I said this was small work and I wasn't joking, in the center of the picture is a a Canadian dime which is just a little smaller than a US 1 c coin. The yellow fringed piece of card stock is probably about half an inch wide Possibly 6 or 7 mm anything smaller and my fringing did not show up, the size of flower we are aiming to make can be seen at the top of the image it was made with the narrowist width of quilling strip 3mm, yes it was hard to fringe so its a good job we don't need many flowers. I made about five flowers all different sizes depending on where the quilling strip snapped.
Because its absolutely impossible for me to take photo's of the very small flower as I work on it ,it would just not show up ,it would be continually hidden by my fingers , I'm going to show you the same technique but for a much bigger project.
This is one of my oldest Pages from the Heart designs I always keep 10 -15 or so pieces for display purposes when I do craft shows these pieces I don't sell they are for display only so some are now quite old like this one the dandylions on it are flat 3D decoupaged pieces not the the qullied version of the flower I now use that looks so much better .
So to make sure my display pieces are current I am carefully removing the old decoration and substituting the new quilled pieces one by one.
AS a general rule you would normally start off this kind of flower by extending your quilled strip as you see in the diagram so it forms a lower flat center for a daisy type flower, but in the case of my larger version (because I didn't want a flat center)and in the case of the tiny version for the brooch I didn't either because it was too fiddly , the tiny flower would have a hole left by the quilling tool in its center anyway I thought I would just fill this space with 3D paint (puffy paint my daughter says it is sometimes called) Little tip here if you feel your hand may not be steady enough to squirt paint into such a tiny hole with enough accuracy , this paint has a rubbery quality about it if your squirt the paint onto grease proof paper and wait until it is almost dry you can roll it into a ball un your finger tips and poke it into the tiny hole with a needle or the end of your quilling tool.
Take a strip of 3mm wide paper and fringe it , I have to confess this is the only time I use purchased quilling strips I find the very thin pieces just too small to cut myself
Wind it onto quilling tool, trying to keep base of flower as flat as possible, so that the center of your fringed blossom does not end up a lot higher than the sides we are aiming for a uniform appearance. When your bloom has reached your desired diameter or in the case of the very tiny flower when you get to a fringed petal that you have cut accidentally deeper than the rest you will find your quilling strip will snap, this or at least in my case I find unavoidable my eyesight is no longer good enough for the very tiny work.
After reaching required diameter remove flower from quilling tool and allow it relax just a little or if you feel comfortable doing it release the tension while the flower is still on the tool allow it to relax just a little then glue the base so all coils remain in position and the free torn end of the quilling strip to the side of the flower
When the glue is dry turn over the flower and splay out the fringe to give the flower a more realistic look
In the case of our tiny daisy like shamrock flower it is now that you add your paint to the center of the blossom not after it is attached to the brooch. make as many as you think looks appropriate to you I added a few buds to mine with little rolls of 3D paint as described above hopefully your finished piece should look something like this. I was very pleased with mine this picture does not actually do it justice, before I saw how well it turned out I was going to give it away but now I am rather tempted to keep it.
