Lanscape Quilling Graphic Quilled - Tree & Water

Quilling Landscapes and graphic quilling nature scenes have become a great favorite with me, since it gives me leeway to try out new techniques in order to create a painting like scene. I cannot paint and have never tried painting so this gives me a chance to practice my artistic skills.I usually quill flowers to break the monotony as I tend to get bored rather quickly!!

I have used beehive or what I call honeycomb quilling for the tree top whilst the branches and trunk are graphic quilled. I created two layers in parts of the canopy to get a 3d effect and the top layer is the lightest shade of green. There are three shades of green used in this whole piece.

This is a horizontal view of it

 I have used the grass I used in my previous quilled landscape, quilled tree , around the tree (dark green) and for the horizon trees, I used the foliage used in my waterfall landscape  and Lion share of love quilled cartoon.

The embankment grass is just like what I did in Bambi which is just folded paper pasted to depict grass.

Short blue and white strips  curled like waves went to create the water. You will be able to see it clearly if you click on the image as I have put a rather large image.

Tutorial for Graphic quilling is available here.

I enjoyed quilling this one and am happy with the way it turned out. Hope you like it too.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Compound Leaf

This tutorial is about quilling a compound leaf freehand with a single strip. I used the same technique for the white leaves I made for butterfly heart  but made them without the rachis.

This leaf is different in appearance from the leaf spray in my previous tutorial   in that it can be made with less number of leaflets so that it looks less dense apart from the fact that the size of the leaflets as you proceed down the leaf can be changed.

Step 1

Take a green strip and apply a tad of glue to the tip as shown above .

Step 2

Glue the edge to form a loop as shown above. This forms the terminal leaflet. Now fold the strip to the right as shown above.

Step 3

Loop the strip to form a leaflet to the right and paste it to mountain side of the fold, then fold the strip up to the left as shown above.

Step 4

Now loop to the left and paste it to the mountain side of the fold and then fold the strip down as shown above.

Step 5

Now go down the strip about 1cm or less for the rachis and then fold the strip to the right as shown above.

Step 6

Loop to the right and glue to the mountain side of the fold.

Step 7

now fold up and to the left once again as shown above, loop and glue to the mountain side. Repeat the process from step 5 and complete the leaf.

Black & White Quilled Dimensional Flower - Butterfly Heart

I quill 3d flower frames when I want to try out a new flower, so for this quilled floral design, I wanted to try out a layered flower using husking technique  and a simple butterfly using beehive or  honeycomb quilling.

I used a multi-strip heart on which I lay out quilled flowers and leaves.  I made the leaves slightly different from the leaf sprig in the tutorial since I didn't want a leaf sprig with stems. I have also used quilled roses and for the rose leaves I just made folded leaves like the ones I used in A Feathery Discussion.

Quilling Quick Tips & Tricks

This set of tips is based on what I discovered about basic quilling, however someone out there may have already blogged about it .

1. The strip has 2 sides. A smooth one and a rough one where the guillotine or shredder has pushed the edges in, whilst cutting it to strips. The side affects the unwind and in graphic quilling pasting the wrong side facing in  will give your work  a better appearance.

2. I think that running your thumb nail along the smooth side, making it curl with the smooth side inside and then twirling the coil with the rough side inside gives it a more uniform and better unwind. Try it and do what works best for you.

3. It is easy to quill with a toothpick and the coil looks much better with a tiny circular center, especially for making flowers. Slightly sharpen the narrower end  of the toothpick with a blade or knife to roughen it. Do not make the tip sharp as it can injure you. Lay the edge of the strip flat against your finger and roll the toothpick a wee bit so that the end curls around the tip of the toothpick .Then tighten this around the toothpick's sharpened end by rolling between your thumb and forefinger till it is wrapped tightly around the tip, then transfer your thumb to the top of the toothpick and hold the bottom edge of the strip with your forefinger and roll the toothpick as shown below.

Once completely done give it a quarter twist in the opposite direction, allow it to loosen slightly and flatten the top and drop it into my Tube tool and let it unwind and glue the end after rubbing your nail against the end of the strip to flatten it a bit.

4. I have found that making sure that the outer coils are equally spaced makes for better basic shapes. Uneven spacing messes things up, so make sure your coils unwind evenly, then glue it, make your  shapes and then allow them to unwind to equilibrium.

5. If you want swirly designs inside your shapes, make sure all the coils to the very center are pinched. Remember that all those swirls are formed because the coils is trying the achieve a stable state by either winding or unwinding. Also remember they will try to lie on the side towards the center. If you want design, manipulate the swirls and glue them.

Graphic Quilled Cartoon - Bambi Quilled Picture

I am extremely proud of this graphic quilled cartoon. I usually quill landscape style, that is using basic shapes to create the quilled picture, but I picked up enough courage to try doing it filled Yulia style with strips, but have tried to create my own style and I think it worked!!

I have previously tried graphic quilling Bambi like in this piece but did not have enough confidence to fill it. So this time I just jumped into the deep end and I'm thrilled at the results.
I just tore the strip into short pieces to represent hair and did a bit of bending and crushing to get the hair effect. I wanted it to look a bit curly since Bambi is a calf. Then I followed the normal rules of pencil art and where shadow was required I put in some black.

Graphic quilling tips on how this piece was done is here.

If you like this piece like I do please leave your comments.

Here's a larger image for those who want to see the details of how the strips have been pasted. I have outline bambi first, then pasted short strips to highlight the contours and  have added a few black strips where shadow was needed. the grass is just folded straight and pasted. I used a color image to get the sense of the picture.