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Twice a year, my local library system conducts a book sale of hardbacks, paperbacks, children’s books, magazines, and tapes, that have been either culled from circulation or donated by patrons for the sale.  With the emergence of online used book sales through ebay, Amazon, etc., the lines are long and the sale is crowded, but if you are up for it, attending one of these events can lead to awesome treasures at a fraction of the price for new books (from $0.10 - $1).  

 

I limit myself to two tote bags — if I can’t carry it, I can’t have it.  Others, however, show up with rolling carts and suitcases!  I have purchased some really nice old Christmas craft books along with some new ones on rubber stamping which provide wonderful inspiration for card layouts I can use with my quilling.  For those into altered art, the possibilities are endless.  I was raised in a household where books were revered and you didn’t mark in them, let alone cut them up, so I have a harder time thinking about books as potential art material, however I did pick up a pocket-sized 1978 World Atlas full of maps.  I think that pieces of it would make a wonderful addition to a bon voyage card or scrapbook page of that special trip.

 

Contact your local library or visit their website to see if they have annual book sales.  For me, I find it well worth the effort.

 

 

Quilling Tip:  Readers Digest condensed books, or other nicely bound books, look wonderful as props for your quilling.  Stack two on their side and top them with a piece of your framed quilling to create a bookshelf display you’ll be proud of.

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.

 

 

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.