Friday, September 27, 2013

A rose is a rose!

Hi All!

Found a wonderful tutorial for making a quilled rose - http://honeysquilling.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/how-to-make-a-paper-quilled-rose/

Here are some pretty rose stud earrings, glittered up :) Aren't they beautiful?


How about a pair of black roses with silver glitter? Hmmm....not a bad idea! Up next...

Cheers!
Manasee

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Christmas already!

Hello All!

Christmas is around the corner...well maybe the corner a couple of blocks away, but its never too early to start getting ready :) 

Here is a sneak peek into some Christmas ornaments I have started making. Snowy Christmas trees, intricate snowflakes and ringing bells setting the mood for the holidays!





More on the way!

Cheers!
Manasee




Thursday, September 5, 2013

Trees and Mushrooms

Hello All!

When a custom order came in for a decorative piece for a nursery, finalizing the design was a tough choice. I like simple stuff, so I decided to go ahead with some green...a tree and a little mushroom. Simple and sweet, I hope the baby gazes at this piece and loves the colors!

The caterpillar was added at the last minute, and I think it looks pretty :)


Cheers!
Manasee

Friday, August 9, 2013

Lansdowne Farmers Market

Hi All!

Tomorrow Paper Precious will be featured as the 'Artist of the Week' at Lansdowne Farmers Market. Here is the link - http://lansdownefarmersmarket.com/newsletters/pages/130808.html

Its not only about art, the Lansdowne Farmers Market has fabulous fresh food - in-season fruits and veggies, fresh baked treats, cider, plants and lots more. And all this enfolds on the background of a live music track!

See you there!

Cheers!
Manasee

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Updates from Paper Precious

Hello All!

Work has been a tad slow for the past few weeks. The project in progress is a custom wall clock, which will be gifted by a friend to a lady I know.

This project is probably the one on which I spent the maximum time in the design. Nothing seemed to work, and nothing clicked. Finally, I decided to go with the two things I know the lady loves - dancing, and the color yellow!

I will not post the image of the clock here until it has been gifted to the said lady, so that will have to wait!

That said, here is a lineup of the exhibitions at which I will be displaying my work for the next few months -

10 Aug - Artist of the Week at Lansdowne Farmers Market.
7-8 Sept - Visual Artist at Lansdowne Arts Fest

A few workshops are also in the pipeline, more details later!

Cheers!
Manasee


Monday, June 17, 2013

Quilled Hollow Vase Tutorial

Hello All!

As promised, here is a short tutorial on the quilled hollow vase. There are no detailed steps in this tutorial, but I will try to provide general guidelines for those who wish to create a similar piece, but are not sure how to proceed.

1. Find a base shape to work on. I think it is impossible to achieve an acceptable finished shape if you try to make the a hollow quilled vase without a reference shape. I used a glass vase I had at home.


The base needs to be of a material that paper wont permanently stick to, but can hold a few glued coils so as to provide a starting point for the quilled shapes. I think glass is perfect, since paper can be glued on top of it, but can also be pried out clean with a metal pin.

2. Since you will have to take the glass vase out from the final quilled vase, you cannot go on sticking coils over the entire vase. I divided the glass vase into a top half and a bottom half, mark the dividing line lightly with a pen. It is best to start bottom up. Keep in mind that you will be sticking your quilled shaped to each other, and not on to the base. The base is only a reference. You will need to stick the initial couple of coils to the glass vase, so that they stay in place while you stick the rest of the coils to each other.


Keep making shapes and sticking them to each other till you reach the demarcation line of the bottom half. Take the base shape off, and see how a wonderful quilled hollow shape in the form of the bottom half is already created.


3. The curves in the base shape are especially difficult to maintain. Since paper is stiff, the quilled shape keeps curving out, instead of curving in around the center portion of the vase. To overcome this problem, I measured a strip of the length of the girth at the center of the vase (the demarcation line) and stuck coils on this strip. The strip was then glued on top of the hollow shape. This enabled the shapes to start curving inwards.

Picture below shows the strip, the coils stuck on the strip and the way it is glued. Keep this quilled bottom half aside.


