A Quilled Nature Scene Landscape Painting - Autumn Forest Waterfall

I love the colors of autumn. The hues of red and yellow are so vibrant and full of life. Autumn to me is the very lifeblood of the seasons. Winter somehow seems such a waste, sort of a season of waiting for a new beginning. A time to gather strength and rest before the whole cycle of life begins again. But autumn is when the flora goes out with a bang in all its glory and majesty!!

This quilled painting is in honor of my favorite season. 

I have used folding and beehive techniques in combination for this project.

I read somewhere that the grass in the foreground should be long and the farther grass short to show distance , so that is what I have done. I have added a dark shade to give depth to the foreground grass.

As for the water, I have added green and brown to make it dark and give it a hint of reflection to the left. The waterfall has more white and I did not use beehive for the froth as the shape does not blend well with the waves. So I used strips to create the contours.

I have used beehive quilling for almost all of the background work. And this time I have got 2 layers for the trees.The shading comes through better as I have used darker color for the first layer of trees.

I have been using textured board for my backing paper but this time I thought I'd try may hand at creating the sky myself. I didn't want to quill the clouds, like in Flowing  River,  as I wanted the viewer to focus on the scene . So I have used oil crayons and colored the sky.

I looked up a video on YouTube and then drew the sky. Since Oil pastels smudge, the layering of the sky had to be done in the proper order and I don't have a clue about painting. So as always, I did a bit of research and analysis!! ( Old habits die hard I guess!!) I am glad it went well with the whole scene.

Initially I thought of using an orange sky but then thought blue  would bring out the quilling better, so that is the color I used and  I am glad I did.

Some of my other scenes are
Palm Beach
Cherry Blossoms
Flower Fields
Forest Walk
Flowing River
Tree and Water
Waterfall 
Sunset & Silhouette
and One Tree Hill

As always I'd love for you to take time to comment. Don't think you are too new to quilling or to young to comment. We are always learning and are rookies at something which in time we master. All comment are appreciated.

Quilled Dimensional Nature Picture Frame - Chickadees on a Pine Branch

Well, I posted a tutorial on making pine branches in my last post and you may have been wondering how I came about making pine branches when I had not used it in any of my posts. Ta Daaa!!.... here it is!! I was so excited at the way they turned out I could not resist posting the tutorial ahead of the quilled frame.

 I saw some pictures of Chickadees and thought I must quill them. Since Christmas is almost upon us I decided to use pine leaves. Further I wanted to  give it dimension and this gave me the opportunity to go on a journey of creative discovery.

Here is a different perspective to show the dimensions in this frame.

I have used fiberglass cloth for the background and was forced to use the glue gun, much to my dismay as I could not get the PVC glue to adhere to the background.


In order to shape the pine branch and have it come out of the picture, I used very thin gauge wire for the skeleton of the branch.

As for the Chickadees, I have used black, white, grey and orange 3mm strips.The method is the same one I have been using  for quilling my birds for some time now and involves folding the strip to get the thread like effect. The finished product looks like embroidery with paper strips in place of thread. This method allows me to grade the colors when required.As you can see in the lower bird,  I have got a light orange shade at the breast between the white and the orange.

I have made the feet using quilled stems as in my tutorial here . Take a closer look.

All in all, I am thrilled at the results. I would be honored if you take time to comment  on my posts.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Realistic 3D Pine Leaves

 Last year I posted some tutorials and quillings tagged under  Christmas quilling and though I did a tutorial on 3d pine cones I did not post a tutorial on the leaves as I did not really like the way they turned out. But this year I have figured out a better way that makes them look more real especially if you use thicker paper. I have used 80 gsm as that is what is available to me.

METHOD

Make a long stem as in  my tutorial here. You can insert a thin gauge wire if you want your pine leaves to be flexible. Stiffen it by coating with glue and let it dry well.

Take a few 3mm strips and fold them like a fan as shown above. The length will represent the length of the leaflet, so make sure you fold all to the same size.

Tear the fan so you have a V shape for each leaf and then cut length wise about 2mm short of the end. Shape the edges so they are pointed like pine leaves. Shape it like the real leaf for a more realistic look.

