Life is a Piece of Cake

I made this on a bad day when my experiment in lab didn't work out. I was kind of frustrated because I had been repeating the same experiment for weeks and I needed to get it done to move on to next level. Anyhow, I decided to give myself a break that day, to walk away from bench and went home earlier. So, I decided to do some quilling to cheer myself up...

... and also to remind myself that life is but a piece of cake! So, sit down and enjoy it!

p/s: Click for Box Template. Miyyah@Kertas did a tutorial on paper cake, click HERE. In my case, instead of manila card, I used half an A4 size of specialty paper and PVA to glue the paper box together. And I only made a single piece instead of an entire 12-pieces big cake.

Fringed Daisies Photo Frame

My experiment on fringed daisies. Big ones... small ones... 

I glued them onto a wooden photo frame using PVA glue. The glue is really amazing. I never thought that it could hold the flowers that firm on wooden surface. Wonder if it can do so with glass and metal surface too?

I'm planning to give this to a friend who has just given birth to a girl. Maybe she can keep the photo of her baby girl here. ^_^

Cloverleaf Friendship Card

A small card with cloverleaf in the middle. 

Close up. Those heart shape loose coils could have been improved. The 'connecting' of 2 paper strips to form a longer strip (end-to-end) was not done neatly. But on overall, I'm pretty happy with this card. A simple card but I like it.

In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet

Flower

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Please do not ask me what flower this is. I myself have no idea too. I was merely practicing tight coil and teardrops. I used four 8' strips for the tight coil. But because I couldn't tell the 'right' and 'wrong' sides of the paper strips when gluing them together, the coil turned out to have different 'shades' of purple. (Read 5 quilling tips every beginner should know by Charlotte.)

As for the teardrops, you could see that some were bigger and some smaller. Although I did use a circle sizer, my coils were not uniform in size. It's due to the inconsistency in tension when I curl. I'm still searching for the 'right' feeling of my fingers.

Birthday Card with Little Round Flowers

My first quilling experiment, a birthday card with little flowers. I made it for our lab assistant.

Practice on loose coils and marquises. But I think I need to improve on the 'writing' or calligraphy.

Hunting for paper strips

I went to the local stationary + art store nearby my area this morning to grab a few additional items and tools for my quilling experiments to come. Also, I'm trying my luck to see if paper strips are sold there. I bought a big bottle of PVA glue, an A4 size cut mat, craft scissors that produce scallop pattern and a stainless steel blade cutter. I also got myself a 8 X 10' canvas board. I'm thinking of doing some flower patterns on the canvas someday, you know, when I get more comfortable and am better off with the coiling and scrolling techniques.

I was really surprised to see a quilling art piece with flower patterns hanging on the wall when I climbed the stairs to get to level 2 looking for PVA glue. Hmm, quilling is not that uncommon then. Maybe it was I alone that is ignorant of it? (You see, I'm not really the 'art and craft' kind of people.) Perhaps they do sell paper strips? So I went downstairs to ask the cashier. There, I saw on the rack, 3D quilled dolls. Wow, brighter chance they are selling paper strips then. But to my disappointment, they don't have it. The cashier told me, you have to buy papers and cut the strips yourself. Since I'm not a professional quiller who need to use up a lot of paper strips, I guess it's ok for me to cut my own strips, or I can always buy them online. =P

First Quills

Ta-Daa! Paper Quilling Kit for Dummies-- my first ever quilling kit! It arrived safely yesterday. I bought it online last week from Honey's Quilling. The kit contains a slotted tool, circle sizer, some papers strips, cards and tags as well as a little booklet on quilling. Besides the kit, I also bought some extras- a needle tool and a pair of fine tip tweezers.

It costs me a little fortune (I have to save a bit before getting this) but as the Chinese proverb says 'He that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools', in order to explore this craft, it's necessary to get the essential tools. Since there is no local craft store (to the best of my knowledge) in town that sells quilling tools, I had to purchase them online.

My first coils.... A loose coil and a marquise.

I curled a few coils using full length strips but they didn't expand after I released them from the slotted tool. Perhaps I had pressed a little too hard. And the quilling didn't work out as easy as I thought. It might seem easy on the video, but in my case, the paper edges were either not level, or that the coils were not 'smooth'. But practice makes perfect, so I'll keep practicing. =)