Graphic Quilled Cartoon Picture - Walt DIsney's Thumper from Bambi

quilled picture quilled landscape bambi thumper walt disney quilled art graphic quilling

I have quilled cartoons before using both landscape quilling (A Lion Share of Love) and graphic outline quilling ( Tinkerbell, Twittypating and Muddled Mutt). This quilled picture of Thumper  follows from Bambi  for which I adopted my own style of graphic quilling in which I have used the strips like you would use a pencil.

The direction of the small strips create the illusion of the contours along with dark and light colors which give the depth.

I am thrilled with the fact that Thumper's bold innocence has come out well through the twinkle in his eyes.

There is not much I can give by way of instructions as it only involves pasting the strips. You can refer to my tips here in which I have tried to say it all. Since that tutorial, I have stopped pasting on the print out directly since the pencil marks can show through. I transfer the image by keeping the backing under the print out and tracing with a thin embossing stylus. I use the embossed side to see the image clearly. If the lines are seen I cover it up by gluing strips. Nature is never perfect. In fact the diversity is achieved through slight imperfections , hence,  I don't try to get my images or flowers perfectly symmetrical as I love to imitate nature. Believe you me, I am no great artist!! I discovered that I had even a semblance of artistry only after I started quilling less than a year back. So, those of you who think it is tough, just jump in and try it. You will be surprised at what you discover!!

Come tell me what you think. I would love to have your feedback.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Coil Rose

This quilling tutorial or quilling instructions is a new technique for making quilled roses using basic coils and is very easy yet looks quite beautiful. I developed this method for my quilled Thai Pongal Card  design. These can be made using tight coils as well but the strip length needs to be increased by 75% .

METHOD

Make 5 or 6 loose coils from A4 length' 3mm strips.

3 coils from 2/3 A4 3mm strips.

1 or 2 coils from 1/3 A4 3mm strips.

The coils should not be too loosely coiled and should hold the shape without sagging in the middle.

 Now take a sheet of paper, the same color as the coils, and glue them at the point where you glued the coils shut. Glue them upright, slanted slightly outwards as shown above.

Now glue the rest of the largest coils in a circle slanting outwards as shown above.

 Now take the 3 smaller coils and glue them inside the larger circle of petals  slanted slightly outwards as shown above.

 Now take the smallest coils and glue either 1 or 2, depending on the space available, in the middle to complete the rose. 

 Next, apply glue with a toothpick to the areas of the petal that touches another petal and glue them so that the rose is firm and to help hold the shape.

 Now cut out the rose so the paper  is not visible. You can use a small sharp pair of scissors for this.

Now cut 5 or 6 , small leaf shapes of about 6mm height.

 

 Keep each shape on a semi soft surface or on thick foam and with the blunt end of your quilling tool, rub it gently in circular motion till the pointed end curls upwards.

 The results should look like the above.

Now fold the blunt end of the leaf towards the curled side a tad and apply glue to the fold, turn the rose over so you see the bottom. .

Glue it at the point where two petals meet as shown above, repeat for all 5 or 6.

Once completed turn the rose up and with the forceps shape the leaves by curling the point outwards  so that it looks natural.

Your Done!! An easy but beautiful quilled rose!!

Quilled Celtic Knot - Quilled Eternal Circle, Shamrock and Triquetra

This quilled Celtic knot is made using multi-strip quilling and beehive quilling. The combined symbolism is packed with  meaning.

The Eternal Circle- The interlacing lines of the Celtic Knot stands for "no beginning, no ending, the continuity of everlasting love and binding together or intertwining of two soul or spirits."

Trinity Knot, also known as a Triquetra. -  Christians believe that the three points represent the three elements of the trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). To the ancient Celts it symbolised the  earth, air, and water. On a more spiritual level, it has also been known to symbolize life, death, and rebirth.

The Irish Shamrock is the traditional symbol of the Trinity.

Completing this was a study in patients and was rather difficult to do. The interlacing lines got me tied up in knots myself , but in the end I managed to complete it. The biggest hurdle was to get it to stick to the backing. Kept getting stuck to my fingers and everywhere else but!! I have managed to get the beehive in neatly though.

Tips for beehive quilling is available here.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Comb Quilled Two Tone Leaf / Petal

This quilling tutorial is a new technique for making a two color comb quilled or mini-loop leaf . I have not seen these leaves used by anyone else. I have used these leaves for the first time in Floral Cascade and then in my Thai Pongal Card.I developed this technique when playing around with comb quilling and thought I would share it with you all.

This leaf/ petal  can be made freehand or by using a comb. I have given both methods here.  Try to look at the pics and understand the method before reading the instructions.

Comb Method

1

 Take a large comb (use the side with a wider gap between the teeth) and a 3mm strip of your choice and make a loop around the last tooth and glue it shut.

2

 Now thread the strip under the next tooth and bring it back up as shown in the pic above.

3

 Loop it back towards the end of the comb and glue the strip at the very edge with a tiny bit of glue.

4

 Next, fold it forward as shown in the 1st pic above making sure it is aligned on top of the other loops you have made and thread it under the next tooth as shown in the 2nd pic above.

Continue making about 5 to 6 loops (the size and number of loops will depend on the size of the comb. Large combs with more space between the teeth will give you larger leaves).

5

 Remove from comb and leave the balance strip to wrap around the leaf or tear off excess.

6

 Quill another half leaf in another color and get the same number of loops. Then glue them together as shown above then glue another strip you want to use to wrap round the leaf, to the bottom as shown.

