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.

Quilling flowers ( part 3 )

             Hello everybody , I hope you must have made the beautiful flowers which I showed in my earlier articles. In this article I am going to show the third varity of flowers which are made using quilling comb.  The quilling comb method is a quick and easy way to make evenly shaped loops inside each coil. The coils and flowers made using quilling comb are generally bigger than those made with a quilling needle.  Usually a quilling comb has 15 prongs.

I will show five types of quilling comb flowers . They are :

• Basic comb flower
• Loose coil flower
• Flat comb flower
• Double star flower
• Husking comb flower

I will explain each one of them in detail :

Basic comb flower :

     For this I have used 5 mm quilling strips. 

• Take a 5 mm quilling strip of any colour. Here I have used blue color.
• Insert the quilling strip in between the prongs  of the comb. Wrap one end around two prongs starting from the first prong. This will make a small loop.
• Apply fevicol to secure the loop.
• Then bring the paper strip upwards and wrap it to the third prong including the first two prongs.
• Continue to wrap to the next prong and so on .. Do the wrapping in one direction.
• Do this procedure until the complete paper strip is looped around the prongs. 
• Remove the finished coil from the comb and you get a basic looped coil.
• Make  five to six of basic coils to complete the flower.
• Arrange it in the pattern shown in the picture.

      The complete steps are shown below :

Please note : You can adjust the no of loops by increasing / decreasing the no of wrappings around the prongs .
This is one more type of basic comb flower with its ends curved. 

Loose coil flower :

    This flower is not made with the quilling comb , but it looks like a comb flower. It is very easy to make this flower.  You can take a 3 mm or a 5 mm quilling strip to make this flower.  This flower looks nice when made using two colors. It can also be made using a single color. 

• Attach two quilling strips and make a loose coil using the quilling needle. Here I have used one red and one white color quilling strip.
• Apply fevicol at the end.
• Hold the circle against the quilling needle and push it inside , till the end. 
• Make both sides even by pinching it little at the top.
• You get a tear drop shape. 
• Apply fevicol at the open end and seal it.
• Make five such shapes to form a flower. 

     The complete steps are shown below :

Arrange the petals and your beautiful flower is ready.

Flat comb flower :

        As mentioned earlier , there are 15 metal prongs in the quilling comb. To make this flower you need to insert the quilling strip in the correct prong to get the correct shape. You can make this flower using single color or a combination of two colors.  You can use a 3 mm or a 5 mm quilling strip for this. I have used green color to make this flower.

• Insert the quilling strip onto the bottom line of the quilling comb.
• Weave the long end of the strip and insert it between the prongs 6 and 7 .
• Bring it down, apply fevicol and press a little.
• Again take the strip from the bottom line . Take it up and insert it between the prongs 5 and 6 onto the right side. 
• Bring it down and apply fevicol.
• Repeat this for the left side as as well.
• Continue in this manner, wrap the paper around the prongs, alternate from right to left.
• Cut off excess paper and apply fevicol to the loose end.
• Remove the shape off the comb. One petal is formed. Repeat the same for other petals.

     The complete steps are shown below:

Double star comb flower :

This flower is made using the basic comb flower. This gives the flower a 3D look. It looks even more beautiful when made using two colors. I have used blue and yellow color quilling strips of 5 mm to make this flower.  Please watch the video for complete making of the flower.

Husking flower. :

Husking is a simple technique in quilling which allows you to form looped shapes of defined size and shape. You can make loops of the same size using the husking techniques. Here I have used two colors , one yellow color quilling strip of 5 mm and half pink color quilling strip of 5 mm. This is for each petal.  Please watch the complete video for making this flower. 

You can make these colorful and beautiful comb flowers and decorate your greeting cards , handmade bags , gift boxes etc.... 

I have made a handmade bag and decorated using comb flowers. 

I hope you liked my article about quilling comb flowers. Please share your views and tell me where you made use of your beautiful comb flowers.

Raksha Bandhan (रक्षाबंधन) special - Rakhi from Quilling

     Raksha Bandhan (रक्षाबंधन)  is a joyful festival celebrated in India, wherein sister(s) ties a sacred thread ( Rakhi ) on their brother's wrist to protect them from evil, Rakhi is a symbol of bonding between the siblings and an expression of love and respect between the siblings.

As raksha bandhan is round the corner (August 18,2016)  and lot of rush is seen to buy different types of Rakhis , however there is nothing that matches the feeling of love, when you make one and tying them around your brothers wrist . I am exactly showing you how to do the same in very less time and looks beautiful too.Here is an article on how to make an easy  Rakhi for your brother(s) using the basic quilling techniques. A Rakhi always adds a personal touch of love for your brother .

To make a Rakhi from quilling , I have used Om  (ॐ) as my theme.  Om is one of the most important spiritual sacred sound (more info). You can use any theme for making your Rakhi like flowers , cartoons , special designs etc... You can add your own creativity.

