Quilling How-To | theartofquilling.com

Jun 06 2010

Quilled Puzzle Piece Magnet

Published by Charlotte under Quilling Gifts, Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration

I really appreciate all of the feedback I receive from my newsletter subscribers and blog readers. One request that I hear quite often is for more quilling projects made from recycled materials, which is great because I enjoy creating them!

Several weeks ago, I stopped by a local thrift store and found a handmade cookbook from 1971. You know the kind — the recipes were all typed with a real typewriter then the pages were mimeographed and bound with a metal prong file clip into a book for the club members. It was awesome and all for only $0.50. What a bargain.

Along with the retro cookbook, I have had an old children’s puzzle in my supply stash for quite awhile (ever since the all important “last piece” went missing). When I looked in my inspiration bin and saw the cookbook and puzzle pieces, I knew I had the ingredients to cook up this week’s project — a quilled kitchen magnet.

Since your materials will differ (we are trying to use what we have, remember), I offer these general instructions as a guide for making your own Quilled Puzzle Piece Magnet.

You will need

Chipboard puzzle piece

Background paper (scrapbook paper, old wallpaper, etc.)

Recipe (from old book, newspaper, magazine, etc.)

Quilling paper, 1/8″ wide

Basic quilling tools (discussed earlier)

Spray adhesive

Sandpaper or emery board

Permanent fine-line marker, black

Distress ink (I used Tim Holtz’s Tea Dye)

Cotton swab

Magnet

Spray acrylic sealer (optional)

General instructions

Turn your puzzle piece so that the plain chipboard side is facing up (this will be the front of your magnet) and place it onto your background paper (right side of paper facing up), trace around the puzzle piece and cut out. Spray the front of the puzzle piece and the back side of the cut-out background paper with spray adhesive and adhere the two together.
Tear the recipe to fit the puzzle piece and glue in place. Clean up the edges of the puzzle piece by sanding them with the sand paper or emery board.
Dab the cotton swab on the ink pad and highlight the edges of the puzzle piece and torn edges of the recipe. Using the permanent marker, make stitch marks around the edges of the puzzle piece.
You are now ready to add the quilling. Here is where you can get creative matching the quilling to your chosen recipe. Since the one I selected was “Cherries in the Snow,” I added ripe red cherries with green leaves. This design would also work well with a cherry pie or tart recipe.
Spray the puzzle piece with an acrylic sealer (optional), glue a magnet to the back, and you’re done.

Quilling Tip

If you want THE gift for a special holiday that is sure to touch the recipient’s heart, make a copy of a handwritten recipe from a cherished family member and use it on the magnet, matching your quilling to the recipe. If your family is anything like mine, be ready for a big hug and have an extra tissue handy.

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Jan 30 2010

Enhance Your Quilling with Blending Chalks

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration, Quilling Technique

Fig 1

Blending chalks are an excellent choice when you want to add a bit of color to your quilling. Made by several manufacturers, they come in a wide array of colors from soft pastels to bright jewel tones. Some even have a bit of shimmer mixed in (Fig. 1).

Chalks are easy to use and, unlike inks, are quite forgiving. Small sponge applicators (similar to those used for eye shadow) usually come with the chalks. Replacements can be a bit pricey in the craft stores, so you might want to look into the make-up applicators available at discount or beauty supply stores. You can also use cotton swabs, cotton balls, and tissues to apply the chalk.

Fig 2

You can apply chalks directly to your finished quills. This allows you to add color without splicing strips together. For the leaf (Fig. 2), I applied a darker green to the lower portion of the shaped marquise and yellow to the top with just a touch of red on the tip. In the photo, a plain leaf is on the left for comparison.

Quilled flowers can be enhanced with chalks as well. Dark colors of chalk look striking on flowers made with light colored papers while light chalk colors can really make darker flowers pop.

