The Beautiful Art of Quilling

Quilling is an art form that uses strips of paper to create delicate and detailed designs. These strips of paper are rolled around a tool called a quill to create a basic shape. You then bend, shape, and pinch the paper to create a basic shape.

Once you are satisified that this is the shape you want you dab a dot of glue on the tip to keep the shape. These coiled pieces of paper are then arranged to form flowers, leaves, snowflakes, animals and many other ornamental patterns. The possibilities are endless.

Quilling is said to be one of the easiest crafts to learn and one of the most beautiful to look at. Nearly all of the quilling creations you come across are created using a few variations of the basic rolls and scrolls.

whimsiquills

This website is a one stop shop. They offer a complete array of quilling supplies and they have a clear concise way of explaining the process of quilling. Their selection of free patterns is the best I have seen. They range from beginner to advanced and are all equally beautiful and creative. They have several catagories, each with a great amount of free patterns to choose from. The catagories are as follows:

• Christmas - angel, Christmas bell and poinsettias, candy cane, gingerbread man, snowflake, Christmas tree, holiday wreath, Christmas candles
• St. Paddy's Day/Irish - hat full of shamrocks, Claddaugh, tiny shamrocks, lucky pipe, Irish bear
• Valentine's Day/Love - valentine card, love, hugs and kisses, hearts and flowers, heart vine, heart/diamond, heart/flower, heart gift card
• Winter - mittens, knit hat, penguins on skates, snow shovel, snowman, sweater, winter bird, party snowman, snowflake
• Spring - Easter card, Easter egg, yellow crocus, cross, daffodils, flowers for basket, basket, mini-bouquet, fan, hot air balloon, wedding bells, wedding/mother's day card
• Men/Manly/Boys - cattails with mallard, one fish, two fish..., pool anyone?, chess piece, wheat, mushrooms, frog/lily of the valley, drum, What's that in your bassket?, TV time(remote and bowl of popcorn)
• School Days - globe, professor owl, an apple for the teacher, school bell, chalkboard, school house
• Summer Fun - pinwheels, kite and beach ball, circus tent, circus clown
• Baby/Children - baby rattle, chubby baby, little girl, baby rattle
• Fall Stuff - fall bouquet, layered mum, squirrel, layered sunflowers, wheelbarrow of pumpkins, autumn trees, october flower, fall colors, turkey, autumn leaves
• Halloween Stuff - candy apple, Jack-O-Lantern, Halloween kitty, Halloween treats, trick ot treat (Jack-o-Lantern treat holder), witch, Halloween couple (two black cats), spooky eye

quilling.blogspot.com

This blog has a good selection of some very nice free quilling patterns. You'll be glad you stopped to look at them.

• 7 petal daisy - quick and easy
• 4 daisy patterns - basic patterns
• daisy pattern - shows how to combine quilling with card making
• turkey - simple techniques
• Christmas Poinsettia - makes a beautiful ornament
• hot air balloon - uses the fill-in technique
• wedding cake - fringed flowers and alternating side looping
• butterfly - intermediate pattern
• flowers of love - uses S-scrolls to make heart and accents with white coil flowers

elizabethscreations.com

On this website you will find two beautiful free patterns. They would most likely be for the more advanced quiller.

• flowers in a basket
• reusable candle pin

handmade-craft-ideas.com

You will find a great introduction to quilling on this website, as must for anyone just starting to learn how to quill. The instructions are clear and easy to follow.

• tortoise
• baby card - baby footprints
• flowers - folder paper rose and 2 simple flowers
• Christmas wreath and angel

Quilling has an infinite number of uses. Their lacy delicate look lends themselves to many different decorative possibilities.

• Just to name a few: any kind of card (birthday, thank you, missing you, sympathy, etc)
• any invitation (wedding, shower, baby shower, birthday party, retirement party, etc),
• birth announcements
• place cards
• notecards
• wedding keepsakes
• package decoration
• table decoration
• candle decoration
• trinket box decoration
• customized, personalized frames
• journals
• diaries
• nightlights
• tealight shades decorations
• holiday décor
• Christmas decoration

The art of quilling has been said to have been around since 105 AD. It is believed to have become an art shortly after the invention of paper in China. It is also believed to have sprung up in Ancient Europe at about the same time.

This art was first created with silver and gold wire and was used on pillars, vases and also made into beautiful jewelry. It became quite popular in the 1500's when the nuns in Italy and French began to cover frayed torn edges of bibles with quilling and quills. The name quilling is believed to come from the practice of using the bird quills.

Quilling was the leisure time craft of the ladies of leisure, the working class did not participate. It was typically used to cover screens, tea-caddies, frames, coats-of-arms, just to name a few.

The first step to learning how to quill, in my opinion, would be finding a site online that shows the basic directions on How to Quill. I have included a marvelous one for you in this article.

The next thing would be to get a package. maybe two, of quilling paper to use while learning how to roll and shape. Many people suggest that you cut the strips of paper out of typing paper but I found it easier to just buy the paper already cut in strips.

When you first begin it isn't necessary to spend a good amount of money to buy all the tools and such that you will need for quilling once you learn it. First, try it, see if you like it, then buy the tools.

That being said, beside the paper strips, the only thing you need is a slotted quilling needle and a bit of glue. It is important to learn the different shapes and how to make them before you try to make a project.

Once you master the shapes, and have decided that you like to quill, then you can go out and buy all the supplies you will need and move on to the next stage of learning the more complicated quilling designs.

I just know you will love it. It is a wonderful art that is fairly easy to learn and beautiful to look at.