Wednesday 19 September 2012

A long-distance flyer

Well, here she is at last: my quilled woodpecker! I had intended to post this yesterday, but found my whole day taken up with putting details of last weekend's amazing Quilling Guild display of work on the Guild's Facebook group page - the interest in this event has been phenomenal! Quillers from all over the world have been avid to see pictures of the quilling work on show and the competition winners ... and from the response I've already received, the pictures I posted did not disappoint! I'll be putting more pictures up on Facebook every day this week.

Anyway, to return to the woodpecker ... believe me, this is a well-travelled bird! I originally quilled her for entry into to North American Quilling Guild's 'Framed Quilling' competition at NAQGCON 2012, so she has already flown across the Atlantic and back! And while she was there, she managed to achieve a fleeting appearance on American TV!

Then, last weekend, I took her to Lutterworth where she proudly stood amongst other quillings on the Master's category table in the 2012 Quilling Guild competitions.

Sadly, she failed to achieve sufficient votes from members to gain winning status at either Guild event - but I am very proud of her, nonetheless.

She is actually a Green Woodpecker - a brightly coloured species of bird which is commonly found in English woodlands. Her plumage is mainly fashioned out of tiny vortex coils, which I made using a combination of shades to try and echo the subtle variations that occur in the natural colouration of the feathers. I have found that vortex coils are ideal for filling in large areas - perhaps even better than teardrop and marquise shapes, because they can be manipulated to fit the most awkward of spaces!

I made the tree trunk using self-supporting 'beehive' quilling (i.e. not contained within a shape) whose coils were glued together at countless different 'anchor points'. I used 1.5mm strips for the trunk to give the appearance of depth to the picture, since the rest of the bird was made from 3mm strips.

She may not have been considered a 'winner' in Guild members' eyes, but my woodpecker is actually about to hit the big time in the UK as a guest of our Women's Institute (WI) organisation! I'm very proud to say that Hampshire Federation WI is going to feature her on the front cover of their October magazine, with a little story about my quilling exploits on the inside. The ladies at my local WI are all VERY excited about this, so the woodpecker will soon be making one more outing to attend our next group meeting ... after which she will hopefully enjoy a well-earned rest on my dining room wall.


16 comments:

  1. The woodpecker is amazing ..!I amazed by your use of various quilled shapes and technique for the bird.You really inspire to try out something different with quilling !

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  2. Woody wood may not have won an award, but the little guy is luckier than many of us. Gone over seas,taken part in competitions,been a TV star and now on cover photo of a magazine. Congrats Philippa !!

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  3. Your woodpecker is amazing. Too bad it didn't win. Must have been some pretty stiff competition

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  4. lovely bird, and love how you did the branch, congrats again on all your achievements!!!!!!!!
    Hugs
    Paula

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  5. Amazing work!! congrats Philippa!

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  6. What a lovely story about the adventures of your quilled green woodpecker. It must be such a fantastic feeling that your bird has flown all around the world and being admired by so many quillers. Congratulations to you and woody for being a guest at the Women's Institute and featuring on the cover of their magazine!!
    I love your use of vortex coils too!!
    Licia Politis

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  7. its amazing
    megha
    http://meghanuj01.blogspot.com/

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  8. that thing is really great!
    congrats!!

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  9. This is the best creation I saw from you! It's so beautiful!
    hugs

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  10. Tones of patience and you will have such a beautiful woodpecker :)

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  11. Amazing Bird!!!!and hats off to the creator of "This bird".

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  12. love the woodpecker. especially the colours of the feathers.

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  13. wow...so great ..well done, Philippa
    hugs

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