Now insert your quilling tool in the middle of the uncut edge and curl the strip around the edge as shown above. this helps the fringe to spread out. In this method, you are basically making a fringed flower using the 3mm breadth of the strip.

While it is still on the quilling tool, wrap a 3mm brown or green strip as shown above. Make sure you only wrap it round twice and it is not too thick. Use thin paper of about 70 to 80 gsm.  Then  fold the fringe to one side and curl it as shown above. Just scoring on the inside with your nail should do the trick.

Make a lot of these as you are going to use between 4 to 5 for each ring of leaves.

Now take each leaf segment and glue it onto the stem so it has the leaves spreading right around as shown in the pic above. Make sure you glue at the same place like you glue petals.

The pic above gives you an idea of how you should glue it. Use about 4 or 5 leaf bundles depending on the density of the leaves required.

Now continue in the same fashion, gluing the leaf bundles around the stem at close intervals. Make sure the consecutive rows  of leaves are glued between the previous row's leaves as you do with multilayer petals. Look at the above pic for guidance. When you reach the length you require, flatten the stem and glue two leaf bundles to complete the tips of the leaves.

If you require the leaves to branch make sure you construct the branched shape with the stems before you glue in the leaves.

Above is a sample of the finished pine branch.
 I look forward to reading your comments as always. Good luck!!

Quilled 3D Flower Frame - White Cherry Blossoms and Ceylonese Tree Nymph Butterfly

Well, I had a major issue with my Windows logon and have been shut out of the net for far too long. Had to restore my old version and lost all my software. I hate blogging from the android as typing with one finger is so uncomfortable.

Anyway thing are limping back to normal as all things eventually do.... So here I am back again with a post. Sorry I have not been visiting you guys!! I surely will, as soon as I get things back in order.

I have made the spray by combining the flower on stalks by imitating the inflorescence of the flowers and have used 1mm strips to make peg petals using the method I gave in my Butterfly Flower Frame.

 I have used wire stems and affixed it to the flower as in my tutorial here. The easiest easiest way to make the bunch is to look at the real thing and attach the flowers just like it using a 3mm strip to wind around the stems. Give a coating of glue to keep them firm. The wire gives you flexibility to arrange the flowers as you wish, later on.

I have cut the leaves out of paper and scored lines on it keeping it on a semi soft surface. I folded along the lines to make them stand out. Have a closer look :

:

For the butterfly, I have combined quilled basic shapes and folded basic shapes.  The body of the butterfly is made with shaped pegs and the wings are spread at a 50 degree angle. I adopt various ingenious methods to keep the wings at an angle. Using the glue gun is one way. I have followed the vein segments as closely as possible to get an authentic look for the wings.

Come tell me what you think.

Quilled Doodle Wall Frame

Everyone's doodling so I practiced some of my graphic quilling skills and created this doodles canvas with my favorite medium, paper strips!! I used black card strips for the straight line geometric doodles.

 Well you can use quilled doodles on your cards too if you like and unlike flowers it is quick to make and looks modern. I have used 3mm strips and 4 colors, namely, maroon, orange, biscuit and black.

The shapes include basic shapes, multi strip shapes and beehive quilling which I always try to use wherever possible.

Well I hope you like this and are spurred to quill your own doodles!! Love to have your feedback.

Quilled Nature Landscape Painting - Flowing River

It has been a while since my last post, but here I am once again with a quilled riverside landscape. This time I have tried out chrismas trees .

For this project I have used several techniques and concentrated on getting the shapes to fit the element it represents. I think you need not stick to basic shapes but  hand make any shape that you think represents the item best.

The whole frame is 3mm thick  is 8x11 and I have not layered it to create dimension. I have used dark and light and size to create depth just like in a painting.

I have also tried quilling clouds for this one and have used grey, blue and white to give depth to the clouds.

For the water I have just used torn strips the same as  described in Tree & Water. The addition of white gives it a beautiful effect.

