When I first started in minis, there was a lady that used to come into the mini store where I worked with quilled pots, plants and other items to sell. She taught a couple of classes in quilling and I picked it up.
Then yesterday Ann Martin of "All Things Paper" http://allthingspaper-annmartin.blogspot.com/ left a comment about the basket. I went to visit and found wonderful things on her blog. If you are interested in doing anything with paper, hers is the place to see.
After looking there and remembering what we used to do with quilling, I went to the drawer where I keep quilling paper.....Mind you, I have never purchased quilling paper in a store. I just kept picking it up for a quarter or so at garage sales over the years.
This is another thing that I need to actually use, instead of just storing it in a drawer.
Soooooo......First I made a mini pot. I rolled three strips of gold paper on my handy dandy quilling machine. This was also a garage sale purchase. It is great for doing anything that needs coiling.
You slip the end of the paper into a little slot and turn the handle....In no time you have a flat coil.
After I got three pieces tightly coiled, I glued the end and slipped it off. Then I eased up the sides and made it bowl shaped. I covered the interior with glue so that the bowl would stay in shape.
Then I started cutting little slivers of green quilling paper in two shades. Simply a long diagonal on one end and flat on the other. I curled the leaves over a sharp edge and glued the flat end into the edge of the bowl....When I got all the way around, I made a loose brown coil to fit inside the center. Then I glued more leaves into that one and finally did a third smaller one in which to glue the center crown of leaves.
I took several lengths of purple and slashed them along one side. A serious quiller would do this with a little machine....I don't do it often enough to justify 50.00 for one of the machines...Fiskars scissors work well, even if they do take a little longer.
Back to the coiling machine I tightly coiled about 1 1/2" of the purple for each flower. Then I fluffed them out with my fingernail.
I tucked them into the leaves. Don't ask what kind of a plant this is.....It is just a fictional flower.
About the time I took the photo of the finished plant, to my surprise, Cordelia showed up. She has been very quiet for a while now. She took one look at the plant and said, "You have ignored me long enough, lady. I demand equal time to Tessie, Zar and especially Spike. Am I not, at the very least, more important that that silly dog?"
With that, she grabbed the bowl and added, "I want my house finished. After all, I was here before Tessie and my house is still wanting.... Your six year old's attention span is getting somewhat tiresome."
There she sits on the front porch. I believe that she has been around Tessie too much. She has officially started a long list of "Tasks that must be done immediately" for her house. That's what it says at the top of the paper she just handed to me.
Evidently that is how she thinks that she will get her house finished first.....Right. I will just put it on the pile with all of the other lists from Tessie and Zar. The stack is about six inches high now.....I will think about it tomorrow.....
See you then.
