Varaha Avatar

       The third Avatar in the Dashavatar series is the Varaha Avatar. In this Avatar , Lord Vishnu takes the form of a Varaha( Boar) to kill the demon Hiranyaksha. After Pralaya , at the beginning of the new Kalpa , Mother Earth was tossed about on the waves and was captured by the demon and prisioned in the bottom of the ocean. At that time Lord Vishnu took the form of a boar. He then released the Mother Earth by lifting her out of the flood waters and killed the demon Hiranyaksha, The Varaha was the only form through which the demon could have been killed because of the boon given by Lord Brahma.

In this post I am showing you how to make this quilling doll.

Face ( Step 1 - 6 ):

The face is divided into two parts.

Front part ( Step 1 - 3 ) :

    This is the mouth which is in the shape of a boar with horns.
For this you need to make two coils and stick them one above the other. ( Here I have used yellow color quilling strip ).
For the first coil I have attached 6 quilling strips of 5 mm dimension. Make a tight coil , then make a cone.
For the second coil I have attached 4 quilling strips of 5 mm dimension. Make a tight coil ,  then make a cone.

Back part ( Step 4 - 6 ):

      Attach 4 black color quilling strips of 5 mm dimension. Make a small projection to form the back part of the head. Join the front and the back part .

Horns ( Step 7 ) :

Here I have used 3 mm brown color quilling strips. Take half a strip , make  a petal shape . Make two of such shape to form a horn. You need to attach it to the front part of the mouth.

Step 7

Neck ( Step 8 ) :

Attach 3 quilling strips of 5 mm dimension. Make a tight coil.

Body ( Step 9 - 11 ) :

Take  a 10 mm quilling strip of a light color. Attach 5 quilling strips and make a tight coil.  Make 3 such coils and attach one above the other. Attach the neck to the body.

Hands ( Step 12 ) :

Take a yellow color 5 mm quilling strip and make a loose coil. Fold on two sides to give it a rectangle shape. Bend it a little and the hands are ready. Make two hands. For making the other two hands of the Lord along with the Shankhu and Chakra please refer to the earlier Dashavatar posts. 

Dhoti ( Step 13 and Step 14 ) :

Take a 10 mm quilling strip of brown color. Attach two strips and  make a tight coil. Make a cone, make two such cones and attach them adjacent to each other. You can give a border to make it look attractive.

Legs and Feet ( Step 15-19 ):

Take  a 10 mm yellow color quilling strip . Take a 1/4 th of  a quilling strip and make a tight coil. Make two such coils which will act as legs for the Lord.

Take a 5 mm yellow color quilling strip. Roll it and make a triangle shape. Make two such coils . This will make the feet of the Lord. Attach the legs of the Lord to the body . You can also but a beautiful border for the waist using a gold color border.

Earth ( Step 20 - 22 ) :

I have used 5 mm quilling strip. Attach 4 quilling strips of two colours ( green and blue ) in an alternate pattern. Make a tight coil and form a small cone shape. Make two such cones and attach both of them.

Crown ( Step 23 ):

 I have attached two color quilling strips( Gold and blue ) and made a tight coil. Make a cone and decorate using kundan to complete the crown.

Attach the crown to the head . Attach all the body parts. Draw the eyes  and the quilling doll is ready.

Once your quilling doll is ready , you can decorate the idol by putting a bead chain to the neck of the God. You can also stick kundan in the middle . Arrange the dasara dolls during the navarathri festival. It will look very beautiful. I hope you liked my creativity of making this doll. Please share your views on this. Please watch this space for more in the Dashavatar series.

Click below to see any avatar :

• Matsya Avatar

•  Kurma Avatar

• Narasimha Avatar 

• Vamana Avatar

• Parashurama Avatar

• Rama Avatar

Kurma Avatar

                   
                                                

                   
                        The second Avatar is the Kurma Avatar. In this Avatar , Lord Vishnu takes the form of a Kurma ( Turtle). When the devas and asuras undertook the task of churning the milk ocean with the Mandara mountain as the churning rod and using Vasuki ( king of serpents ) as the churning rope.  The mountain started sinking during the churning. At that time Lord Vishnu incarnated as Kurma ( tortoise ) to support the mountain.

In this post I am showing you how to make this quilling doll.

Face ( Step 1 to Step 3 ):

• I have used 5 mm quilling strips. For the front part of the face I have used 3 strips of blue color. 
• Attach 3 quilling strips and make a tight coil. Slightly make a cone. 
• For the back part of the face I have used black color . Make a tight coil using 3 strips.
• Attach these two parts and complete the face by drawing the eyes , nose and mouth.

