In my quilling I often use tendrils (spirals). They are especially good for quilled tree trunks and branches, like in my Cherry blossom picture, for instance. They can be also used in cardmaking and scrapbooking for making intricate embellishments, like those on this Valentine's Day card or the pink Birthday greeting card. However, creating perfect tendrils for paper quilling is not as simple as it may look. Some of my readers asked me how I create tendrils for my quilling, so here we go, a tutorial on the subject :) In this short video I share my method of making tendrils using a needle tool and 1/16" & 1/8" strips. You can also use an awl, a thin knitting needle or even a toothpick. Don't be disappointed if you can't get it right right away, just keep practicing.
December 9, 2012
December 6, 2012
Hanukiah made using discarded discs and boxes
A quick Hanukkah post today. For the second time in a row, our Hanukkah Menorah (or Hanukiah) made of recycled materials won first prize in the school contest. That was a big challenge to our craft skills. How many new craft ideas can you come up with, really? This year we made our Hanukiah of round cheese containers and old compact discs we had been collecting for almost two years. The cardboard containers were assembled together to build the body of the Hanukiah, which was then painted dark brown to make a good uniform backdrop for the brightly colored decoration.
October 12, 2012
Room thermometers with paper quilling
Dear readers! First off, I would like to thank you for all those emails of appreciation and encouragement I receive from you, as well as your comments on this blog. I read them all, without exception. And I value them a lot! Unfortunately, I not always have time to reply, so I want to apologize, too.
Now it's time to keep my promise (see Thermometers decorated with quilling) and show you two other thermometers.
October 10, 2012
3D Quilled Animals - Lion
Recently I came across my 3D quilled lion tutorial ripped off by a web site from a PDF (along with other tutorials), and shared on Pinterest. Can't help stumbling upon stolen images and tutorials here and there :( Anyways, I would like to remind that the tutorial is available in high resolution, with detailed instructions in English, and absolutely free of charge. It can be downloaded from the page Lion: 3D Quilling Project. Moreover, everybody is welcome to distribute the file or even host it on their website, legally.
Some thoughts for those of you who publish things on the Internet. In the past I released some quality content under a Creative Commons license, hoping to give people an opportunity to use it legally, while also benefiting from this myself a little bit. And here are my observations: for every legal use (if at all), I find tens of illegal ones, that is without even mentioning the source. It looks as though every image without a watermark just asks to be stolen. Sad :(
October 9, 2012
Thermometers decorated with quilling
Today I would like to show you how a simple and ordinary object can be turned into a lovely gift — a wall thermometer like this one, for instance. I decorated it with a simple quilled pattern, and the only things I needed for this were a simple wooden room thermometer and a 12" x 12" (~30 x 30 cm) sheet of thick recycled paper.
September 22, 2012
Calendars decorated with quilling
With the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) being celebrated this week, and the New Year of the Gregorian calendar about three months away, I thought it would be a good idea to share my quilling-decorated calendars. A beautifully embellished, handmade, one-of-a-kind calendar can be a wonderful present for just anybody, and is relatively easy to make. You can start with a printed calendar and add quilling to it, or find calendars to print on the internet.
July 14, 2012
"Love Quilling" Donating to Japan
Love quilling? Want to help Japan to recover from the 2011 earthquake? Then the charity activity called "Love Quilling" is for you. All you need to do is make little quilled flowers, as many as you can, and send them to Japan. For details please contact Motoko Nakatani on Facebook.
June 1, 2012
Tent cards with quilling
On my Facebook page I promised to write a blog post dedicated to cards of a new, at least to me, type. So, here we go.
May 22, 2012
Quilled mask and hairpin for homemade costumes
This post is about this year's costumes I prepared for my girls. I know, it's too late for Purim and too early for Halloween, but I decided to show them now anyway. My elder daughter wanted to dress up as an owl, and I thought of the idea of a quilled mask right away. The mask is built on a cardboard base. First, I made the inner rim of the eyes using yellow and black strips 1/8 inches wide (about 3 mm). Then I cut wide brown and beige paper strips and used the fringed flowers technique to create the "feathers" around the eyes. When they were ready, I cut the rest of the brown and beige paper into 1/8"-wide strips (3 mm), used them to roll "eye" shapes, and glued the shapes onto the base, at the sides of the mask. The beak is made of plain and corrugated, 1/4"-wide (6 mm) brown strips. A brown skirt and a sweater with simple wings attached to the arms complete the costume.
April 21, 2012
Quilled jewelry - pendant, earrings & card
As I already wrote, I sometimes teach paper quilling workshops in a craft store. There is a variety of projects to make, each aimed at a specific level (beginners or advanced), and focuses on specific quilling techniques. One of the workshops is dedicated to quilled jewelry, when the students learn to create a jewelry set — a pendant, a pair of earrings and a greeting card that matches them. The card is made so that it can hold the earrings or be used stand-alone.
March 3, 2012
Quilled Easter egg with a surprise
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.
February 23, 2012
"Thank you" and bell-flowers quilling cards
I count myself fortunate that all of my friends and family members like and appreciate quilled greeting cards I create for them (or at least say so :). Let me show you some of the most recent ones, a "Thank you" card and a card with pink bell-flowers.
February 7, 2012
Quilled Valentine's Day cards
These days I am busy (like many other artisans out there) making greeting cards and gifts for Valentine's Day, and would like to share with my readers two simple Valentine cards, in case anybody is still looking for ideas.
January 11, 2012
Home blessing in antique quilling style
This time I'm going to show a quilled picture I created for my parents as a "housewarming" present. They moved to a new apartment, so I thought a home blessing would be appropriate in this case. I must say that I love antique quilling and decided to try to mimic its unique style in this project. I searched the Internet for photos of antique quilling, saw tons of examples, drew a few sketches, and only then set to work.