Akhil's birthday gift.

     Akhil is turning fourteen today and this is my birthday gift for him. A quilled guitar fashioned after his own guitar.

     Akhil is so good at almost everything  he tries and he is really good at playing the guitar. He is very creative ,if I can get him away from his computer games . I haven't found a way yet:)).

      Here is a poem Akhil wrote one day when I was cross with him , he can be a real charmer when he wants to be.


Quilling strip


Oh! what is it's beauty? he asks,
For its just paper ,thin and long.
But few know the beauty it masks,
Too good to put into a song.


It's the art of quilling,
And it is easy to learn as well.
All it needs is guiding and rolling,
And there it is, ready to sell.

He is good at writing poems that rhymes.


Thanks for stopping by, Have a joyful day.

Diwali greetings

             A quick post ,wishing everyone who stop by a very happy Diwali.


        Take a quill pill-first anniversary challenge.

Quilled easel card

      I am making an easel card after a long time ,this one is for my childhood friend.

     She is now in Bangalore . We lived close by and went to the same school when we were kids .Though we have gone our different ways she always remembers to wish me on my birthday and on friendship day. She doesn't know about my quilling , so I am hoping this will be  a pleasant surprise to her.

      

ICR challenge 11

Update:

   Since I have so many requests from my friends ,who want to know how I made the crimped circle, I am updating this post. There might be an easier way but this is how I made it.

 For the crimped circle, I used  a very thick white strip (hand cut) for the first inner layers( Thick paper remains a bit stiff even after crimping and can be shaped easily).

      I applied glue to the edges of the purple circle on the card and stuck two layers of the thick white crimped strip. Next I stuck a lot of purple strips together and crimped them. I applied glue to the entire width of the circle ( I had already marked the width of the crimped circle with pencil) and quickly wound the purple strips around the white ones.Adjustments can be made before the glue dries. It is important that we apply the same pressure when we wind crimped strips or else the circle will not be perfect. For the last couple of layers I again used the thick white crimped strips to get the right circle shape.

Thanks for stopping by , have a lovely day.

Multi-strip scrolls.

     Tips for multi-strip scrolls were recently shared on facebook and I am so charmed by its elegance .I have seen so much of these scrolls on Neli's blog , that this piece is much inspired by her work. I had different coloured strips left out from other projects in a box and I tried to use as many colours as possibe. I am entering this card for the first anniversary challenge by Piyu at take a quill pill. All the strips are hand cut from A4 colour sheets.


 For those who missed this on facebook here is the picture . (click on the image to view).

      I also have such wonderful news to share. I won Ann martin's fabulous giveaway . I won a beautiful glass paper weight kit, which has space to house quilled work!!. I have been smiling all week:)).


    I have some more news too, I just now found out that I  have also won the challenge for last month at the Emirates quilling guild on facebook.The topic was leaves and I had entered my Peepal leaf Ganesh. I would like to thank everyone who voted for me. The prize is a goodie bag from Meg crawford another super quiller from Australia:)).


    Thanks for stopping by, Have a wonderful day.

Quilling for Navarathri Golu

          Still in  Navarathri Golu mood. I wanted to share some papercrafts I made for our library's golu. The quilled lamps are but 6mm in diameter , I rolled scrap book paper for the lamps and quilling paper for the flame . All the kind ladies there were so delighted with it . The scene depicts a festival where lamps are lit and placed on leaves and are let afloat on water. The water itself I made from hand made paper.

            This is not a real shirt but a tiny origami shirt less than two inches in length.I made the shirt with pattern paper for a scene  where new clothes are gifted to newly weds. I found the tutorial on you tube.

          This is a miniature Mulaipari( During festivals seeds of nine grains are let to sprout in a vessel in the dark) and then the vessels are carried on the head in a procession . This is done as a worship for rain and fertility.

            My part of this year Golu  is the story of birth of river Cauvery. Me and my friend completed the steps with scenes which tells the story. This is the main scene where Cauvery starts flowing.I made the mount with themocol and then painted with acrylic paints and then for the water I used handmade paper crushed and folded with the help of water and glue. 
        According to the story the sage is carrying a divine girl after transforming her into water in a small vessel. But when he is meditating in the forest with the vessel beside him a crow(which is lord Ganesha in the form of a crow) knocks the vessel over and she flows down as the river Cauvery.
  
       Since I started working for our library's golu I have learnt a lot of mythological stories. We have a senior member who is so knowledgeable about these stories she also researches them thoroughly . She suggests the topic , tells us the stories and then guides us through . I am really fascinated by these stories and love working for the golu.


       Thanks for stopping by , have a happy navarathri.


 Linking this this Take a quill pill secret sponsor challenge  -celebration.      

Golden lotus pond.

    Hi everyone , I don't have much to share because I don't have time to quill these days. Navarathri Golu preparations are on at our library and I am trying to do justice to my part of the work there. I am also in the middle of my kids exams which means even less internet time for everyone.


    One of my dear friends who always has a beautiful golu at her home every Navarathri asked me to make this for her . This is a miniature pond of Madurai Meenakshi temple with lotus flowers with the center one being a golden one. It is called Porthamarai or golden lotus pond.


    The temple has mention in Tamil literature for more than two thousand years ,As legend has, new literature was tested by placing it on the surface of the pond(written on palm leaves) , weak literature sunk whereas good literature floated.There is also this story that Thiruvalluvar's Thirukkural was rejected by the Sangam poets for not following the prevailing rules for poetries of that time, and thrown into the porthamarai kulam , but Thirukkural came to the surface on a golden lotus.The Thirukkural though written more than two thousand years ago ,is relevent even to this day and is the most translated book in the world second only to the Bible.
     
     For the water I  used a hand made paper . For the one step  that I  have made for the pond it is a shadow box made from a thick paper and  I stuck red colour strips all around at regular intervals as it is seen in temple ponds. For the gold lotus I cut gold colour paper but the edges were not golden ,I painted the edges with acrylic gold colour. The rest are flowers made from 2mm paper pink strips . I have not stuck the flowers I will give it to my friend and she can arrange them just as she wants .The entire pond is about six inches in length and the flowers are really tiny. My friend did not want any leaves.
     
    Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.
    

Quilled scenery

             I wish all my friends from Kerala a happy Onam. This quilled picture did start with my intention to quill something with the onam theme. Scenes of Kerala always show coconut trees and back waters, I started with qulling the coconut trees(they are coconut trees). I wound brown colour strips around an empty refill to make the tree trunk and fringed the leaves. I rolled some strips cut from scrap book paper  for the coconuts.


        For the solid land I cut brown colour handmade paper in random widths and rolled them by hand and stuck them .Handmade paper when cut into strips have edges that do not have a uniform colour and this gave texture to the coils. For the water I crimped four different colours strips , light blue, dark blue , light green and white (the colours were Abi's idea). I stuck them in a wavy fashion to give the appearance of water and ripples. This picture reminds me of drawings I made as a kid. I am happy the way this turned out .


       I edited my picture in Picasa and gave the frame to the picture which is a new feature in picnik.


       Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.