7

Now apply a wee bit of glue to the edge of each loop of one color and glue it to the loops of the other color gently and wind the strip around to encircle the leaf.

That it folks!!

 

Manual Method

The leaves made by hand will look less symmetrical like it does in nature. To make sure that the loops of the two halves  are the same sizes both strips should be shaped together.

 Make a loop holding both strips together. Do not paste the strips together.

 Fold the loop forward at the place the loop starts.

Make the second loop so that it overhangs the 1st loop. Size it by using your third finger to push it over the 1st loop as shown.

 Once again fold it forward and create the 3rd loop and push it over the second loop as shown to size it. Continue in this manner till you reach the size of the leaf/ petal you desire.

 Separate the 2 strips and it should look like the pic above.

 Now apply a tad of glue at the top (not the tip) of each fold as shown in the picture and you have made the 2 halves of your leaf/petal.

This is what your half leaves will look like.

 Now glue both the half leaves at the bottom as shown.

 Apply glue to the top of each loop of one of the halves as shown.

Glue the loops as shown to make the leaf. do not squash it. Gently hold them till they get stuck and then encircle the leaf with another strip of your choosing and your done.

Just a tiny request to those of you who use this leaf , please give a link to this blog so that others may learn too.

A Quilled Greeting For Thai Pongal

This post is to wish all my Hindu  visitors Happy Thai Pongal. May you find fulfillment in everything you do. Just as the suns rays shines upon everyone irrespective of nation, cast or creed, may happiness surround you no matter the circumstances.

A closer look at the design

 I have used the Two color half comb leaf here and a rose made from loose coils.

The tutorial for the dual color looped leaf is here.
Quilled Coil Rose tutorial is here.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Butterfly-Wing Leaf

New Quilling Technique Butterfly-Wing Leaf

This quilling tutorial is for a butterfly -wing leaf  I created for the Floral Cascade Flower Frame  which was quilled by using a combination of husking and multi strip technique. However pins and cork board are not required as this is a  free hand husking method. 

The variation in this technique is that loops will alternate between short and long loops to achieve the butterfly –wing appearance. Please try to visualize the process by looking at the pictures before you read the instructions as it can be confusing  for those who do not understand what you have to do. 

METHOD

Take two 3mm strips of the same green and score the side with your thumb-nail to curl the strips and glue them together.

Now make a loop upwards with both strips and hold it between the thumb and forefinger as shown on the left picture above, then pull the inner strip down  to create a shorter loop with your other hand while still holding the loop between thumb and forefinger as shown in the right picture, . (Loosen your grip when you pull with the other hand to allow the inner strip to slide down).

 

Now glue the strips together at the bottom and loop it around the bottom to the right, a little shorter than the first loop you created (mid loop)  and pull the inner strip to create a shorter one as before.

Glue the strips at the bottom and once again repeat the process to create a shorter  loop to the left as shown above .

Now create two more   loops to the right and the left which is longer than the short loops but shorter than the mid loop as shown above. (This is in order to get the tapering shape of the leaf).  Glue all the loops by using just a tad of glue at the bottom.

If you have strips left use it to encircle the leaf or use a new strip to encircle the leaf. Make sure you get the shape you require and do not tighten  too much. Glue it after encircling the required number of times. Glue the side loops slightly to the encircling strip to make them firm.

Shape the leaf by pinching the top if required. 

Lo and behold , a butterfly wing like leaf that can be used as petals and butterfly wings !!

Happy Quilling

Basic Quilling - Flower Frame - Floral Cascade

quilled flower frame quilling quilled flowers quilled leaves

This simple quilled  frame of flowers is a break from all that complicated quilling I have been doing for a while. I have used the various basic shapes for the flowers and all these can be made from the Basic Shapes Tutorial  which I had posted earlier.

For the butterfly wing leaf, I have used the  looping technique but I did not use pins as I was taking a break remember?  The tutorial for the comb quilled leaf is here, but if you look carefully this leaf has dark green on one side and light green on the other.

Figured how I did that?? Well I did it in 2 halves and combined the two halves and encircled it. Here have a closer look !!

comb quilling quilled leaf tutorial

So now you know why I used  just 2 comb leaves eh?  Absolute laziness!! Have a go at it, it looks good if you have the patients to use it extensively. Maybe I will too in a later piece.

Tutorials for dual color  looped leaf and butterfly wing leaf are available if u click on the links.

Quilled Picture - Little Robin Red Breast

Quilled Bird Quilled robin Quilled Picture Quilled Art

A quilled picture (bird) of little Robin Redbreast is my first post for the year. I  have quilled birds before starting with a humming bird  with flowers very early into my journey into quilling. I soon followed this up with a  quilled parrot and a feathery discussion which became quite popular with many viewers. Then I quilled Fuchsia Honey Shower which had another humming bird. However All those were quilled with coiled shapes.

For Robin Redbreast, I wanted a lifelike appearance so I adopted a basic shape that looks more like feathers and glued it onto the backing, graphic quilling style. I have also used the proper colors of the actual bird by referring to a photo of the bird.

I quilled the legs using my stem technique for which I have posted a tutorial earlier on. The tree trunk is graphic quilled and the method is given in the tutorial link above.

For the background I have used the less emphasized beehive quilling that I adopted in my Nativity scene. The edging is  done with crimped red strips.

I am very happy with the results as it turned out better than I expected. I hope you like it too. I would love to have your feedback.

Beehive quilling Tips & Tricks are here.