4. For quilling the top half portion of the vase, I divided the top portion into two vertical halves and quilled  them separately on top of the vase. Once they were done, I glued them together, and then glued the entire structure on top of the quilled bottom half.

These steps are not exhaustive of the effort that went into creating the vase, but are some things that I discovered while working on this project. I did not refer to any tutorial, so this was trial and error for me. I sincerely hope these guidelines help someone who is starting out in the dark like I did!

While everyone is welcome to try out making hollow quilled shapes using these guidelines, please refrain from using the same patterns and colors that I have used in this model. After all, the real fun in creating is putting your own element in your art! :)

Have fun!
Manasee

Earrings - Indian Ethnic and more

Hello All!

Few more designs in earrings. Don't the golden embellishments look adorable? Perfect for a saree or a kurti!


Same design available in pink too..


A cute pair of post earrings, slightly twisted in the center to create a wavy look.


 Another ethnic design, with green gold concentric circles, finished off with a green embellishment.


Cheers!
Manasee

Friday, June 14, 2013

Flower Bouquet

Hello All!

Quilling presents endless possibilities with creating flowers. Simple shapes can be put together in the most creative ways to produce unimaginable varieties of charming flowers. So with petals made of the basic marquis shape, and the center made of a fringed roll, here are some fresh and lovely daisies!


I love the combination of white and maroon. No wonder the flowers ended up in those hues.

The stems are also quilled, by twisting two shades of intertwined green paper. I specifically wanted the bouquet to be three dimensional to make it as life-like as possible. Throw in a couple of just-bloomed buds, and the bouquet looks so real that it could attract bees!


The frame is 6" X 73/4" wooden shadow box, and the work is covered with acrylic.

Can you smell the blossoms?

Cheers!
Manasee

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Quilled Vase

Hello All!

Finally, a dream comes true! A challenge I was raring to take on, accomplished successfully. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, a hollow quilled 3D vase!


The vase is completely hollow, i.e. the quilled forms are not stuck on top of any base form, they stick to each other to form the shape of the vase. This was a tremendous effort, and required patience I have never known I possessed :) The vase is approximately 6 inches in height, and about 3 inches diameter at the largest width.


Some close-ups...


The vase is safe in its transparent glass case, and sits proudly in my living room. I just cant stop looking at it! The shape could have been more perfect, but I am very satisfied with this for a first try.

I do want to try and put up a short tutorial for this one, hopefully in good time! Till then, let me take another look at the beauty :)

Cheers!
Manasee

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Quilled Lakshmi - Indian Goddess

Hello All!

On my recent trip to India, I visited the famous Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur. For the uninitiated, this goddess is highly revered in Hindu religion. She wears colorful bright clothes, is adorned with gold jewelry and is resplendent in her glory. Seeing that beautiful idol inspired this frame.


The features of the goddess are hand sketched, and all her adornments are quilled in this 5 X 7 frame.


I have to mention this again - I LOVE beehiving! It fits almost any project, and can be used as a filler so well! The goddess' hair is done using combing technique, using a golden edged black paper.

I am very satisfied at the expression on her face, serene and all-knowing. Quilling this goddess makes me want to quill the Indian god 'Ganpati' soon!

Cheers!
Manasee

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Quilled Lady Coaster

Hello All!

Here is a trial of a stunning technique, mastered by Eugene Evseeva. The technique involves quilling female characters - quilled hair, clothes, accessories.

This photo caught my eye somewhere on the internet (kicking myself for not saving that link now :( ), and I decided to give it a go.


I had found these beautiful coasters on whimsiquills (http://www.whimsiquills.com/servlet/the-2089/N20072-Round-Coaster/Detail and no, I am not paid to advertise), which I was very impatient to start quilling on. So I decided to make a coaster out of the photo, quilling the hair portion and sketching the rest of the girl's face. It was not an easy job, and the number of small coils and shaped made my head spin. But about three days later, here is what I had, a beautiful coaster with this sassy girl on it!


A closeup -

Her hair is shades of black and brown, and I love the pouting red lips :)

The portrait is completely under glass, and sealed off at the bottom of the coaster too. You can use this as a coaster or a paper weight, any stains will wipe right off the glass without spoiling the artwork.

