March 3, 2012

Quilled Easter egg with a surprise

Quilled Easter egg

When I was making my first quilled egg, I wanted to build it so that it can be opened. Unfortunately, I faced some unexpected difficulties back then. So later I decided to make another Easter egg, and this time it came out just as I wanted. This is how my turquoise egg was created, and it can open! And now some details.

Quilled Easter egg, open

As usual, before setting to work I studied all available resources in search of inspiration, viewing thousands of images of decorative Easter eggs, Pysanky eggs and jeweled Easter eggs. I was especially impressed by Faberge eggs (I happen to own an issue of an old printed magazine, one of the articles of which is dedicated to Fabergé eggs). The "Renaissance" egg (1894) is one of my favorites, and it's not hard to see its influence on my work. Every year Fabergé created a new unique egg for Tsar's family, and each egg had to have a surprise inside. That's why I hid a surprise inside my egg, too.

Quilled Easte egg with tiny mirror

The egg consists of three main parts — the bottom half, which rests on the pedestal, and the lid (the other half). The two halves are connected by a tiny hinge that actually allows opening the egg. There are also tiny ring handles on the sides.

This quilled Easter egg is made of paper strips 1/16" wide (1.5 mm) using shades of light-green and light-blue. I assembled it around the plastic shell of a Kinder egg. To make the pedestal I built a cone-shaped cardboard mold wrapped in food wrap. For this project I used hand-cut as well as pre-cut paper strips.

Quilled Easter egg, mirror reverse side

Inside the Easter egg I put a tiny oval mirror cut out of a larger plastic mirror. It is decorated with quilling using paper strips like those used for the egg. Length of the mirror including the handle is about 2 9/16" (6.5 cm). Height of the egg-case is about 2 3/16" (5.6 cm), its length is only 3 inches (7.5 cm).

I would like also to add a couple of personal notes. First, I'd like to apologize for not answering comments, emails, friend requests, etc. I've been very busy lately, and my children's and my own winter illnesses don't make life any easier. Second, I created a Facebook fan page some time ago to keep all the quilling-related stuff and my personal updates separately. Please "like" it instead of adding me as a friend if you don't know me personally. Thank you for understanding.

39 comments:

Baukje said...

I admire your wonderful work
I want to thank you for all those beautiful examples
Greetings Baukje

Clare said...

Stunning work!! really beautiful!

Nicoleta Ilie said...

beautifullllllllllllll!!!!!

k@rin said...

very beautiful.

Love the egg, love the colour.

But now I'm curious. What is the surprise inside the egg?

Mihaela said...

Awesome work, hard work....but it looks so beautiful!!!

Neli Quilling said...

Уникално яйце!Инна,благодаря,че споделяш своите творения с нас!Истинско удоволствие да се разглежда блога ти.Винаги има невероятно направени неща , от които можем да се учим!Поздрави!

Anca said...

Very beautiful is not enough... your work is overwhelming! And all those techincal details make it even more professional. I believe all this work took some time...
Anca

kiddo said...

This is so, so beautiful and delicate! Love it's fragility and the lace aspect! The little mirror is a very nice surprise:)

chillin with Quillin said...

gorgeous egg !!!
Paula

ecstaticoverpaper.blogspot.com said...

Love your work, love the colour too! Very very nice!

Fairy Cardmaker, Lisa said...

This is amazing and very well shaped. SO many hours of love must have gone in to it!

אמאיריס said...

Inna; this is an amazing creation that should be in a museum... the structure is so sophisticated & delicate; the colours that you choose are so perfect.

Unknown said...

Out of the world!!Bravo!!lovely work Inna!!

aureliaeugenia said...

I wish you a very good health and to your family too, and the happiest Springtime of all!
The egg is magnificent and so is the surprise.Lots of applauses for everything!
aureliaeugenia

Лариса Литвиненко said...

Инночка!! ВОСХИЩАЮСЬ , ВОСХИЩАЮСЬ- Вашим мастерством!!!!!!!!! Творческих Вам вдохновений и здоровья Вам и вашей семье))))

quilled paper paradise said...

This is great. I am thrilled

Unknown said...

You talented girl, I've had to pick up my jaw from the floor first, boy, this is so extremely beautiful!! Thanks for this wonderful eye candy!!

Anonymous said...

OMG gorgeous! Inna it is pure art!! Congratulation!!!

Recipe world said...

Great work dear..egg looks so nice!

Cheers!
Vani

nel said...

c'est magnifique

Nati said...

beautiful!!!
Nati from Brazil

Charlotte said...

Inna, your quilling technique is perfect and the colors are beautiful -- but the fact that you created a working hinge out of quilling paper just blows me away! Well done indeed!

Szalonaisa said...

Awesome egg!!

Nidhi Jain said...

WOW!!!
u r Amazing.......

Ann Martin said...

Really lovely, Inna!

Shalaka said...

Great work!!Hats Off!!!

Katrin said...

Очень красиво! Такая ювелирная работа! Аж, дух захватило от восторга!!!

Sathya said...

Wow....wat a wonderful work...Stunning as usual.

Dr Sonia S V said...

WOW what a masterpiece. Such a work of art. A true stunner!
Cheers
Sonia
cardsandschoolprojects.blogspot.com

Merry said...

This is just so stunning. Beautiful colour and so neatly made.

Sheree said...

Inna this casket egg is beautiful! I'm just about to finish my casket egg, but don't know how to make a hinge. Please may I ask dear Inna, how did you make your hinge and get it to work so that the top of the egg only opens partway and stay that way?

SUGANTHI said...

So very inspiring!!

Светлана В.С. said...

Ух, красота ажурная!!

Inna D. said...

Thanks everybody so much!

Sheree, the top doesn't open partway, I even didn't try to make it to. There must be a way though, probably by building some kind of a stopper.
As for the hinge, please have a look here. This is not exactly
the method I used for my egg, but is pretty similar. Hope this helps.

cridiana said...

Wow! It is amazing. I admired it for a couple of times but only now I saw that it is so small! It is really beautiful!

Nataša said...

your ideas are amazing!!! i like ite

Inna D. said...

Cridiana, Iskrica, thank you very much!

Sujana Sarath said...

Amazing!!! I was just browsing through your blog and landed here in this post.I may be late in commenting but Absolutely stunning!!
I fell in love with the bottom stand for the egg.

Lot to learn from you.. I am just a beginner.I tried this 3D quilling. check it out
http://crispycraft.blogspot.in/2012/05/3d-quilling-cup.html

krish said...

wonderful work!