 

• 

Neck ( Step 4 ) :

Make a tight coil using two blue color 5 mm quilling strips.

Body ( Upper part  Step 5 and 6 ):

For this I have used 10 mm quilling strips.  Make a a tight coil using 4 quilling strips of purple color. Make two such coils. Attach the one above the other. 

Body ( Lower part  Step 8 - Step 11 ):

For this I have used 5 mm green color quilling strip. Make a tight coil using 20 quilling strips. Then make a small cone. Make two of such coils one for the front and one for the back.  Take a yellow color quilling strip and cut it into small pieces and stick it on the green coil. This will give a tortoise look to the body.

Hands and Legs ( Step 12 ):

I have used 5 mm yellow color quilling strips. Make a tight coil using one quilling strip. Make four such coils ( two for hands and two for legs ).Stick the hands and legs to the body .

Tail ( Step 13 ):

Make a triangle shape using a single green color 5 mm quilling strip . Stick the tail to the body of the tortoise.

Crown ( Step 14 ) :

I have used 5 mm quilling strip.  Make a tight coil using 3 gold color quilling strips. Form a cone shape and place it on the head of the lord.  You can stick kundans to decorate the crown. 

Hands ( Step 15 and 16 ) :

I have made four hands for the lord. The first two hands are made using 5 mm blue color single quilling strip. Make a semi circle , bend it a little and attach it to the body on two sides. 

For the other two hands, I have used a single 5 mm quilling strip. Make a tight coil and form a small cone shape. I have placed a chakra (disc) and a shankha (conch shell)  ( Step 17 and 18 ) on the two hands. Please refer to the picture. Attach these two hands behind the previous hands. 

The complete doll looks like this:

Once your quilling doll is ready , you can decorate the idol by putting a bead chain to the neck of the God. You can also stick kundan in the middle . Arrange the dasara dolls during the navarathri festival. It will look very beautiful. I hope you liked my creativity of making this doll. Please share your views on this. Please watch this space for more in the Dashavatar series.
Click below to see any avatar :

• Matsya Avatar

• Varaha Avatar 

• Narasimha Avatar 

• Vamana Avatar

• Parashurama Avatar

• Rama Avatar

Dasara quilling dolls (Dashavatar Series)

Matsya Avatar

    Dasara (Dusheera) festival is just a month more , During this festival , certain sections celebrate the dolls and arrange them very nice it will be a visual treat to see the various dolls arranged to match various themes , it could be mythological like Dashavatar, Ramayan & Mahabharath or it could be social like display of farming , festivals . In all these the dolls represent the rich heritage and culture of our country India. Today I am starting a new series of quilling dolls for Dasara with theme of Dashavatar .

             Dashavatar refers to the ten avatars taken by Lord Vishnu to protect dharma and destroy the evil beings. Vishnu is the hindu god of preservation. Lord Vishnu is said to descend in different form of an avatar to restore cosmic order. These Avatars play a major role in shaping human evolution through centuries.  There are ten avatars of Lord Vishnu which are referred as Dashavatar. They are :

• Matsya Avatar
• Kurma Avatar
• Varaha Avatar
• Narasimha Avatar
• Vamana Avatar
• Parashurama Avatar
• Rama Avatar
• Krishna Avatar
• Buddha Avatar
• Kalki Avatar

The first Avatar of Lord Vishnu is the Matsya Avatar. Here Lord Vishnu takes the form of gigantic Matsya ( fish ) to destroy the asura (demon) Hayagriva, who steals the four vedas  from lord Brahma. To restore the vedas back and save Manu ,the Sapta rishis and living beings  during the floods which destroyed the world . You can read more on this avatar here

 In this article I am showing how to make the dashavatar dolls using quilling. The first in this series  is the Matsya ( fish ) Avatar. 

Face ( Step 1 to Step 3 ):

• I have used 5 mm quilling strips. For the front part of the face I have used 3 strips of blue color. 
• Attach 3 quilling strips and make a tight coil. Slightly make a cone. 
• For the back part of the face I have used black color . Make a tight coil using 3 strips.
• Attach these two parts and complete the face by drawing the eyes , nose and mouth.

Neck ( Step 4 ) :

Make a tight coil using two blue color 5 mm quilling strips.

 Body ( Upper part  Step 5 and 6 ):

For this I have used 10 mm quilling strips.  Make a a tight coil using 4 quilling strips of purple color.  make two such coils. Attach the one above the other. 

Body ( Down part - Step 7 to Step 10  ) :

This will form the shape of a fish.  For this you need to make two cones ( one small and one big ). I have used 5 mm quilling strips for this. For the top part attach 4 quilling strips of yellow color and make a tight coil. then make a small cone as shown.

