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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.