Wednesday 16 March 2011

A quilled rhododendron

Last week we visited the fabulous gardens of Caerhays Castle in Cornwall which are only open for a few weeks at this time each year when the magnolia trees, azaleas and rhododendrons are in bloom. It was an amazing experience, and I have tried to capture some of the magic on this card.


The first thing you see is a fairy-tale castle nestling on a hillside with dramatic views over the sea. Then you realise that the castle is literally surrounded by flowering trees and shrubs which provide fantastic splashes of colour - mainly reds and pinks, but whites and yellows too. It's a spectacular sight, especially so early in the year when most of the 'normal' trees are still completely bare of leaves.

You can see the castle in the main photo on this card, and I've included some inset photos on a 'pink theme' to give some idea what the gardens are like. For the quilling, I've tried to create a typical cluster of rhododendron flowers (almost impossible, really!) using deep burgundy centres and metallic-edged pink strips for the surrounding petals. The leaves are made from crimped green strips.

Here's the quilling in close-up:




















And here's a photo of the real thing! Stunning!

6 comments:

  1. So pretty. The rhododendrons remind me of the ones that my father used to have in his yard. He had several very large bushes. I've tried a couple times to plant them in my yard but both times the plants died.

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  2. Thank you Philippa for the kind comments at my blog. Lovely photo- quilled projects on your sites. I would love to try the technique. Such a lovely 3 D effect it has and a WOW factor!
    Dr Sonia S V
    http://cardsandschoolprojects.blogspot.com

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  3. Yes, rhododendrons are gorgeous, and I wish I could do justice to the real thing in my quilling!

    Sonia, I hope you will try some quilling with photography, and I look forward to seeing the results.

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  4. Oh Philippa, you work so fast! I just love the way you combine photography and quilling, and most of all I appreciate that you bring your ideas to life.

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  5. Thank you for your kind words, Anca!

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