For the down part attach 6 quilling strips of yellow color and make a tight coil. Make a big cone and stick it to the top part.

Scales ( Step 11 ) :

Cut a small paper strip ( 3 mm ) into small strips . Make  a small U shapes and stick it on the body of the fish. 

Tail ( Step 12 and 13 ) :

Take a single blue color quilling strip of 5 mm dimension. Make a half moon shape and stick it to the down part of the body. You need to make two such tails.

Crown ( Step 14 ) :

I have used 5 mm quilling strip.  Make a tight coil using 3 gold color quilling strips. Form a cone shape and place it on the head of the lord.  You can stick kundans to decorate the crown. 

Hands ( Step 15 and 16 ) :

I have made four hands for the lord. The first two hands are made using 5 mm blue color single quilling strip. Make a semi circle , bend it a little and attach it to the body on two sides. 

For the other two hands, I have used a single 5 mm quilling strip. Make a tight coil and form a small cone shape. I have placed a chakra (disc) and a shankha (conch shell)  ( Step 17 and 18 ) on the two hands. Please refer to the picture. Attach these two hands behind the previous hands. 

The complete doll looks like this:

Once your quilling doll is ready , you can decorate the idol by putting a bead chain to the neck of the God. You can also stick kundan in the middle . Arrange the dasara dolls during the navarathri festival. It will look very beautiful. I hope you liked my creativity of making this doll. Please share your views on this. Please watch this space for more in the Dashavatar series. 
Click below to go to any avatars :

•   Kurma Avatar

•   Varaha Avatar

•   Narasimha Avatar

• Vamana Avatar

• Parashurama Avatar

• Rama Avatar

Salt and Pepper quilling earrings

               
                      Hello friends, are you interested in making some simple and beautiful earrings using easy quilling techniques ? Then you have come to the right place. In this article I am showing you how to  make a simple hanging and a stud earrings. As you all know the all season favorite colors black and white suits with almost all your outfits. That is why I am making something unique using these two colors.

Pepper earrings :

For this you need 3 mm black color quilling strip.
The detailed procedure is shown below:

• Attach two quilling strips and make a tight coil as shown in Step 1 and Step 2.
• Cut a single quilling strip into two parts as shown in Step 3.
• Make tight coils in each of the part as shown in Step 4.
• Make 10 such tight coils (they will look like peppers)  .
• Attach the small coils to the big coil using fevicol as shown in Step 5 and Step 6.
• Take some kundans of your choice and stick them on the flower shape. Please refer to Step 7.
• Attach the jump rings and hooks to complete the earrings.

And please don't forget to apply a coat of transparent (clear ) nail polish to give it a shiny look. This will also make your earrings water proof.

Salt studs :

I simply love to call this salt studs purely because of it's all pure white in color (maybe I should have mentioned kitchen salt, as rock salts do have binge color :-) ),This stud is very simple. I have used 3 mm white color quilling strip.

• Cut a single quilling strip into two parts . 
• Make a petal shape in each of the parts.
• Arrange in a flower pattern.
• You can also stick a flat pearl in the middle to give it a beautiful look.
• Finally attach the stud available outside as ready made.

I hope you liked my article on quilling earrings . Please do share your views on what type of earrings you made using quilling. Please watch this space for more on different varities of quilling earrings and if you are looking at specific design and it's missing here , please share so that I can add that to my making list :)

Quilling dolls

Quilling dolls (L-R) Mexican girl, Pandit, Japanese girl

       Dolls are part of our life , we all grew up living with them, sharing our thoughts and emotions with them , they also have a important place in our culture and we have a festival uniquely to showcase them, yes I am referring to golu dolls arranged during Navaratri (also called Dusheera). Girls in general are more bonded with dolls , especially  in decorating , building houses and making dresses for these dolls, naturally they are integral part of their lives . Now how about creating your own doll ? Does that sound interesting ? Yes ? 

Friends, in this article I am going to show you something very unique and interesting. How about making a handmade 3 D quilling doll. !! Making a quilling doll is one of the most intresting and beautiful creations using quilling. You can put your own ideas and creativity to make and decorate your dolls. 

Different types of dolls have always fascinated everyone especially children.

Here I will show you how to make a girl doll with a rose in her hand. I will explain each part of the dolls in detail.

Face (Step 1-3) :

For this I have used skin color 5 mm quilling strip. 

• Take a cream color 5 mm quilling strip. 
• You will need to attach 4 strips together and make a tight coil. 
• Apply fevicol on both sides to make the coil firm.
• Draw the eyes and mouth with black and red color marker.

