Paper quilling is a form of art or craft born out of creating decorative designs using thin strips of curled paper. This age-old quilling craft has been practiced for centuries!
Quilling originated during the time when nuns used small edges trimmed from Bible pages to create a simple but beautiful form of artistry. This craft was known as “Quilling” due to how the scraps of paper were wrapped around goose quills to create “coiled shapes”.
Getting into paper quilling craft is not very expensive, as most of the time you will only need few basic materials, all which you can buy at most art and craft stores. If you're really pressed for cash, simply buy a sheet or two of colored paper, and cut your own strips!
With a bit or practice and a touch of perseverance, the opportunities opened up by this unusual and highly flexible medium are endless.
Christmas ornaments made through paper quilling are quite common and in-demand. According to paper quiller, Lana J Bates, she earned $900 at a single farmers’ market style Christmas crafts show. That’s quite a good return for a bit of paper, clue and your creativity.
Moreover, the tools used in paper quilling are rather simple and straightforward.
Some of the common tools used in the process are slotted quilling tool, needle, glue, tweezers and pins. Just by using these simple tools, long strips of paper are wound tightly and released, and hereby forming complicated and complex shapers.
Tear-drop shapes are made by pressing one part of the circle. Using just the coils and some tear-drops, endless combinations are possible.
Get creative and create squares, ovals, etc – and the sky's the limit!
Slotted Quilling tool – the slot along its shaft is used to hold the paper securely as you turn the tool in your hand. Generally, the knurl on the handle ensures a firm grip of your hand that will be helpful in the rolling of a neater and even tight roll.
Needle tool – the needle is used to used to enable a finer center hole after rolling. This will generally produce a much tighter roll.
Glue – One of the most important tools in paper quilling. The glue is widely used in joining the shaped quills.
Tweezers – Tweezers are excellent tool to put the small bits and pieces of your quilling in the right place. They can be used to hold the coils that have been shaped, while you put a few drops of glue on the edges you are gluing together without damaging them.
Pins – While the tweezers will help you to put your pieces together when you are sticking them to their background, pins are used while the final design is drying. The pins will also allow you to put the project aside and finish it later.
Using pre-made strips, or your own hand cut ones, make several dozen coils of varying colors. Pinch some off to form tear-drops, squares or triangles as needed for your design.
After all the coils have been made, place them together on a sheet of paper to finalize the design and make sure you have all the shapes you need.
One by one, glue two or three shapes to each other and let dry. Then glue the larger shapes together into your design. Use your pins on a piece of cardboard covered in waxed paper or plastic wrap to hold the shapes while they are drying.
Once your piece is finished, you can either use it as-is, glue it to card stock or other background, or even create several layers to add to a shadow-box!
If you are going to be covering something that is not flat, generally it is possible to glue directly to the surface if you wish.
For covering glass ball type Christmas ornaments, I have found that it is very easy to use two styro-foam balls of the same diameter, and create half of the design on each ball... They will come off easily, and then can be glued onto the final glass ball with minimal effort.
Many Blessings
GrannySue
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