Jul 29 2009
Coffee-Stained Quilling Experiment
I was having lunch one day with a good friend of mine, Marsha (hi, Marsha!) right after the launch of my blog and she was kind enough to listen to me as I told her about a tea-stained tag I saw on the ‘net and that I thought it would make good vintage background for a piece of quilling. Marsha made the comment, “I guess you couldn’t stain the actual quilling because it would fall apart because of the glue.” That comment stopped me in my tracks. I had never thought about staining the quilling. Could it be done? What would be the best technique to use? And most importantly, what would it look like? 
My curiosity was piqued and I had to find out.
My curiosity was piqued and I had to find out.You may be wondering about my use of coffee to stain the papers since tea is usually used. In our household, however, my husband is a coffee drinker and I make two small pots a day. So, instead of wasting a teabag, I used the coffee grounds still in the used filter for the staining.
The Process
I started by creating a quilled rose card (Fig 1) to use as the control for this experiment (remember your high-school science class?) to see what difference the staining made. The card consists of a quilled pink rose with mint green leaves on a white tag which is then layered on a rose stem printed paper and plain pink card stock. This was adhered to an ivory card (note: the actual folded card was never stained).
I then made a duplicate card, except I did not mount the pink card stock background to the actual folded card. I placed the piece on a plastic plate and dabbed it with the used coffee grounds (Fig 2). You’ll notice that only the tops of the quills were stained (Fig 3).
After the quilling dried, I adhered the stained quillwork to the folded card (Fig 4).
Next, I decided to stain the individual quilling papers and background papers used to make the quilled rose card (Fig 5).
The staining changed the look of papers giving them a more antique feel (Fig 6). You can see that the staining is more even on the quills when the individual papers are stained (Fig 7).
Fig 8 shows the completed card made from pre-stained quilling strips, tag, and background papers.
The final photo (Fig 9) shows the comparison of each card. (9A is the original control card, 9B is the card stained as a whole piece, and 9C is the card made from pre-stained pieces). My Thoughts
Staining the quilling as a whole piece is my least favorite technique. Already assembled, it was too hard to control the staining. I had a hard time getting into the nooks and crannies around the rose and the overall look is a bit too blotchy for me.
Staining the pieces individually gave me a lot more control. It was much easier to wipe away some of the stain if needed. The quilling papers crinkled up, but were easy enough to smooth out with my fingernail before rolling. You’ll note that I left the crinkle in the paper used for the tassel in this card since I thought it gave it more of a “fiber” effect. 
Overall, I like the looks of the card made with this technique. I think it looks like it was aged with time and gives a very romantic feel to the quilling.I would love to know what you think about my coffee-stained quilling experiement.
Please take a moment to send me a comment!
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Additional Materials for Card