The materials used are :

• Quilling strips ( 3 mm and 5 mm )
• Kundan stones
• Satin ribbon
• Fevicol

For the procedure :

• Take  5 mm quilling strips of two colours of your choice. Here I have taken green and blue color. Please refer to Step 1 and Step 2
• Stick them in an alternate pattern as shown in Step 3.

                           

• Make a tight coil, to achieve the size shown in the top of the page, I have used 40 quilling strips ( 20 green and 20 blue ). Please refer to Step 4. The number of strips depends on the size of your Rakhi.
• Apply fevicol on the top and bottom sides of the coil. Allow it to dry.

Now we start with the formation of Om symbol. First draw lightly with a pencil the Om symbol on top of the coil.

• Take a single 3 mm white color quilling strip as shown in Step 5.
• Cut it into 4 equal parts . Please  refer to Step 6.
• Make a tight coil with each part. Refer to Step 7.
• Make 15 such tight coils. 

                              

• Make one half moon shape of approximately same size as shown in Step 8.
• Stick these coils along the Om written earlier using fevicol as shown in Step 9.
• Stick Kundan / beads for the border of the Rakhi . Refer to Step 10 and 11.
• Apply a coat of clear nail polish to give your beautiful Rakhi a shiny look.
• Attach the thread and your beautiful quilling Rakhi is ready. Refer to Step 12.
• After attaching the thread , cover it with a small blue color quilling strip on the back side of your Rakhi as shown in Step 13. This will not only make the Rakhi look elegant but also secures the thread in place and avoids irritation to the skin .

The completed Rakhi looks like this :

Handmade Rakhi  is one of the best gifts that you can gift to your brother .  This Rakhi I have made for my brother on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan .

I had made one more Rakhi which shows the face of Ganesha on it . 

I hope you liked my article of making Rakhi using quilling and don't forget to share your comments on this . Please share which type of Rakhi did you make for your brothers.

Quilling flower vase

       
                        Hi everyone , after making such beautiful quilling flowers where do we arrange them ? We can decorate them in a vase. And how about creating a flower vase using quilling ? Wow !!! Sounds interesting !! Yes that is what I am showing in this article. This quilling vase looks very beautiful and elegant. This vase is environment friendly as well.

The complete making of the quilling vase is divided into two parts :

• The upper part 
• The lower part.

To make this vase you mainly need :

• 10 mm quilling strips ( two different colors )
• Quilling needle
• Fevicol 

Upper part :

        For the upper part of the vase I have used yellow color quilling strips . You can choose any color of your choice. Here I have attached  40 quilling strips . The number of strips depends on the size of your vase.You can vary ( increase / decrease ) it according to your vase size.  

• Take a 10 mm yellow color quilling strip ( Step 1 )
• Apply fevicol at the edge.
• Attach another quilling strip to it.
• Same way attach 40 strips.
• Make a tight coil ( Step 2 )

 As  it is difficult to roll 40 strips altogether , you can roll 10 strips at a time , make a coil . Again attach 10 strips and so on ... This will make the coiling easier.

Do not apply fevicol on the top and bottom of the coil.  Do not allow the coil to become loose. If your  coil becomes loose , you will not be able to give the correct shape to your vase. 

          Using your thumb , gently  push the central part of the coil to give it a pot shape.  Please refer to Step 3. Make sure the base is flat . To make the base flat , you can gently press the end of the pot against a flat surface. Apply fevicol inside the pot to make it firm , applying fevicol keeps the vase in shape and allow it to dry. 

The inner part of the vase look like the picture shown below :

Lower part :

      For the lower part of the vase I have used dark green color quilling strips . You can choose any color of your choice. Here I have attached  15 quilling strips . The number of quilling strips depends on the size of your vase . You can vary ( increase / decrease ) it according to your choice.  

• Take a 10 mm dark green color quilling strip ( Step 4 )
• Apply fevicol at the edge.
• Attach another quilling strip to it.
• Same way attach 15 quilling strips.
• Make a tight coil ( Step 5 )

          Using your thumb , gently  push the central part of the coil to give it a pot shape.  Please refer to Step 6. Make sure the base is flat .  To make the base flat , you can gently press the end of the pot against a flat surface.

Apply fevicol inside the pot to make it firm. Applying fevicol keeps the vase in shape. Allow it to dry.

           

         

The inner part looks like the picture shown below :

Once both the parts are dried , stick one on top of the other in the pattern shown in the picture.

Your beautiful quilling vase is ready.  Once vase is done, now you can add a nice shine to the flower vase by applying some quilling varnish. For that I have used clear nail  polish. This will make your vase water proof and strong. 

Place some colorful quilling flowers in your vase and it will make a beautiful piece of decor for your home. Your complete vase will look like this :

Please watch the video for step by step procedure on how to make a quilled vase and decorate it with flowers.

I have also made a miniature vase as shown below . For this I have used multi color quilling strips.

You can also gift your beautiful vase to your love. For making different type of quilling flowers , you can refer to the link below on  "How to make quilling flowers"

I hope you liked my creativity. Please share your views and comments  on this beautiful art piece.