BRONZE

      I had some green paper with gold stripes that I had saved from an old greeting card . I found the same kind of paper in magenta. I decided to use the two paper for my quilling. I cut both the sheets into strips.I found the paper a bit thick and so decided on petals from eccentric circles and eye shape for leaves. I wanted to keep the design simple.
    I have used both slotted tool as well as the needle. Its easier to quill thicker paper with the slotted tool.

    I liked the final look ,but still the sides of the paper looked so much richer than the edges. I  applied bronze pearl colour acrylic paint to my finished work. I did not use a brush just applied with my fingers . This gave such a metallic bronzed look to my work. 

MY SUMMER CLASS

        During the summer holidays ,for the past six years I have been teaching English at our local library. Its part of the summer classes held there during the holidays. Since my classes started last week I have very little time for anything else. 
      This year thankfully the students are a fun lot. I also have a lot of teenage girls in my class. Earlier I would write small notes or give away fun stickers  when I find any of my students working hard or a particularly weak student making a good attempt.
      But this year I am giving away quilled flowers and small quilled cards that I have made to my deserving students. It has brought a lot of smiles on their faces.It has also created a lot of interest in them .They love it and want to collect  as many as they can. I have promised to teach them the basics of quilling once we finish  most of our lesson plans.
      I made a quick batch of quilled flowers this weekend. 

ROOSTER

    


    I started this card with the bird , it started of as a tweety bird and ended up looking like a rooster . The sun is the blazing summer sun of Chennai.I really had fun making this card. I didn't have to worry about the pattern or the design .I did not even have to measure the strips I just took approximate lengths and did the quilling.
I have also tried quilled letterings in this card and I have also used lot of colours. 

twisted loops

     I came across twisted loops as one of the techniques in quilling. I have used 

one centimeter width quilling paper for the flowers and leaves. I have mounted it all on a shadow box.

                                  

Take a small strip of paper of any width.

Twist the strip and stick the two ends of the strip one over the other.

                                  

Cut the extra piece of strip from both the ends.This will be one petal and the same for one leaf.

Stick the petals to form a flower. For the lower circle the petals are stuck flat, but for the upper circle the petals are stuck with a slight elevation. It took thirteen petals to make one flower .Seven for the lower circle and six for the outer.

my son's first

      This is my twelve year old son Akhil's first quilling. I cut all the strips for him and he did the rest. I share all the wonderful sites that I visit with him, he is very interested in quilling .  I was surprised at how neat his work has turned out. He used the slotted tool and circle sizer and he really enjoyed working on this.Nice way to start the summer holidays!!!

Anniversary card

      The flowers I made with alternate side loop petals  and I stuck a kundan stone in the center. After I finished I wished I had used  a more darker strip for the borders, but since I had put the borders first and meant for  the quilled elements to go over it, I couldn't change it. The letterings I did with 3-D liner.


     Since I started quilling lot of people have got interested in this art. One elderly acquaintance asked in earnest how I made paper stand on its edge:).
Lot of them want to learn the art, I have no doubt quilling will soon catch up in India too.

     

balloons

Just a fun card , I wanted to try out eccentric circles and then decided on balloons. I like this card for all its colours.

happy birthday card.

     I took a design right out of the embroidery on one of my salwars for this card. I cut red and green coloured papers for the quilling.And my struggle with the  glue still continues...
Even before starting this card I had decided on the general layout of the card.Most of my other cards I add quilled elements as I go on and usually  end up surprised at the result.
 Making a card is just an excuse, I just love to quill.