Fig 3

Yellow was added to the center of this star flower (on the right) giving it a warm glow. A plain star flower is on the left for comparison (Fig. 3).

My favorite use of chalks is to highlight the background papers used with my quilling. I love the look of torn paper edges and think they add a nice texture to a finished piece. Sepia and brown colors will give your background papers a worn, aged look.

Fig 4

Adding a color that blends or contrasts with your quilling is a great way to add interest and draw your eye into the quilling, just like when you add a mat to a piece of framed art (Fig. 4).

Don’t limit yourself to just chalking the edges of the quilling background. When I created this Valentine’s Day card for my husband, I brought the red chalk in from the edges and made it a part of overall design.

Fig 5

The chalk highlights the subtle texture of the background paper without taking anything away from the true focus of the card — the quilled floral heart wreath (Fig 5).

Give blending chalks a try — I think you’ll find that they can give your quilling an added depth and beauty.

Tip: Blending chalks are actually quite inexpensive and last a very long time. They are softer, however, than the sidewalk or blackboard chalks you might have played with as a child and they crumble easily. Also, I found out the hard way that the individual pieces of chalk are not glued inside their trays and will fall out if dropped, making a mess on your carpet if you are not careful.

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Jan 15 2010

Quilled Stencil Rose

Published by Charlotte under Quilling Home Decor, Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration, Quilling Technique, Quilling Tips

In my last post (Groovy Birthday Wishes) I talked about the very popular technique of filling in an outline with quilling to form a design.

Normally, your piece of quilled art would be glued on top of your background surface like I did with the boot.

But, what happens if you place the quilling under the background, cutting out pieces to reveal the quilling?

You get a very striking piece of art that almost resembles needlework. It will look absolutely stunning and will add value to your home which is perhaps insured with Aviva (aviva.co.uk) or another company. Not just monetary value, but emotional value as the picture will soon become a family heirloom.

The method is quite simple:

Find a stencil that you like and lightly trace it onto the card stock you will be gluing the quilling shapes to. Remember, this paper will show through the coiled pieces, so you’ll want to choose a nice neutral or coordinating color that will go with your design.
Trace the stencil onto the paper you want as the cover for your quilling and cut it out with a craft knife. (Note: the piece is easier to frame if the bottom card stock and the top cover sheet are the same size.)
Roll your quilled shapes to fit slightly over the outline and glue to the card stock. Once finished, glue the top paper over the guilling, lining up the cut out stencil with your quilling and covering up any rough rough edges of the quilled design.
Frame your masterpiece and wait for friends to Oooooh and Ahhhh over your latest artistic endeavor.

Quilling Tip: This would make an awesome home decor DIY project. Add coordinating art work to a room that has a stenciled border. Use the same stencil for wall art and a coordinating pillow. Or create a stencil from a fabric pattern already in the room and bring it up to the wall with your own quilled piece.

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Dec 29 2009

Groovy Birthday Wishes

Published by Charlotte under Quilled Card, Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration, Quilling Technique, Quilling Tips

I was browsing through the bargain bins of ribbon and found a funky retro paisley design in yellow, green, and orange that simply screamed mini skirt and go-go boots.

I wasn’t a teen during the Mod 60’s, but I do remember having a pair of white go-go boots when I was in kindergarten (thinking I was quite the femme fatale) and watching Hullabaloo and Shindig on TV.

I used the ribbon as my inspiration for a fun retro birthday card featuring a quilled go-go boot. The boot was created using an “outline & fill-in” quilling technique. You can use this technique to create any design you wish by following these simple steps:

Draw an outline of the desired design, or find inspiration on the web. Resize the pattern as needed and print it out for your work board.
Tear several strips of paper (I find 6″ to be a good length) and quill them into loose coils. Starting at either the top or bottom of your design, pinch the coils into shapes that fit within the outline of your design. Glue the quills together where they touch and pin into place.
Continue filling in your pattern with pinched loose coils. If you are creating an elaborate design, you may want to “draw” lines within the pattern using paper strips or “paint” with your quills by changing the color of the quilling paper used for the coils.
Glue a strip of paper along the outside of your quilled piece to finish off the edge and complete your design.

Quilling Tip: Try coloring books and needlework patterns for designs with simple outlines.

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Aug 24 2009

Quilling Tip — Hiding the Paper Seams

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Technique, Quilling Tips

When I am working on a piece of quilling, I don’t like to see the seam where the end of the paper strip is glued to the coil. To me it looks unfinished and I try to avoid showing these seams when I can. Picky? Perhaps, but I think it gives the quilling a more polished appearance. I have been using three tricks for years to help minimize the tell-tale seam left behind when making quills from loose coils and thought I would share them with you.

Fig 1

1. Tear Your Paper Ends

Make sure that the end of the paper strip you glue down is torn so that the fibers blend into the coil. If you glue down a cut edge, the seam is much more noticeable. You can see the difference in Fig 1. The coil with the cut end is on the left and the one with the torn end is on the right.

Fig 2

2. Coil Shaping Tricks

There are two ways to hide the seams when making shaped coils (teardrops, marquises, squares, etc.). The first method is to pinch the coil into the shape so the glued end of the paper is even with the pinched edge. This gives a beautiful finish to the coil. In Fig 2, the teardrop on the left has been pinched with the end at the tip where it all but disappears. The teardrop on the right was shaped with the end clearly visible on the side. Shaping my coils with the end at the tip is the method that I use 99% of the time. However, if I know that the seam will be covered by another paper strip, such as a rose bud covered with a paper stem, I pinch the teardrop with the seam at the bottom.

Fig 3

3. Hide Seams During Assembly

When possible, glue the seam ends or sides of your coils to each other when assembling your quillwork. For example, if you are creating a flower from marquise coils, glue the tips with the pinched ends together for the center. If you are combining a coil and a scroll (Fig 3) glue the seam end of the marquise inside the fold of the scroll.

Fig 4

When gluing two loose coils together, try and turn the coils so that as one coil ends, the next one seems to begin, like an S-scroll only in two pieces (Fig 4).

I’m sure these hints are old news to the seasoned quillers out there, but I hope they help those new to the art take their quilling to the next level. Remember — it’s all in the details.

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Jul 18 2009

How To Glue Your Quilling to a Background Surface

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Tips

Unless you are creating a stand-alone, 3D paper sculpture, you will probably be attaching your finished quilling to some type of backing. This might be a card, scrapbook page, or a piece of mat board that you intend to frame. No matter what the surface, you will want to glue the quilling securely and cleanly with no glue showing to detract from your art.

There are several methods for applying the glue to the back of your quilling.

Spread a very thin layer of glue as large as your quilllwork onto a flat surface like a plate or plastic lid. Using a pair of tweezers, pick up your quilling, touch the bottom edges of the paper to the glue, then place it on the desired backing. A thin glue (such as Elmer’s) works best for this technique. If you normally use a thick, tacky glue for quilling, you might try thinning it with a drop or two of water. You want the glue thin enough to spread thinly and evenly over your flat work surface. A foam brush helps to spread the glue. If the glue is too thick, the loose center of the coils will stick to the gluing surface, pulling them apart and ruining your piece. This method works especially well when tendrils and vines are part of the design. Once you have the glue on the back of your quillwork, you need to attach it exactly where you want it. If you try and slide your quilling into the correct placement, you will leave glue smudges. Any glue you see will turn shiny and even though it is clear, it will be noticeable.

You can also use a small paintbrush to paint the glue onto the back of your quilling. Use care in touching only the bottom edges of the paper with the glue to avoid unwanted globs or smudges. Again, a thinner glue is easier to spread with the paintbrush. Tweezers are useful to help hold the quilling and assist in placement when glued.

