December 21, 2011

Simple framed quilling with daisies and a bumblebee

Quilling picture: Daisies and a bumblebee

I made this quick and simple quilling picture with daisies and fluffy orange flowers for a gift. The innovation here is that the bumblebee is fluffy, too, unlike all my other quilled bumblebees. I made it using the fringed flowers technique of black, white, and yellow paper strips 1/4 inches wide (~7 mm) and 6 inches long (~15 cm) each. This lengths corresponds to half the length of a 12"-long quilling strip or an A4 paper sheet.

December 12, 2011

Quilled dragon for kids

Quilled Night Fury

You are probably familiar with this quilled dragon I made with my children on last summer vacation. This is Toothless the Night Fury from "How to Train Your Dragon". My kids like the movie very much, so we decided to create together this lovely character. Quilling strips of black, bright-green and red colors were used for the project, all of them 1/8" wide (3 mm). We also used pieces of black paper for the wings. The wingspan of the dragon is about 4 3/8 inches (or 11 cm). Isn't he cute?

December 8, 2011

Cards for promoting quilling in Israel

I'm happy to share with my readers great news. First, I have begun teaching quilling workshops. I have also started a blog in Hebrew which is called הקסם של קווילינג ("The Magic of Quilling"). I really hope that the two facts will help promoting the art of quilling in my country.

December 1, 2011

Giant Hanukiah made of corrugated cardboard

Giant Hanukiah, front view

Like every year, my children are participating in the school contest of Hanukkah Menorahs made using recycled materials. Last year we made a Hanukiah of discarded plastic egg-shaped containers, this year it was decided to create a large one of cardboard.

November 26, 2011

Handmade Hanukkah greeting cards

Hanukkah greeting card with quilled Hanukiah

The supermarkets, groceries, coffee shops, and street stalls here in Israel have already started selling sweet and delicious "sufganiyah" doughnuts, stuffed with jam and covered with powdered sugar. This means that the holiday of Hanukkah is just around the corner. This year it will start on December 20, and I've been already making greeting cards and children crafts for Hanukkah.

October 28, 2011

Quilled galleon "Golden Hind"

Miniature galleon in a hand

Let me show you today my new three-dimensional quilled creation. This is a model of a sailboat, or to be precise — the galleon "Golden Hind" . I started this project about a year ago, but couldn't finish it until recently.

October 19, 2011

Mazal Tov quilling card

Mazal Tov card with quilled flowers

Some time ago I created this simple greeting card with paper quilling. The lettering says "Mazal Tov" (מזל טוב) or "Congratulations!" in Hebrew, I used letter stickers for it. The base was made out of thick watercolor paper.

October 11, 2011

Quilled sheep for Agricola board game

Handmade Agricola sheep (quilling)

When a colleague of my husband saw my blog, he asked if I could create miniature sheep figures for him. It turned out that he's an Agricola game fan. For this board game you need sheep among other things. Besides the game itself, its fans value handmade pieces for it. The animals have to be tiny, approximately 3/8" x 3/8" (1 x 1 cm) in size. Most of the Agricola animals found on the Web are made of polymer clay (FIMO, for instance).

September 17, 2011

Quilled flower arrangement in orange

Flowers and sunbird, framed

This flower arrangement in shades of orange was inspired by the flowers of lily, mum (Chrysanthemum), rose, pot marigold (Calendula) and flame vine (Pyrostegia/Bignonia Venusta).

August 27, 2011

Book: Papercraft 2 - Design and Art with Paper

Papercraft 2 - Design and Art with Paper (cover)

Although my birthday will be only in two weeks, I've already received a birthday present. It was Papercraft 2: Design and Art With Paper. I was so impressed with this book that immediately wanted to share my impressions and information with you, my readers.

August 5, 2011

Quilled Easter egg

Quilled egg

I've always been fascinated by the quilled Easter eggs found on the Internet. It's now time for me to showcase my own eggs, this one is just the first of a series.

July 30, 2011

My kid's quilling — dragonfly

Dragonfly, paper quilling

My children love quilling just like I do, and I keep saying this craft is suitable for kids. Here's just one example. Some time ago my eldest daughter who is 8 years old created this blue dragonfly. She saw me making the flower with curled petals, and wanted to use the same technique for dragonfly's wings. She used the standard 1/8"-wide quilling strips (hand-cut). The dragonfly measures about 2 3/8" (6 cm) in length, 2 1/8" (5.5 cm) wingspan.

Those of you who are going to try quilling with children might like the article Paper quilling for kids: 10 tips I wrote earlier. Links to other examples of quilled insect designs can be found in this round-up post: Insects — quilling designs.

By the way, when I say "my children" that means also two 6-year-olds, including a boy :)

July 9, 2011

Lilac flowers and butterfly, framed paper quilling

Lilac and swallowtail - quilling picture

This quilling picture was a present for my mom's birthday a few months back. I had been planning to create a picture that would feature lilac flowers for a long time, and even started making a stock of them — you need a lot for a project like this. Eventually I had a chance to complete this project. I love lilacs very much, they are so beautiful, and the scent is lovely. Unfortunately, lilacs don't grow in Israel.

July 1, 2011

Quilling: Flower arrangement in beige

Quilled flower arrangement

Recently I've created this relatively simple flower arrangement, as a gift. It's almost monochromatic, in tints of brown and beige. For this project I used a new technique — the one the large curled petals were made with.

June 8, 2011

Quilled Mezuzah case

Quilled Mezuzah case

Today we celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, so I wanted to show a new Judaic item I've created. It's something completely different this time — a quilled Mezuzah case.

March 18, 2011

Cherry blossom, framed paper quilling art

Japanese cherry blossom, quilled picture

I was writing this post when the news came about the tragedy in Japan. Like many other's, my thoughts, heart and prayers are with the people of Japan. For those looking for ways to donate to support the disaster relief efforts, here are a few links:

January 22, 2011

Quilled Totoro toy

Paper quilled Totoro, front view

If you haven't watched the anime film My Neighbor Totoro, I highly recommend it. This is one of my kids' favorites, so I made a tiny Totoro toy with paper quilling.

January 16, 2011

Simple quilled flowers in a beveled frame

Quilled flowers in a beveled paper frame

I created this simple arrangement of quilled flowers with daisies and cornflowers as a gift. I used 1/8"-wide strips for the leaves and petals, and 3/8" strips for the fringed flowers and flower centers. The fringe is very dense. I always try to put some quilled insect as a point of interest in my flower arrangements. This work isn't an exception — you can see a tiny green bug climbing the flowers.

To frame this picture I built a beveled paper frame using 140lb (300gsm) card stock, tinted with acrylic paint. Step-by-step for a frame like this can be found in "How to make a beveled picture frame out of paper". Size of the finished picture is about 10 1/8 x 7 1/4 inches (25.8 x 18.5 cm).