Paper Quilled Vase

Many of us have old vases at home. Either we throw them out or keep them in the store room so that they dont spoil the look of our house but now lets them give one more chance to add beauty our house.

I am sure most of us are familiar with quilling. It is also known as paper filigree. It is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. I personally love to quill because of 2 reasons; one it is simple and relaxing and two it gives uniqueness to any simple object.

So now lets use this simple yet beautiful technique to decorate an old vase.

Colored paper (or you can take quilling strips)

Glue

Ruler

Scissor

Pencil

Crimping tool

Template mould

Oil paint

Brush

and of course an old vase

First take the old vase. Clean it with wet cloth in order to remove dust and mud. Then paint it with oil paint. I have used over here black oil paint. Apply two coats for better results.

I am using here shades of colors from top to bottom... I started with blue and ended with red.

To make this vase, first make loose coils. In order to make them, hold the paper strip in one hand and the quilling tool in the other. Continue rolling the paper strip, keeping the edges aligned. Once you reach the end of the strip, loosen the coil and remove it from quilling tool .Add just a little amount of glue under the end and hold it down until it sticks.

I have used over here 3 mm strips cut from A4 paper. You can also use quilling strips. You need not make coils of same size.

Now what you have to is cover your vase using those loose coils. Take the loose coil and give it a shape. You can give any shape of your choice. It can be square, rectangle, triangle or any random shape.

We are going to cover this vase using mosaic technique. As you know mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. Similarly we will make it using paper. You have to stick the different shapes which you have created on the surface of the vase. Make sure that all the pieces fit together without leaving a gap.

Actually its the most easiest way to cover the vase.

Stick the pieces on the vase from bottom to top. The order of colors which I have followed is shades of red, shades of yellow and at last shades of blue.

I have covered the foot of the vase with brown color. and only for the foot I have given the coils a rectangular shape.

Now lets add a decorative touch to it

CENTER OF FLOWER:

Take 1 cm wide strip of brown color and mark 3 mm. Now repeat this step for black strip. Then apply glue in the marked region and stick the later on over the former. Now put fine cuts the region of 7 mm.

Now take a strip of a lighter shade of brown and at the end join another strip of brown (a little darker shade) and to the end of that strip join that 1 cm wide strip (with fringes). start rolling the strip from the end of lighter shade. After rolling apply glue at the end and stick it.

Apply some glue on the backside so that the circle remains intact. and then open the fringes to the opposite side.

PETALS OF FLOWER:

To make petals make a loose coil of yellow color strip. Give it a shape of eye drop. Then give a slight curl at one end. To make bigger petal take a longer strip ( I have joined 2 strips cut from A4 paper) and for small petals use a smaller strip ( I have used a single strip).

While joining the petals to the center part first join the bigger petals to it and then in between those bigger petals stick the smaller one.

Your flower is ready. Make 3 such flowers. I have made 2 small and 1 big flower.

To make leaves first make a loose coil of green color strip and place it in the template mould. Note that to make a leaf all the coils should be of same size in order to make a proper leaf. Then stick the loose end and remove it from the template.Give the shape of eye drop to the one piece and to the rest 6 pieces give the eye drop shape and then give a slight curve.

You have to place the eye drop shaped piece in the middle and rest at the side (3 on each side). while sticking all the pieces stick the pieces from the side a little below to give the shape. Now roll a strip around the leaf to give it a shape.

To get a crimped strip, insert a quilling strip between the two wheels of a crimping tool and rotate using the plastic handle.As you rotate, the paper strip comes out crimped. Roll this crimped strip around your leaf.

Make 9 such leaves.

Now lets assemble all the things...

First take 3 leaves and join them together edge to edge (as shown in the picture). Let them dry. After it has dried apply glue at the center and place flower on it and stick it. Let it dry before you proceed.

Repeat this step for the remaining 2 flowers.

Now take those flowers and carefully arrange them on the vase. While arranging, place the bigger flower at the center and the smaller one to either side. You can use pins while arranging them so that you are pretty sure where and how to place them. Stick them with glue and let it dry thoroughly.

Make some spirals of green color and stick them to the back of leaves to give a final touch.