Quilled Peacock

A while ago, I refinished this frame that was old-school gold, by painting it dark blue, then white, and putting some blue paint on to fill the creases and the rubbing it to let the white and gold show through. I love the frame, and was looking for a quilling project to make to fill it. I decided to do it this week and wanted to try a peacock, to get a big punch of color and extravagance. Here he is:

I looked online, but couldn't find any to copy that were head on peacocks this style, so I was on my own to make it up. I started by making a pile of papers in the colors I thought I'd like to include. A little yellow and green, but mostly dark blue, because I have so much of that color in my living area. I went round-by-round, adding different designs and colors. He started out like this, and honestly, I thought I was finished after the 5 hours work I put into it. But as soon as I put his body on top of his tail, I knew I needed to change something....

So I found a piece of paper the same color as the quilling paper I used for his body, glued his body to the front of it, and cut it to size. It was just what his body needed to pop in front of his tail. 

Then, I realized it wasn't done enough for me, so I worked on it another night and added a few more rounds of quilling and color! I ended up with the peacock you saw above. Now that he's finished though, I wonder if the frame is not right for him....