I actually don’t use either of these methods. I spread glue on the back of my quilling using a toothpick. I pick up a little glue on the tip of the toothpick and roll the toothpick over the quills. Depending on the design, I apply glue to the tight rolls and centers of the quills to allow a little more “wiggle room” when placing the quilling on my background. If glue is not over the entire back, I can slide the quilling just a tad if needed without the glue showing. If I do end up with a bit of glue on the background, I slightly moisten a fresh toothpick (you don’t want it dripping) and gently wipe up the glue.

Quilling Tip: Make sure your background surface is ready before you apply glue to the back of your quillwork. You don’t want the glue to dry before you have a chance to attach the quilling. If not, you will have to apply more glue which increases your chances of having glue showing on your finished art.

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Jun 13 2009

Quilled Beach Tag

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Pattern, Quilling Tips

For me, summer means the beach. I love to hear the sound of the ocean waves crashing upon the shore as I lounge contentedly under the shade of a big umbrella. But, since I can’t go to the beach, I thought I would do the next best thing and craft something tropical instead. Today’s quilling pattern is a fun one because it introduces a new quilling coil, technique, and tool.

The trunk of the palm tree is made from a coil called a “rectangle” because it is, well, a rectangle. To make this quill, roll a loose coil and pinch it into a marquise. Next, move the marquise slightly between your thumbs and index fingers and pinch again, forming two more points near the original ones. You should now have a rectangle quill that has two long sides and two short sides.

We’ll also be playing with a new tool — a paper crimper. I bought mine at the North American Quilling Guild Conference this past May. The one I have is made by Paplin, but there are several good ones on the market. It isn’t a “must have” quilling tool, but it is so much fun. To use the crimper, simply feed your paper strip through the gears and it comes out crimped. If you don’t have a paper crimper you can still make the palm tree. Just make the palm fronds with straight quilling paper instead.

Finally, I want to show you a bit about wheatears. This isn’t a coil or a scroll because you don’t curl the paper, you loop it instead. To make a wheatear, create a small loop. Now, while holding the original loop, make a larger loop around it. Keep looping the paper until your wheatear is as long as desired, then glue the paper down at the starting point and either tear or cut off the excess paper. Wheatears can be left rounded, or shaped like a coil. For the palm frond, you’ll pinch the ends like a marquise and bend the ends in opposite directions to give the frond a little curve.

You will need

Basic quilling tools (discussed earlier)

Quilling paper, 1/8″: green, brown, gold

Free Quilling Pattern - Palm Tree & Small Goldfish

(4) 4″ Rectangle coil, brown (tree trunk)

(7) 3/4″ - 1-1/2″ long Wheatears, green (palm fronds)

(1) 3″ Teardrop coil, gold (fish body)

(1) 3″ Pressed heart coil, gold (fish fin)

Using the photo as a guide, glue the rectangle coils on top of each other to form the palm tree trunk. Give the top rectangle coil a little pinch to form the top of the trunk. Glue the base of each wheatear to the tip of the palm tree trunk, mixing up the sizes. Glue the tip of the gold pressed heart to the tip of the gold teardrop to create a fun little fish swimming in the surf.

The palm tree and fish make perfect additions to a beach-themed tag — a great embellishment for a vacation scrapbook page.

Additional Materials for Quilled Beach Tag

(1) Tag, 4-1/2″ x 2-1/8″, blue (DMD Industries)

Card stock scraps, turquoise, white, beige, gold

Blending chalk, brown (optional)

Jute twine, 6″

Using the photo as a guide, tear a strip of tan card stock, chalk the edge a darker brown (optional), and glue it to the tag for the sand. Tear a strip of white card stock and glue it over the bottom edge of the tan strip for the crashing waves. Tear a strip of turquoise and glue it along the bottom of the tag for the deep water, leaving a strip of the original blue tag showing for the shallow water. Tear a curved piece of gold card stock and glue it in the corner for the sun. Trim off any card stock edges even with the tag. Glue the palm tree and goldfish in place. Tie the jute on with a simple overhand knot and fringe the edges. Be sure to sign your work!

