So in the wonderful world of Pinterest, I came across a beautiful quilled flower, this one posted below, actually:
What caught my eye most was the pattern within the pettals – it’s no where NEAR anything I had ever seen quilled before. I was in love instantly, and went on a mad hunt to find out what it was.
It is a new technique called “beehive”, created by a creative Indonesian quiller named Susan, over on her blog Susan Quilling. I also realized a short while later that it was mentioned in the most recent issue of Quill America, with them listing a link to this blog: http://quillingmesoftlee.blogspot.com/
So, between doing the laundry, the dishes, making lunch, and tearing apart my entire closet so DH could get in the attic to see why the roof is leaking, I decided that i just HAD to try out this technique, and this is how I did it.
Upon doing some research on youtube of some video tutorials, I figured that the outide shape size that I wanted to use would be a strip around 22-24″ long, and was wrapped around a ruler 2″ wide.
I started out by choosing the colors I wanted to use. I chose 5 colors of my Lake City colors: Fuchsia, Sunset Red, Melon, Yellow, and Spring Green. I wanted the outine shape to fade from one color to the next, so I divided 22″ by 5 for the colors I was using, and tore a 4 1/2″ strip of each color.
I then glued them together in the order I chose to make one long strip.
Next, I used my quilling comb to wrap the paper for the outline shape. I wapped around pegs 1 and 12. Note: If you are using multiple colors like I did, it may be best to keep the last strip at a longer length so you can end it at the top to help hide the seam. I didn’t think of that :o)
Once I had wrapped my shape around the quilling comb, I took it off and formed it into the shape I wanted, a teardrop.
For the inside shape, I wanted to have fun with colors, so I started by tearing up the rest of my strip of paper into 2″ strips. I ended up with 9 pieces in each color.
I then glued the pieces together to form a long strip, approximately 39″. To pump up to color fun for my filling, I made 2 strips like this, each around 39″, and decided to curl them together.
I lined both piece together, and started quilling about an inch down from the end of the strips, until the end was in the curl. I then moved down again about another inch and curled again, until I had one long strip of curls! I decided to end my strip when I had used about 20″ of my original 39″ strip.
I then stuffed all of my curls into my outline shape. Note: stuff your shape on a flat surface and don’t pick it up while stuffing, or your quills will fall out.
Lastly, I glued between where any of the curls touched the outline piece or another curl: This helps to keep everything in place.
Ta Da! I used the other half of my 39″ strip to fill another piece. I think I’ll seal these and make them into earrings to sell in my Etsy shop.
What do you think about this new technique? Are you going to try it?
