Quilled backdrop for a seashell

Here's my latest card design, featuring a seascape photo which I took a couple of years ago in the beautiful Isles of Scilly. (These wonderful islands are situated just off the coast of Cornwall in the far south-west of England.)

I had in mind that the card might be one for a man who loves the sea, so instead of adding lots of 'feminine' filigree quilling, I decided to use a single quilled motif as the backdrop for a tiny seashell. I made the motif using the 'combing' technique by winding the strip through the prongs of an onion holder, gluing at the base after each successive 'wind'.

The shell, by the way, is a real one which was actually collected in the islands. I always look out for tiny shells whenever I go beach-combing, and this is one of my favourites. I believe it is called a 'painted top', and it's a fabulous example of Nature's wonderful designs.

I guess you could say that this type of quilling is an example of 'beach-combing', too!

Sunset on the beach

I was going to call this card 'Sunrise on the beach' until my husband helpfully pointed out that the beach in the picture (at Weston-super-Mare in the south west of England) faces west, and would never be seen with a rising sun like this!! Anyway, I wanted to quill a shining sun just showing its rays above the horizon; I think it makes a lovely warm and peaceful 'sunset' scene.

Quills of a different kind

The spines of hedgehogs and porcupines are known as 'quills', and the photo on this card shows a lovely little hedgehog who regularly visits our garden.  He let me get right up close to take this picture:

Of course, I then couldn't resist trying to quill a hedgehog as well! I made this one by making a D-shaped coil with a brown strip, and then attaching some fringed sections which I had coloured in roughly using a brown marker pen. The hedgehog's real quills are brown and beige, so I used a beige fringed strip to colour, giving a mottled effect. Then I just added a little rolled black nose!

Straightening things out!

Well, not everyone liked the 'aerial' view of my engagement card, so here's a straight-on view for those who requested it!

I tried a side view shot as well - what's the feeling on this one? I need to get my angles right!! (But I also want to show the depth of the quilling!)

Quilled engagement card from a different angle

Why do I always photograph quilled card designs straight on? Not only is it difficult to get the camera angle right, but the resulting photo often fails to show the depth and three dimensional nature of the quilling. So here's a card I made today, shot from a different viewpoint. This one's destined for my card basket in our local village cafe.

A new venture!

I've had such a good response to my quilled earrings that I've decided to experiment with offering them for sale on-line ... just in a very small way! So Quilliance now has a 'sister' blog - Quilliance Marketplace - which I will use occasionally as a showcase for a few selected designs. Here are the first two:

I'll let you know how I get on!!

Some new quilled earrings

It's been quite a while since I made any earrings, and my stock has been getting low. So here's a new batch of five pairs ready for me to take to this Friday's market: