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Quilling
by Alison Beachem
What
is quilling? To begin with,
this craft has been around for a few hundred years.
It is a very ornate way to decorate things using rolled strips of
paper. While the technique
is very simple, the design element is very complex.
During
my visit to HIA at the beginning of the year, I was reading a stamping
magazine and saw an advertisement that had a card done with rolled
strips of paper. I was
intrigued at that point and thought of using it in scrapbooking.
The
next day at the show, I saw a booth that was doing a
demo using quilling- a rolled paper technique.
I was excited to say the least since I had never seen it before.
The company was Lake City Craft Co.
Malinda Johnson was explaining the technique. I grabbed a chair and got to work learning this new
craft.
In
Malinda Johnson’s book, The Book of Paper Quilling, she states
what is needed, “…two functional hands, some colorful strips of
paper, one quilling tool…” You will want to use a lightweight paper.
Cardstock will not roll very easily.
You will also need a wet glue that is acid free, something like
YES glue.
The
quilling tool is similar to an embossing tool.
It has a wooden handle with a metal piece coming out the end but
it has a point.
The
first thing to do is to practice a few basic quilling shapes.
Start with a tight circle. Using
the quilling needle, wet the end of a 1/8” strip of paper with your
mouth. This allows the
paper to roll around the needle for the initial start.
Holding the paper flat against your index finger, press the
needle on top of the tip and proceed to roll the paper around the tip of
the needle. Once you are
done rolling, hold it tightly and glue the end of the strip to the roll
that you just made. Now,
take it off the needle. Congratulations,
if you accomplished the tight circle, you are on your way!
The
next one to try is the loose circle.
Do the same steps as above but before you glue down the end, take
the roll off the quilling tool and set it down on the table and let it
unwind (loosen) a bit. Now
you can glue the end down. This
is another basic shape that will allow you to make so many more.
For
a lot of the other basic shapes, you will need to make the loose circles
and pinch them in order to create different shapes.
Here are a few examples of some basic shapes.
The
projects I have created for scrapbooking are very, very, very, simple.
Just look in a quilling book and you will see what I mean.
I used 1/16” strips of paper for the most part.
One of the big questions for scrapbooking is will the design
press flat when my book is closed.
The answer: Mine
haven’t yet! The
possibilities are endless with this technique.
So, get yourself a quilling needle and some strips of paper and
hop to it.
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