Quilling: a type of ornamental craftwork involving the shaping of paper, fabric, or glass into delicate pleats or folds.
I started quilling in college when a friend introduced me to it to embellish handmade greeting cards. The first thing I ever quilled was a tiny heart for a Valentine's Day card for my now-husband. Since then, I've borrowed books from the library and perused many a blog on how to quill different shapes and grown to love it! I previously used a thumbtack (yes. a
thumbtack. ) to roll the strips of paper, but have now progressed to using a
professional quilling tool that speeds things up.
I love quilling because it's calming. I have to sit and think about my next move between each strip of paper I roll, because I do not usually draw out the final design. I also love that quilling paper is relatively inexpensive and I often make my own quilling paper by cutting strips of 8x11 sheets, even though it means that the height of each strip is sometimes inconsistent. And finally, I love quilling because it transforms paper into 3-dimensional, tangible designs with depth and shadows.
Here is one of my most recent framed quilling pieces that I gifted to my
sister for her birthday! I found the shadowbox frame on the Michaels clearance rack (now out of stock) for $6.
