Welcome to the world of Archana's Quilling Art: Archana's Quilling

Welcome to the world of Archana's Quilling Art: Archana's Quilling: Quilling Basket Quilling is  the art in which strips of paper are rolled , shaped and glued together to make intricate designs.  I started to take up small and simple  projects like a Photo Frame , greeting cards etc. As and when I started doing it , it became more and interesting for me.  In quilling you can use your own creativity and your own designs. ... 

Quilling earrings

Jewellery  itself adds beauty to a person when worn , how about a jewelry using paper ! Yes that is what this article is all about. A simple quilling coil can be converted into a jhumka to make your own pair of pretty earrings. These earrings can be made using different colors matching your costumes. In this article i am going to show you how to make these beautiful flower earrings and jhumka.

Quilled flower earrings

Quilled Jhumka 

                 You can make your own shape and design to make your earrings look beautiful. The quilled jewellery is very lightweight and can be worn by kids as well. You can make a variety of designs in earrings like flower shape , jhumkas , star shape etc to make your jewellery look elegant.

              Paper Jewellery is much in demand. The materials for making these jewellery are extremely cheap and easily available.

The materials used are:

• Quilling strips ( 3mm / 5mm )
• Quilling needle
• Fevicol
• Earring hook
• Jump rings
• Clear nail polish

Jump rings

Earring hook

To make a flower earring :

• First you need to make the center of the flower , for that you need to make a tight coil using one 3mm quilling strip. You can use any color of your choice.   I have used blue color for the earring.
• Next for the petals you need to make a tear drop shape. For this also you need 3mm quilling strip.
• Make a tight coil , but do not glue it, lay it on a flat surface, let it expand. Then press with your finger and press at one end to make the tear drop shape (as shown in picture below). apply glue now and one petal for flower is ready ,make as many petals you want for the flower.

Tear drop shape

• Stick the petals in a flower shape.
• Attach the jump rings and the earring hook. You can also decorate your earrings with stones or beads.

To make the Jhumka :

• Roll and glue a tight coil using 5mm quilling strips of your color choice by attaching two to three strips. I have used pink and white strips alternatively as shown in the picture.
• Using your finger , push the center of the circle to create a cone. Spread a light layer of fevicol I've the surface to keep its shape. You can also use a quilling mould. Refer to picture.
• Once the shape is ready you can attach the jump rings and earring hook.
• You can decorate your Jhumka with beads or pearls. I have decorated it with white pearls.

Tight coil

Cone shape

         You must be worried as to what will happen if my earrings get wet ! To make it water proof, you need to apply one or two coats of clear nail polish and allow it to dry. This will give your jewellery a glossy finish.

You can also make your own jewellery sets, rings, anklets, hair clips etc using quilling. You can use your own creative designs and art.

As shown here ,  I have made two jhumkas of the same pattern.

Please do share your views on this jewellery. 

Quilling Box

Quilling Box

             Imagine , a beautiful , multipurpose box to be made from just paper quilling, Yes ! That's exactly what I am going to share today. This box can be made in different shapes and sizes as per your choice. You can use exciting color combinations to give your box a unique look. Let us see how to make not just a box which looks good but is also durable and can be used for daily usage or decorative purpose. 

     To make the quilling box, I have used the following materials :

• Quilling Needle
• Quilling Strips ( 5mm and 10mm),   Colors - Blue and White
• Fevicol

When you craft a box , it is ideal to start with a strong base. 

• To make the base , I have used 100 quilling strips of 5 mm. Here i have used 50  blue and 50 white color strips. You can use any number of strips depending on your box size. You can also make your own color choice. Stick alternate color strips and roll to make a tight coil. Make sure you apply fevicol on the base as and when you roll. Allow the fevicol to dry.  Applying fevicol will make the base strong and stiff.
• Once your base is ready , next you need to proceed with the body of the box.  For that you need to use 10mm quilling strip. Roll a single 10 mm quilling strip to make a tight coil. Like that you need to make many tight coils of different colors. Here i have used blue and white strips alternatively. 
• Start sticking the coils on the base to complete the box. You can stick the coils as per your choice. 
• Next you need to make the covering for the box. This is the same method which you used to make the base. Repeat the steps.
• Once your box is ready, you can further decorate it with other quilling arts to make it more colorful and appealing.

Inside view of the quilling box

Top view

I have made one more cute looking quillling box using pink and white color quilling strips as shown in the picture.

Please see the below video for detailed instructions on how to make the box

This box can be used as a jewelry box ,also to keep dry fruits on the dining table. A hand made gift for presenting to dear ones is more appreciated than any other gift..It is also environment friendly as there is no use of plastics or polluting materials.

Multipurpose straw mat box

My daughter doing the modeling work for me :)

This is a box made using a straw mat and decorated using quilling. Most of us would have used a straw mat at our homes for various purposes like on dining table, on the floor or on the wall. When your used mat gets faded or damaged what do you do? Are you planning to discard , then think twice!! . 

The unused mat can be made into a multipurpose box by just following few steps mentioned below by me . 

This box can be made of different sizes depending on your requirement. I have used a part of the unused mat in my house to make this box. 

The materials required : 

1. Unused straw mat
2. Cardboard /  Old unused box 
3. Quilling strips (3 mm) 
4. Fevicol 
5. Velcro 

Making of the Straw-mat box

Inside view of Box as you can see the cardboard box  is covered  by straw mat

• The mat has to be cut to the size based on your box requirement,  For the box shown in the picture you need a mat of dimension ( 12" X 21" ) . 
• I have used an old cardboard box (For ex your phone covering box) you can choose either to use the cardboard box or just cardboard strips , the size is 3" X 5 " (width by length) 
• Apply the fevicol on the box on all the sides and roll the mat over the cardboard box to stick , ensure that the straw mat covers the box 
• To cover the areas of box seen use straws (individual) and stick them . so that the box is well hidden.
• Now to make the box look appealing and beautiful , prepare a quilling flower and stick on top of the box .
• To make quilling flower take colored 3mm strips of your choice I have chosen purple and white for flower and green for the leaves . you can choose your colours based on the mat and your preference. 
• To make each petal of the flower , I have used 2 strips for the inner and 4 strips for the outer layer, the shape can be your choice .



The Quilling Flower 

• Cut the velcro strip 1" X 2 " and stick on the box for locking purpose. 

Straw Mat Box 

The box is ready now and you can see that from the unused mat , a beautiful , decorative and multipurpose box can be made . 

The box can be used for many purposes , you can use it for storing your jewelry items , craft items or any other regular storage like even bangles , This box can also be used as a gift to your loved ones and friends .

Please do share your views on the box and also how you were able to convert some of your unused items to valuable items .