Lilac flowers and butterfly, framed paper quilling

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.

Lilac flowers usually have four petals each (called a four-lobed corolla) and make up panicles. For this picture I built each flower out of four "teardrop" elements, made of paper strips about 6" (15 cm) long and 1/16" (1.5-2 mm) wide. The flowers were mounted on translucent RTV silicone to make the panicles look dimensional. For each of the light-colored panicles I used two close tints of lilac, while for each of the dark-colored ones — three tints. In total, I had quilling papers of seven tints of lilac at my disposal. The leaves are heart-shaped, they consist of "eyes" and "crescents" (or "half moons"), made of paper strips approximately 12" long (30 cm) and 1/16" wide (1.5 mm), in three tints of green. I would like to thank my friend Yulia who sent me lilac and green quilling strips as a gift.

Among the insects who feed on lilac's nectar are Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) butterflies. They are so bright and beautiful, that it was this species I decided to make for my quilling picture. For the wings of the butterfly I used narrow 1/16"-wide strips (1.5 mm), for the body — regular 1/8"-wide strips (3 mm). When I need narrow strips for my work, I usually cut the popular 1/8"-wide (3 mm) strips lengthwise with scissors. For the background I used watercolor paper slightly tinted using dry pastels. Finished work is framed in a deep white frame 9 by 9 inches (23x23 cm).