I’m so happy HBO’s Game of Thrones is back, and I came across an amazingly talented artist I just couldn’t wait to share to celebrate the series!  So first up, here is Game of Thrones Quilling Sigil House Targaryen by American artisan Aimie Holdorf, posting as Wholedwarf.

As the artist herself explains:

Quilling … is done by taking thin strips of paper, curling them into rolls, then pinching them into shapes, and gluing them into place. A VERY addicting hobby, for me at least.  …  Each sigil is 3.25″ wide by 3.75″ tall. (8.25 by 9.5 cm).

Aimie has quilled almost forty different House sigils for Game of Thrones, and I wish I could share all of them!  But to keep this post manageable, I’ll just share about half. 😉  Make sure to click on each name for a larger version of each sigil, so you can see all of the amazing detail!

Besides the red Targaryen sigil above, Aimie also quilled the House Blackfyre Targaryen sigil, which is the inverse.  She says:

The black dragon just looks so much more badass than Targaryen’s red one, don’t you think? I just about killed myself with the tiny details on this one. I cannot trace back to what the hell I was thinking when I decided to make this sigil TWICE.

I think it was very worth it, don’t you think?  Then, of course, I have to share the sigils of the other main factions of Westeros — House Stark and House Lannister.  Not surprisingly, these are also very complex designs!  Aimie says:

Stark was, obviously, the first sigil I tried to make with this art style. It is still one of my very favorites. Little did I know what a slippery slope this one project would set me on… I really like how the fur looks like chain mail, I had never noticed that before.

There are so many Houses in Westeros, and this craft style is just mesmerizing, that I could’t choose just a few designs!  So here next we have the bird and moon of House Arryn of the Vale; the House Martell sigil of the sun and spear, but wrapped with a red viper for Prince Obyrn; and the disturbing flayed man of House Bolton.  Aimie says:

I’m very pleased with how creepy this turned out. The flayed and exposed muscle of the Bolton sigil actually came out well, I think, with quilling.

Yeesh!  It is so creepy!  Up next, here is the stag of House Baratheon (for King Robert — she has also done the modified sigils for his brothers Stannis and Renley); the kraken of House Greyjoy; and the trout of House Tully.  Aimie says, “It was kind of an accident that the fish looks so evil, but I like it. Makes the dinky little trout of the Tully’s look formidable-ish.”  (Click here to see the teeth!)

But Aimie doesn’t just do the major Houses.  Below we have one for Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight; a made-up sigil for Varys, the spymaster, called the Spider; and one for Petyr Baelish, also known as Littlefinger, who has taken the mockingbird as his sigil.  He comes from a minor House, but I think he’ll play a major role in the Song of Ice and Fire, don’t you?

And finally, just a few more images that delve even deeper into Game of Thrones lore.  First, we have the quill on a checkered field of House Jordayne.  Their words are “Let it be Written,” and Aimie says,  “Another obscure house, but I’m a writer and a ‘quiller’ so I felt a personal ‘draw’ to it. (Ba-Dum Ching!).”  As a writer myself, I want to take this as my sigil as well!

Also above is the sigil for House Forrester, a white ironwood tree with a black sword on a black field.  This House is the focus of the narrative Game of Thrones video game by Telltale Games, which I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a GoT fix once these last episodes are finished.

And last, the beautiful tree and shooting star sigil is for Sir Duncan the Tall, who lived long before the events of the main ASOIAF series, but who can be found in George R.R. Martin’s companion trilogy of three stories, brought together in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.  In the books, Lady Brienne of Tarth once took the old sigil as her own, to pass through Westeros unnoticed.

And while I love Game of Thrones and that’s the focus of this post, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention one of Aimie’s other quilled series — the House Crests from Harry Potter!  Check out Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor to see the detail put in to each of these.

You can see all of her amazing quilled sigils in her Game of Thrones gallery and the rest of her work in her main gallery, and purchase her art in her Etsy shop, where pieces range in price from $35 to $150+, depending on how complicated the designs are.  Aimie also invites anyone interested in quilling to the Reddit page r/quilling for more insight into this lovely art form.

Thanks so much for reading!  I hope you enjoyed the overload of pictures in this post, since I feel guilty for only getting this up just under the wire this week!  But I’m committed to my ‘once-a-week’ schedule, I promise.  As always, take care, stay creative, and enjoy these last weeks of summer!

Image credits:
All images in this post are by Aimie Holdorf, posting as Wholedwarf:
Game of Thrones Quilling Sigil House Targaryen, House Blackfyre, House Stark, House Lannister, House Arryn, House Martell, Prince Obyrn Varient, House Bolton, House Baratheon, House Greyjoy, House Tully, House Seaworth, Varys Sigil, House Baelish, House Jordayne, House Forrester, and Sir Duncan the Tall Sigil, and
Paper Quilling Harry Potter Crest – Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor