slightly concave the peg with the ball of your finger, then hold the peg between thumb and forefinger as shown.

Now press the peg a little and move your forefinger forward and backwards and as you do that, the peg will start cupping downwards.
Then move you fingers a tad lower on the cupped coil and repeat the action till about 1mm of each coil is visible.

 Now if you want a bell shaped cup,insert a cotton bud or a round ended cylinder that fits and you can keep it on top of a foam and  make anticlockwise turns while pushing it gently down. The anticlockwise movement makes it unwind and rounded so do not over do it as it will come out. When you push it down it will round the end like the pic.

If you want cones you can push the coils out with a narrow cylinder and the roll it clockwise slightly to tighten the coils.

Another point of note is the breadth of the strip. Thinner 1mm or 2mm strips make more rounded small objects while 4mm and over strips will make more cone shaped small objects.

Butterfly Body

If you want a cone shaped object which is rounded on top like in the pic for butterfly bodies, then you

 make the coils and first push the bottom part down with a toothpick like a cone and then roll the top between your fore fingers and thumb with short pushes forward (clockwise) and long pulls backwards.The long pulls will round the top coils while the short pushes will balance the tension.

Or, you can keep the peg on a soft surface and push it with your finger to make a cup shape and then once the top is rounded you can gently push the bottom with a toothpick to make a shape resembling a funnel. Then you can elongate the rounded top slightly by rolling a cotton bud around the surface from the inside.

Curved Cone

Make a cone or rounded cone and then work a toothpick or cotton bud from the inside rubbing one side  out slowly forward and backwards, so that the coils are exposed more on one side to curve the cone.

 Make sure you apply glue on the inside and allow it to dry well before using your shapes. If you have glued them well you can cut them open once dry and they will still hold the shape. Always use a paintbrush to apply the glue uniformly.

 The best way to learn is to make a few pegs and experiment how it shapes with various movements both on the inside and outside of the cones. You can always use molds or plastic palettes to make rounded shapes.

The use of cotton buds to shape has the advantage of allowing you to get any size by wrapping more cotton around it. The foam prevents the bottom from getting pushed out while rounding it.

Keep checking your coils to ensure that you have not pushed out any area too much and each coils exposes only half to 3/4ths of the breadth.

I hope this has been helpful. If it was, I would love to hear your comments.

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Quilled Nature Landscape Picture - A Walk Through The Forest

Its been a long while since I quilled  a nature landscape using only basic shapes, so I did this quilled picture of a pathway through the forest. It took me quite a while to make all those basic shapes and create this scene but in the end I liked the way it turned out.

Even though the photograph does not show it, the quilled picture gives a sense of depth and you get the feel you can look into the horizon when you stare into it.

I have used only color to create depth as the shapes are glued flat on the backing. I have used beehive quilled circles as I did in quilled tree landscape for the yellow tree in order to differentiate it.

My other,similar landscapes are Water Fall, Sunset & Silhouette, Tree & Water, Flower Fields, and Palm Beach . But I have used different quilling techniques for each one.

For those who are first time visitors , I have done several tutorials on quilling landscapes, some of which are listed below:-
How to Quill a Landscape
Some Basic Shapes Used for Landscapes
How to Blend Colors for Landscapes

I would love to have your feedback.

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