I hope you decide to join me at the beach and give this project a try. If so, I’d love to hear from you. Send me a comment and let me know how it turned out.

Quilling Tip: Don’t pinch the crimped paper too hard or you will flatten out the paper folds and lessen the effect.

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Jun 02 2009

Make Your Own Quilling Workboard & Design Guide

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Tips

If you are going to make more than just one or two small pieces of quilling, you owe it to yourself to purchase one of the quilling workboards and design guides that are currently available. These are quality boards made of dense self-healing cork or durable foam that are sturdy and made to last for years. The design grid guides and circle templates help you create precise, uniform quills, which is very important when working with symmetrical patterns such as snowflakes.

A variety of quality designer boards, grids, and templates are available from the Scrapbook Super Center (just enter “quilling” into the search menu) and Custom Quilling.

However, if you are working with a group (Scout troop, church group, craft club, etc.), it is not always practical to purchase each member their own quilling workboard. You can make one instead.

A simple, temporary board can be made from any sturdy sheet of cork board, plastic foam, corrugated cardboard, or other similar material. A nice size is 6″ x 8″, but use what you have. For my quilling classes, I have taken inexpensive 12″ x 12″ cork squares, cut them into four 6″ x 6″ squares, and edged them with masking tape. These work very well, and if one happens to get away from me, it can easily be replaced. Go green with a quilling workboard made from corrugated cardboard cut from a box that was headed for the trash. When it has too many holes to be useful, just place it in the recycling bin.

Wax paper makes a serviceable cover sheet for your workboard; it is handy and certainly cheap enough. However, a word of caution is in order – if too much glue is used and the quillwork is accidentally glued to the wax paper, when you remove the quillwork the wax will come up with the quilled design. I prefer to use clear plastic sheets cut from scrap (think old plastic sheet protectors or office transparencies) or recycled plastic packaging (not the hard stuff toys are packaged in, but the thin plastic scrapbook embellishments are wrapped in, heavy-duty food baggies, etc.). You can either pin the workboard cover in place, or wrap it around and tape it to the back. Slip your quilling pattern underneath the cover sheet (plastic or wax paper), pin in place, and create your quilled masterpiece.

For symmetrical work, a design grid can be created from a piece of graph paper cut to fit your quilling workboard. Using a ruler and black pen or fine-tip marker, draw in your vertical and horizontal lines to divide your sheet roughly into fourths. Continue to draw in intersecting lines as needed for your pattern. Circles can be added to the grid with the aid of a compass or circle template.

If you find that you need to make many coils of the same size, you can create your own template by tracing small round objects of various dimensions (coins, bottle caps, washers, brads, etc.) onto scrap paper or card stock. Place this guide (shown in the top photo) under your workboard cover sheet and allow your quills to uncoil to the size of the desired circle.

Quilling Tip: Use glue sparingly, especially when creating your design over wax paper so the wax on the wax paper does not become glued to the bottom of your quillwork.

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May 29 2009

Quilled Ladybug — Intermediate Quilling Pattern

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Pattern

I went into a local scrapbooking store yesterday and found a darling magnetic mini frame. It came in several colors and I started pondering the possibilities. When I saw the red one, however, one word came to mind — ladybug — and I knew that I just had to have it. I had originally thought that I would quill the ladybug, glue it to the center frame area, and seal it with an acrylic sealer since the quillwork would be exposed. Upon further investigation, however, I discovered that the back pulled off and there was enough space inside for the quilling if I used the thin 1/16″ quilling paper.

The pattern, as written, is really better suited for an intermediate quiller since it does call for 1/16″ wide paper which can be a bit tricky to work with. However, if you aren’t comfortable working with the thin papers, by all means, please use 1/8″ quilling strips.