Hairs (Step 4-8):

For this I have used  brown color 5 mm quilling strips. You can also use black color.

• Cut a single quilling strip into 6 equal parts.
• Roll one side of each strip and leave it loose to get a loose coil. Make 5 - 6 of such type.
• Stick all these curls onto the back and side of the face using fevicol.

Dress (Step 9-15):

For this I have used blue color 5 mm quilling strips . You can use any color of your choice.

• Attach 6 quilling strips and make a tight coil.
• Push your finger inside the coil and make a cone. 
• Apply fevicol inside the cone to make it firm.
• Take a single 5 mm blue color quilling strip and cut fringes all along the whole strip.
• Stick the fringed strip on the bottom of the cone with the fringes facing down.
• Cut a small circle shaped cardboard and stick it inside the cone as shown in the Step15. This will act as a support for the legs of the doll.

Sleeve (Step 16-17) :

Here you need one quilling strip for each sleeve. I have used 5 mm blue color quilling strip.

• Make  a tight coil.
• Make a small cone to form the sleeve.
• Make this for both the sides.

Hands (Step 18-24):

I have used skin color 5 mm quilling strips.

• Take a single quilling strip and cut in into 4  equal parts.
• Make tight coils each.
• Take two coils of the same size and make a small cone.
• Form the hands of the dolls and attach in the pattern shown in Step .

Attach the hands to the sleeves of the doll and attach the head to it.

Legs (Step 25-26) :

I have used 10 mm skin color quilling strip. Make a tight coil using a single 10 mm quilling strip. Make the same for the other leg too.  

Shoes (Step 27-28) :

Make a tear drop shape using a single 5 mm brown color quilling strip. Make two of the same type. You can use any color of your choice. Attach the shoes to the legs.

Attach them to the dress. Then attach the face with the body to complete your quilling doll.

I have also taken a small incense stick and attached a rose quilling flower to it. Stick the stick to the hand of the doll which will make it look beautiful. See how pretty and cute your quilling doll looks.

Dolls look very cute and attractive. You can gift them to your loved ones or can be used to decorate during the navarathri festival.

I hope you liked my creativity of quilling dolls. Please share your views and tell me what type of dolls you made in your creativity.

Quilling carry bag

                                           

  

                  Hi friends , hope you remember I had shown a small quilling handmade bag in my earlier articles. This is a bag which is more sturdy and can be used for daily shopping. A beautiful , attractive and Eco friendly handmade paper decorated with paper quilled flowers or designs for your special ones. This is a multipurpose bag made of handmade sheet ( kg cardboard ) decorated with quilling. It can also be used to present gift on special occasions. Paper bags are environment friendly and are good alternate for plastic bags.

Now I will show you how to make a paper bag using chart paper in  few steps. You can take a thin / thick chart paper. 

Materials required are :

• Chart paper  ( Any color  but let it be in contrast with the quilling design color )
• Fevicol
• Scissors
• Handle for the bag
• Punching machine
• Quilling strips
• Quilling needle / comb
• Washer

The step by step procedure is explained below.  

• Take a chart paper and cut it into size 55  X  40 cm. You can change the paper size as per your requirement.
• Fold it on both sides ( One side 17 cm and other side 12 cm ) as shown in Step 1 and Step 2..
• Paste the two overlapped sides together with fevicol. Please refer to Step 3.
• Allow it to dry.

              

• Fold the bottom of the bag for a length of around 2 inch ( Refer to Step 4 ). If you increase this , your bag size will be big. You can fold it according to the size of the bag you are making. 
• Unfold the last fold. Fold upwards to form a triangular shaped edge as shown.
• Fold the flap inwards and flatten it. ( Step 5 and Step 6 
• Paste the two flaps together using fevicol so that the base is firm.

       

               

• Fold both sides of the paper lengthwise as shown in Step 10.The thickness of the fold will determine the space inside the bag. 
• Make the fold according to the width of your bag.  

            

• Open the folds and along the creases make fold inwards on both the sides as shown:

• Using a punching machine, make two holes on both sides of the bag. Please refer to Step 12.

Please note : To make the bag more strong (bag with just holes on paper are likely to tear under load), I have used a washer ( Step 14 ) which you have to stick on all the punched holes or you can even rivet each hole. Please refer to the pictures below.

Once your bag is ready , you can decorate it using various designs or quilling comb flowers in your own way. As you can see , I have made some quilling flowers and decorated it on the handmade bag.

The complete handmade bag looks like this:

  Please share your comments on how this carry bag was useful to you.