Gives me the thought of starting a series of quilled portrait coasters...hmmm....

Cheers!
Manasee

Monday, June 3, 2013

Treasure Box - Lacy Flower

Hello All!

Preparations for the exhibition on 7th June at Lansdowne Art Space are in full swing. One of my favorite items so far is this treasure box, decorated with a lacy flower.


The box is covered with handmade paper (Oh...how I love those!), and on the lid is a beautifully delicate flower in shades of pink.


Here is a closeup of the flower.


The tutorial for this flower is given in this wonderful website - http://ajourneyintoquilling.blogspot.com/2012/11/new-quilling-technique-tutorial.html. Thanks Chris for the amazing tutorial! There were a few steps that I did not understand, but the one direction I liked best was - "Just try to get the given shape" :)

I have tried to get some shading effect by using multiple shades of pink in the beehives. The MOST tough part of making this was gluing the petals at an angle...each petal is glued over the previous petal and under the next petal...phew!

All in all, I love the way this flower looks, delicate and elegant. A treasure in itself!

Cheers!
Manasee




Friday, May 31, 2013

First Fridays!

Hello All!

Good news! Paper Precious will be one of the featured artists at Art Space Lansdowne First Fridays. Be sure to come visit the booth on 7th June :)

Lots of new work to be on display! Hope to see you there :)

http://artspacelansdowne.com/first-friday/


Cheers!
Manasee

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

More Jewelry

Hi All!

My stay in India was no respite from quilling (not that I wanted any!), and I ended up making a bunch of quilled jewelry articles for a few custom orders.

I wanted to make something traditional, which can be worn on the salwar-kameez or even a saree, and this is what came of it - green and gold (my favorite combination!) interwoven into a tight coil, with a green 'latkan' i.e. a hanging embellishment. I have used one strip of green on top of a golden strip to bring out this effect. The colors play beautifully with each other, giving just the right amount of gold between the rich green.


On similar lines made this pretty pink pendant for my little niece. She is currently smitten with pink and red, and has started to love jewelry, no doubt, she adored it :)


A customer wanted something in maroon and silver, something which would go well on skirts. Nothing too ostentatious, but something that would be noticed. Here is what came of it. I just loved the silver daggers hanging from the coil, my find at a local trinket shop!


Cheers!
Manasee

**Please contact me at paperpreciousart@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing any of the articles. Customization of articles is possible.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Happy Women's Day :)

Hello All!

Paper Precious was featured today in the news as a Women's Day Special article. It is a local newspaper, in Marathi language. The title reads "Queen of Paper Quilling" :) 

http://epaper2.esakal.com/8Mar2013/Normal/Kolhapur/KolhapurToday/index.htm


This seems an apt time to stop, reflect and be thankful to everyone who has helped Paper Precious since it's inception. So many people have motivated, helped, criticized, and helped me in every step of this venture...this post is a tiny tribute to them!

Vrushank - For all your motivation and appreciation and constructive criticism, always :)
Shraddha - It all started with that first quilled item we both did together! You are a great "creative partner" :D
Manjiri - Sisters in blood, thoughts and action, you are the one who promotes all my ventures tirelessly, be it with wearing the items yourself, or making R wear them!!

All friends, who proudly displayed my items, brought me customers, gave me ideas, and trusted me - a big big THANK YOU!

Not to mention, the readers of this blog, who put up with my disappearances very patiently :)



Cheers!
Manasee

Monday, January 7, 2013

Photo Frames

Hello All!

With me and my husband clicking non stop photos of the baby, it was but natural that I would get to making quilled photo frames sooner or later :)

Here is one with a delicately quilled border. My inspiration for this design was the cover picture on All Things Paper. I simply loved the perfect twirly shapes in the design.

This frame uses dark maroon and green paper, springing up into leaves on a creeper.



Creeper Photo Frame - $15
More designs to come!

Cheers!
Manasee

**Please contact me at paperpreciousart@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing any of the articles. Customization of articles is possible.