The ladybug quilling pattern introduces a new coil called a “half circle.” To make a half circle, roll a loose coil and pinch it into a teardrop. Next, instead of pinching the coil again directly opposite from the first point (which forms a marquise), pinch the paper a second time closer to the first point. You can vary the height of the half circle by placing the two pinched points closer or further apart.

You will need

Basic quilling tools (discussed earlier)

Quilling paper, 1/16″: red, black, white

Free Quilling Pattern — Ladybug

(2) 22″ half circle coil, red (wings)

(1) 6″, half circle coil, black (head)

(1) 10″, teardrop coil, black (body)

(1) 1″, V-scroll, black (antennae)

(6) 1/2″-1″ tight coil, white (spots)

Using the photo as a guide, glue three white tight coils randomly inside the first red half circle coil forming spots on the wing. Repeat for the second wing. Glue the two red half circles together at the top only. Glue the black teardrop between the two red half circles to form the body. Glue the 6″ black half circle coil to the top of the ladybug body for her head. Attach the black V-scroll to the top of the 6″ half circle for the antennae.

This little ladybug would be so cute on a card or decorating a scrapbook page. I framed mine.

Additional Materials for Framed Ladybug

(1) Magnetic Mini Frame from Bazzill Basics Paper (holds a 1-3/4″ x 1-3/8″ photo), red, or similar frame

(2) 6″ pieces of 3/8″ ribbon, black with white stitching

(2) 3/8″ black buttons

(1) 1/2″ white button

Small piece of red floss

Scrap card stock: white, green

Small leaf stamp (See-D’s or similar)

Black ink (StazOn or similar)

Cut the white card stock 1/4″ larger than the opening. Stamp the leaf onto the green card stock and cut out. Glue the ladybug to the leaf and attach both to the white card stock. Glue the white card stock to the back of the frame with the leaf and ladybug showing inside the opening. Tie the two pieces of ribbon together to form a decorative knot. Referring to the photo, wrap the ribbon around the bottom of the frame, centering the knot, and secure the ends in the back. Clip the ribbon ends at the knot on the diagonal. Tie the red floss through the white button; clip ends. Glue the buttons onto the upper left-hand corner of the frame.

Sit back and admire your quilling. Don’t forget to sign your artwork!

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May 26 2009

Resizing a Quilling Pattern

Published by Charlotte under Quilling How-To, Quilling Pattern, Quilling Tips

It is very easy to change the size of a quilling pattern to fit your specific background — simply use a shorter or longer strip of quilling paper to make your quills. (A “quill” is just a generic name for your scrolls and/or coils.) With some practice, you will discover the size of the paper strip that will give you the size quill you need.

For example, I found the cutest matchbook notepad template from Mirkwood Designs and thought that the floral pattern from ”Quilling a Twinchie — Beginner Pattern” would be perfect on it. After printing out the matchbook template I discovered that the actual space available for the quillwork was only 1″ x 2″ which was too small for the twinchie pattern. To make the quilling design fit the new project I needed to reduce it, so I cut the length of the quilling strips called for in the pattern in half (except for the tight coil used for the flower center — I kept that at 1″ since smaller than that is difficult to work with).

So instead of:

(5) 6″ marquise coil, blue

(1) 6″ teardrop coil, blue

(1) 1″ tight coil, white

(1) 7″ V-scroll, green

(1) 4″ V-scroll, green

the quilling pattern used for the matchbook notepad is:

(5) 3″ marquise coil, pink

(1) 3″ teardrop coil, pink

(1) 1″ tight coil, white

(1) 3-1/2″ V-scroll, green

(1) 2″ V-scroll, green

As you can see in the comparison photo, the pink floral on the matchbook is just about half the size of the blue floral twinchie.

Don’t shy away from a quilling pattern just because it isn’t the exact size you need. Now that you know how to adjust the length of the quilling paper strips to make your quills larger or smaller, you can make any quilling design work for you.

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