I am unable to give a step by step description on how it is done as I change my method and shapes from scene to scene and can't quite tell you what I did once it is done, but what I can tell you is that I have not quilled any basic shapes for this project except for the trees in the horizon for which I have used beehive quilling like I did for Flower Fields  and Quilled Tree. Most of the others are hand folded or rolled.

When an idea hits me I just draw the element like for example the tree canopy on a rough sheet and then take a few strips and follow my idea and see how it looks from a distance. If I do like it I will use that idea in the scene. Further, I would use different basic shapes for each tree so that the dissimilarity is clear.



Would love to know what you think as always as you are my inspiration.

Quilled Flower Frame - Tree Nymph Butterfly Among Butterfly Flowers

I wanted to try my hand at using shaped pegs for petals so I decided to do this frame for which I have used  one shaped  peg for the lip petal. The rest of the petals are basic tear shaped with spiral centers. The flower is shaped like a butterfly and the stamens are curved above the flower.

here's a closed look:

For the stamens, I have cut a 3mm strip in 4,  lengthwise.

Shaping The Petal
I used 3, 3mm strips of dark and light purples to make the pegs. When rolling I ensured that it was not too tight so that it is easier to shape. First I rolled the coil between thumb and forefinger as detailed in my tutorial on shaping pegs and made a convex shape which I shaped  to a tear drop by pinching on end; It's much easier to shape the peg, after pushing the peg out to a convex .

Once I had the petal shape, I pushed the coils near the pinched end up to convex it while pushing the coils at the rounded end down. (See pics)

lip petal

For the leaves, I made curved, moulded leaves using marquee shapes. You can see the shadow of the curve in the close up below.

The fruit is made by making cup shaped pegs which I have detailed in an earlier tutorial. For more rounded cups, thinner strips should be used.


For the butterfly, I have stuck to basic shapes and the body stripes are created by adhering  strips of the relevant colors.

I have made a curved cone for the stomach and have glues the butterfly so the wings are at about 30 degrees to the horizontal  and not flat on the surface. The butterfly is elevated above the level of the flowers.

The whole arrangement is created by gluing the different elements  at multiple levels in order to get a 3D  effect.

 I generally dislike the side view pics as I dislike the tapering appearance created by this perspective. Hence I do not post this view to show  how the flowers are laid out.

I would love to have your feedback.  I have been remiss in visiting your  blogs  to admire your work  as I have very limited  time on the net at present, but will drop by your blogs as soon as I get a chance. Till then Happy Quilling to you all.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Folded Strip Leaves 2 & 3

This quilling tutorial covers 3 types of leaves using the same method. If you look carefully one leaf has the loops glued to the sides, while the other has the loops glued to the mid vein. The appearance of the leaf is very different though the same method is used. No special tools are required.

Check out my other folded strip tutorials here , here and here.

Broad Leaf Long Grass

Take an A4 size 3mm strip and fold it as shown below so that it tapers like grass , more on one end and less on the other.

Now glue another strip to the long side as shown in the pic below.

Then apply glue to the top of each loop as shown in the pic.

Now glue the strip and allow to dry till the strip does not come off when you pull. Once adequately dry , pull the strip downwards very slightly so that the long longest loop curves a tad and the rest of the loops open out. Glue the strip to the rest of the leaf while holding this position.

Encircle the leaf a second time and this time extend the strip a tad beyond the longest loop to get a pointed tip like long grass  and you're done.

 

Strip Leaf

For this leaf, keep 2 strips together and pull them apart.

Adopt the same method as above but make sure you taper the leaf less and when curving the loops open, ensure you pull so that it is like a semi circle with the bottom straight as shown. In this case, the straight side will be the longest loop. when pulling keep it as straight as possible. Pinch the other end to straighten the bottom line which is the mid vein of the leaf. Here the loops are glued to  the side of the leaf.

If you want the leaf like the pic below where the loops are glued to the mid vein you should bow the longest  loop and straighten the loop side as shown below. Its only a matter of shaping the leaf and deciding which side you want to keep straight.

Now glue 2 halves to complete the leaf and you are done!!

I would love to have your feedback and comments once you try it out.

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.

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

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.