Quilling in Magazines

Just imagine strolling down the aisle of your local supermarket or drugstore and then looking over at the magazines next to the checkout counter . . . there staring back at you on the cover of a women’s magazine (not a craft magazine) is a beautiful quilled design. How exciting that would be! Beautiful quilling, right out there for everyone to see and “ooh and aah” over. There is such a magazine, but unfortunately it is not here in the United States.

My quilling friend, Malinda Johnston, (yes that Malinda Johnston, the one who authored so many quilling books and founded Lake City Crafts) gave me a call after she came back from her trip to Paris. While in France she took a side trip to the Netherlands to visit her friend Trees Tra, who is also a quiller. (Some of you may have some of Trees Tra’s quilling books.) At any rate, she gave Malinda a copy of a Dutch women’s magazine called Libelle. The cover of the magazine shown here was covered with a delightful quilled design. Malinda was kind enough to send me the magazine; not only was there quilling on the cover but many of the article titles were done in quilling. If the whole title wasn’t quilled the capital letters were. While I am sure copy write laws would prohibit showing you all of these pages, I can tell you they were awesome. An article about Club Tropicana had the letters CLUB quilled with tropical palm trees coming out of the letters. What a boost for the art of quilling! The style looked kind of familiar to me; I went through the magazine to see if the artist was listed. When I couldn’t find any reference to her, I emailed the magazine to inquire who the artist was. (I used the Google translator since my knowledge of the Dutch language is non-existent. I can read some German and was able to get the general idea of some of the articles, but certainly couldn’t make an inquiry in anything other than English. Isn’t the internet awesome?) I did get a reply, and as I expected the artist was Yulia Brodskaya. I am sure many of you have heard of her, her work has been the subject of many quilling blogs. Her web site says “Yulia Brodskaya was born in Russia (Moscow); prior to moving to the UK in 2004 she was interested in diverse creative practices ranging from Textile Painting, Origami and Collage to more traditional Fine Art practices. Following an MA in Graphic Communication (2006, University of Hertfordshire) she has continued to experiment and explore ways of bringing together all the things she likes most: typography, paper, and highly detailed hand-made craft objects.” Here is a link to her web site http://www.artyulia.com/ When you get there click on Illustration and then PAPERgraphic to see some of her awesome work.

Quilling with Allen Girvin

One of the things that make my business so interesting is the contact I have with so many different quillers all over the world. Quillers are generous people who are always willing to share their ideas. Experienced quillers all know that when it comes to glue in quilling “less is best” and each of us has our own way of limiting the amount of glue we use on our work so we don’t get that pesky glue shine showing behind our quills. I recently spoke with a gentleman in his 90’s who told me he had developed a glue well which kept his glue moist and allowed him to use just the tiniest bit at a time. The sample he sent me was a square piece of Corian (you know the stuff that they make countertops from) He has drilled a hole in it and inserted a plastic cap. The glue gets squirted into the plastic cap and is then covered with a piece of masking or painter’s tape, (the tape is what keeps the glue from drying up)

Evangeline Enns & Quilling with the Blind

One of my favorite sayings is “life is what happens while you are making other plans” . . . well that is the story of my life! The last month or so has been absolute chaos. I had to spend more than a week in Florida, staying with my mom and her ailing husband, came back to CT and got busy with wedding orders, had a colossal flood, and then had to be in NJ for my Dad’s 90th birthday. WHEW! No wonder I’m tired. Those are my excuses for not keeping up with the blog! But . . . I’m back in the swing of things . . . sort of.

Several weeks ago I did a blog about teaching quilling to the visually impaired. Lots of responses and suggestions came in which I have not had time to compile. However, I did make copies of everything you all sent and forwarded them to Evangeline Enns, the Canadian quiller who is taking on this project. I am posting the letter she sent to me regarding all of your hints and tips. I will post some of the suggestions at a later date.

For Pat Caputo from Evangeline Enns RE: Teaching the blind to Quill.

Thanks to all who blogged & gave me the encouragement I needed. It arrived just in time too…the (C.N.I.B.) Canadian National Institute for the Blind; Edmonton chapter has a very good activity director who wants to add quilling to her array of classes given. Each of your notes had good ideas for me & I now feel it is possible. I feel that the people I will be working with have capabilities that will solve my questions as we go along.
I have quilled for 25 years. I started using an opened out paper clip. The knurled edge helped keep the paper in place. I discovered the tool only to be told by the English when I showed a piece in the England in the 90’s that I must go without it. I now do what each piece needs. I did not know until I read Dorah’s blog that I was rolling tool without watching or seeing through fingers and had been for years. Now I’m paying attention to what I feel as I use my tool.
I lay the paper flat between my left thumb and index finger. The paper is completely covered. With my right hand holding the tool, slide it on to the paper by wiggling the tool. When it is on, the thumb can be a “wall” to wiggle to, and then roll. Don’t forget to use your finger nail to prepare paper first.
Our first meeting in September will cover marquises, for a flower, a tight circle for the center, a couple of flowers and stems using ¼” strips. The activity director is going to shadow box each one so they will feel successful. This lady is quite sure this is possible, after she made a simple fridge magnet. She knows her people and their capabilities. As you know a flower in a box has more class than a fridge magnet with the same flower. At the end of the day I will probably be in shock.
After this we’ll know who are really interested in starting to learn the basics and make a sampler. I can show the way but they will show me how it can be done one class at a time.
Thank you so much for your encouragement. Keep in touch.
Evangeline Enns