KOCHI: Quilling is an art where one can manipulate and arrange small strips of paper and give it a proper dimension and design. City-based Jiji S Deepak is one such quilling enthusiast who has made it to the Limca Book of Records for the making the largest quilling artwork on the theme ‘Mother Earth’.
A dentist by profession, Jiji started doing quilling five years back. Her first experiment with the quilling paper was a pair of earnings. With a desire to excel, she started to experiment with other designs. “Quilling was just a hobby I pursued during my free time. I saw many people making ornamental products with paper. With time I got the knack and got better at the form of art,” she says.
Three years ago, she made a record by making 101 works from quilling paper which was showcased at an exhibition held in Thrissur. Jiji made the attempt at Bharathiya Vidhya Bhavan office complex at Vadakkechira on April 28 last year, as part of World Earth Day. The theme she chose was ‘Mother Earth’ where she brought out issues of global warming and deforestation.
She used different coloured quilling papers to show the gravity of the situation. For instance, she made a tree at the centre to highlight the importance of planting trees. Jiji has also used streaks of ‘blue’ to show receding water levels in lakes and rivers due to global warming. “I like doing themes associated with nature. For this particular quilling artwork, I have incorporated the issues leading to environmental degradation,” said Jiji.
The record-breaking quilling artwork is 22 ft in width and 12 ft in height. The artist took 45 hours and 10 minutes over a period of nine days to complete the artwork. “This is my second attempt after making 101 works from quilling paper. For this record, I thought of choosing a larger canvas than the previous ones so that I can bring in all the elements,” she said.
To make her quilling artworks more attractive, she uses acrylic paint, beads, shells and glitter even though only quilling strips are used conventionally. She also uses quilling papers from across the country and abroad. She held an exhibition of paper quilling on a wall and has also won the India Book of Record Holder for most quilling done on the wall. Jiji will soon attempt another world record and wishes to work on a mythological theme.