The Art of Quilling *GuestBlogger*

I am happy to be able to contribute to Creativity Month here at Hanging Off The Wire. Many of us are likely still paying off Christmas gifts or heating bills that always cost more in these frigid winter months, so crafting may seem like a luxury. This post is intended to suggest inexpensive ways to satisfy your need to create. 

Have you used paper in a creative way lately? There are myriad ways to use paper to make beautiful things for your home or gifts for your friends and family. Have you tried quilling? It allows you to create impressive works of art from thin strips of paper that you roll and then shape. This is a great hobby where you can let your imagination soar! You can use these spirals and curly cues to adorn picture mats, invitations, cards and more. As you become proficient, quilling can be a work of art by itself – suitable for framing. Make flowers, animals, abstract designs, shapes and embellishments with this ancient method of decoration.

Here is a basic how-to in order to get you started. Gather any brightly colored paper you would like. Cardstock and construction paper are easiest to work with as they are sturdier, but anything will work. Cut your paper into various sized strips from about an inch down to 1/8 of an inch. Paper that is 2-4 inches in length is easiest to work with, but you can go as long as 6 inches for your projects.

Now you are ready to start the paper rolling process. You can buy a special quilling tool if you wish – these have a custom-designed slit at the top to hold the paper, but most of your designs can be make with any miniature cylindrical object. Try different items out to see how they work. You can use a toothpick, small dowel or needle. Roll the paper tightly, keeping the edges flush as you go. For the pieces you need to stay tightly wound, apply a drop of glue and hold in place to set before removing it from your rolling implement. If your design calls for a looser coil, you can let the paper relax a bit after removing it from your tool. 

Now let’s make an item that you can use for an upcoming holiday: a heart. Cut a red or pink 1/8 of an inch strip of paper to 6 inches in length. Fold this in half – giving you 3 inches on each side. Take your quilling tool and curl the paper up to ¼ inch of where your fold is and then let the paper go. Repeat with the other side. Pinch your paper at your fold at the bottom and style the coils inward to form a heart. Use this heart to embellish Valentine Cards, pictures, decorations or scrap books. Please see the hearts in the photo below:

By Nguyễn Tấn Phát (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons from Wikimedia Commons

About the Author

Margo Smith graduated with a B.S. degree from BYU. She loves to write and write and write. Working through college and being in the corporate world give her a great deal to say about subjects as diverse as paper crafting to online colleges to issues of ethics for our day.