Quilled Tiara

I made a quilled tiara. It is approximately 13cm (5") in diameter and 7cm (2.8") high at the highest point.

Step 1: Materials

• White quilling strips. I used approximately 50 strips 3mm (1/8") wide, 60cm (23.5") long.
• Quilling tool.
• Tweezers (great for manipulating small parts).
• Glue.
• Scissors.
• Pins (help to hold glued pieces together in place).
• Various moulds around which you can shape the strips. I used a couple of special quilling moulds, but you can use other stuff you have around the house - flat rulers, pens, the quilling tool itself, you are limited by your imagination (just make sure the item is plastic or glass or metal..... basically anything that paper won't stick to).
• A rounded object to which you can pin the tiara as you are gluing it together. I used a coffee jar made from thick cardboard; you will see it in a later step.

Step 2: Shapes

I cut out a basic outline from paper for my tiara.

These are examples of the various shapes I used:

• Various coils made using the moulds and the quilling tool.
• Tight circles of various sizes.
• Coils shaped into a tear drop.
• Bits of strips quilled in the beehive technique that I used to stuff some of the coils.

Again, you are limited by your imagination in terms of the shapes you make and how you assemble them.

Step 3: Putting It All Together

This is the coffee jar I mentioned above. I put the paper outline into a plastic sleeve, made a rough mark of the centre and went ahead gluing my pieces together, pinning down in various spots. Number of each type of pieces depends on the size of your tiara and the size of each piece. Here, the bottom row is made up from 50 tight coils (each coil is half a strip, i.e. 30cm/12").

Let dry overnight. You can varnish the finished product before you take it off the jar - this will strengthen your creation. I also brushed over it with sparkling paint.

You're limited by your imagination :)