Quilling Tutorial - Galaxy Centre Quilled Basic Shapes

Today's tutorial is about what those star quillers discover, but never tell you, about making basic shapes with centers that look like the galaxy swirls with unwinding arms, instead of the usual,  boring, spiral centers. This is the technique I discovered while experimenting with basic shapes.  I have been meaning to do this for a while now but never got down to it.

I have never seen any instructions on how to get specific designs at the center of your shapes, so this tutorial is to fill that gap.

  

The first step is of course to get well balanced loose coils. There are several  tips here.

Once you have got good, loose coils, you can create center whirls in 3 ways.

Center Designs

1.        Center remains spiral.

2.       Center is like a teardrop with one side pinched.

 

3.       Center is like a marquee.

 

Once pinched, you will find that each pinched circles will whirl to one side till it gets snagged. So if you want the coils to look good, make sure your initial coil unwinds equidistant .

Making The Shapes

Tear Drop

1. Take a loose coil and pinch the outer coils while you hold the inner coil to the middle between thumb and forefinger of the other hand.

2. Take a loose coil, push the centre coils to the top edge and then pinch them all making sure you only  pinch the top half of the coils so that each coil  is a tear drop. Just push all the coils to the top and pinch between the ball of the thumb and forefinger to the centremost coil. Then push the center coils to the middle and gently twist the swirls to lie on the side. Do not force it.

3. Press the coils in the middle and bring you thumb and forefinger closer towards the top part of the coil. Then allow the coils to unwind and turn to the side. If required gently turn it to the natural side.

 Most of the problems with basic shapes is that they lose the inner design as they continue to wind/unwind, especially if the coils are uneven.  By helping it gain equilibrium you are making sure that they will not change  shape over time. You can add a tad of glue where the coils are snagged .

 

Marquee

1. Adopt the same method as in 1 above, and then whilst still holding the middle coils pinch the bottom outer coils. 

2. Do the same as in 2 above. Push the pinched center coils to the middle and allow them to turn or coax them gently so that they lie naturally to the side creating a whirl (wind it to equilibrium). Than pinch the outer coils at the bottom to form the marquee leaving a few middle coils unpinched.

3. Follow 3 above and make a teardrop, then let it wind and settle or wind it to equilibrium, then hold the center coils in the middle whilst you pinch the outer coils at the bottom.

Triangle

1.  Make a teardrop as in 1. Whilst holding the centre coils with your other hand, flatten the bottom coils and pinch into a triangular shape.

2. Make a teardrop as in 2 and  allow wind to equilibrium  whilst  pushing it to the centre. Whilst holding the centre, pinch the outer coils at the bottom to form a triangle and then gently twist the inner coils in the direction of the wind to give you a nice galactic swirl in the middle.

3. Make a teardrop as in 3 and then follow step 2 above.

Square

1. Whilst holding the inner coils pinch the top and bottom of the outer coils. Then press the two pinched ends between your thumb and forefinger and with the other hand pinch the outer coils of the two sides to make a square then arrange the centre coil in the middle.

2. Make a  marquee as in step 2  . Then press the two pinched ends inwards between thumb and forefinger and pinch the two sides to make a square. Then wind the centre coils to enhance the swirls if required.

3. Make a marquee as in 3 and then follow the instructions in square 2.

Petal

1. Make a marquee as in 1 and then, whilst holding the centre coils to the middle, push the side opposite the pinch, inwards , with the nail of your forefinger or a toothpick,  pinch the side , then pinch the other side to form a fold like an M.  Now shape the petal so that the sides are curved.

 

2. Make a marquee as in 2 and  allow unwind, then follow the same procedure as above.  Arrange the swirl in its natural direction to prevent further unwind.

3. Make a marquee like in 3 , allow unwind and follow the steps in 1 above .  Arrange the swirl in its natural swirl to prevent further unwind.

The secret of getting galaxy swirls is to pinch and allow the natural unwind to take place. Then pinching the other sides as required. It should also be noted that in some shapes, the tear and marquee centers tend to look the same. Hence in such shapes, you can choose the marquee since it is more stable when it unwinds.

Phew!! That was one long tutorial and I sure hope it helps you make much nicer basic shapes.

Quilled Picture Portrait of Girl - Graphic Quilling

I quilled a portrait which I called pouting penny and followed it up with quilled Christ portrait for which I used the method I use for landscapes and another Christ portrait for which I used multi strips with which I filled the whole piece.

For this quilled portrait, I tried something slightly different for the hair, as the shape I used for Pouting Penny's hair had spaces in the middle.So I  made Zig-zag circles like in the water for the quilled waterfall landscape.  ( The tutorial for the basic shape are here). I have combined dark shades to get shadows in the hair to create depth. Make sure you use dark colors to create a shadow for the hair that envelopes the face to give the impression that the hair is sitting on top of the face.

What I concentrated on here were the eyes, which I wanted to look lively and I think it turned out very well as it really looks alive.

 I folded the strips zig-zag and then looped it 3/4 of the way instead of making a circle and encircled it twice to make it like a  tear. Then I quilled a small black peg. I allowed the black coil to unwind just a tad so it is easier to shape. I needed it to look like a half circle, so I flattened the top and pasted it into the top of the green tear.

 The pic gives a clear idea of how the eyes are quilled. For the highlight I cut a small white circle (preferably  shiny white paper) and pasted it. Remember the highlight comes from a light source, so it should be placed on the same side in both eyes.  Highlights are most important  in making the eyes light up and give life to the portrait. Dead pan eyes make your piece look like an alien !! Always try quilling the eyes, instead of pasting plastic eyes, as it makes the image more lifelike.

I finished off by graphic quilling the face.

The next post will be my landscape styled portrait.

Quilling Tutorial - Beyond Beehive Technique

Today's quilling technique tutorial is what I discovered when I was using the beehive technique while quilling River Tree quilled landscape.

You can find a video of the beehive technique here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2141r4G-WM .
Susan is the one who came up with this technique but I did not see a tutorial on her site so I have given the above one by Pritesh.

I found that the beehive unwinds easily and when used as a filler in large areas tends to detract from its beauty, however when quilling the above I managed to make it hold its shape. The following are the secrets to success.

1. Smaller sub-coils  look nicer than large sub-coils  as the outer coils start unwinding fast and loose shape making them look more like breaking waves.
2. I usually insert the quilling needle at a length that will allow me to make about 4 to 6 twists (full clockwise turns) for  filling large areas and 3 to 4 twists for filling smaller areas.
3. Equal spaced quilling makes better beehive strips. That is after the first sub-coil which I quill counting the turns, I insert the needle at a distance, slightly less than half the length of the first, as you will be quilling practically double strips for the rest of the way.
4. Stop turning the needle just before the subcoil you are quilling touches the previous one as this will reduce it curling into the other coils.
5. After you quill each sub coil, hold it on the quilling needle for about 3 seconds to reduce it unwinding. This helps it hold the shape better.
6. Arrange the coils in its natural shape. That is if it is coiling then coil it in a circle and insert it into the space to be filled.
7. Glue every sub coil to the backing.
8. Use forceps and arrange the coils and if some have unwound use forceps and wind it back when gluing.
9. When gluing push the coils close to each other. Do not leave too much space.
10. If there are empty spaces quill single sub coils and insert and glue to fill the gaps.
11. Hold each sub-coil down till it is stuck to the backing. If large area, hold it down with your palm till it is stuck. This will prevent further unwinding.
12. All these gluing tips are not required when you stabilize the beehive by encircling it like I did in quilled tree landscape.