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.

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

Quilled Borders

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends . . . and once everyone has gone home and you recover from all that turkey, you’ll probably start thinking about all of that quilling you wanted to get done before Christmas. I have finally finished all of my special orders and can now concentrate on quilling some fun stuff. I have been working on a really special piece for my best friend, but I'lll save that for another day. What I wanted to talk about today is borders.

I recently had someone ask me about doing borders. Borders are usually placed around something, a verse, a photograph, a wedding invitation, just to name a few. There are lots of ways to do borders, you can run a border across the top and bottom of a piece, on opposite corners (one of my favorites), or all the way around the item you are “framing” with your quilling. Judy Cardinals book B5987 Quilled Borders & Motifs demonstrates borders using themes. An example of this is one of her baby borders which includes quilled baby bottles, rattles, and safety pins. Claire Choi’s book The Art of Paper Quilling has a whole section on borders. In the section on cards, she uses borders (mostly floral) to surround the sentiment on the front of the card, like “love”. The borders she uses on some of the framed pieces are usually in opposite corners. When working on opposite corners, you can keep the quilling symmetrical, using the same flowers or shapes in the same colors so they are “mirror images” of each other. The roses and calla lily border is one of these as is my top and bottom designs, while in the piece with the quilled ribbon the flowers are done in different colors and placed without regard to “matching’ the design on the opposite corner.

I think the borders that are the most daunting, are the ones that go all around the opening or the edge of the frame. I will tell you how I plan these out. If I am working with a rectangular border, I start in the corners. I usually make some shapes and “play” with them while they are dry to decide how I want the border to look. Then I start to work in from towards the center, adding shapes to complete the border. In this way, if your spacing is a little off and you have a gap in the center, you can just add one additional quill. Another tip: if the piece is a rectangle, I do the four corners first and then start working across the top and bottom at the same time; once the top and bottom are done then I start working on the two sides. This is particularly important if the design is complex.

If I am working on an oval border, I start at the centers (top and bottom, left and right) and then work inward. I have included some pictures here, these are fairly simple borders, but if you want to see totally awesome all around borders you need to go to Quillin From the Heart Clareen Bankhead’s borders are incredible! Her work is so delicate and beautiful that I just enjoy going over to her site to admire it all.

New Husking Cards

New Husking Cards

Here is some exciting news for those of you who love husking, but don’t want to design your own patterns. Elizabeth’s Creations has just introduced new husking cards; these are 3” x 5” laminated cards with pre-designed husking patterns. You use them with your own work board and pins which keeps the price down to a reasonable $5.00 each.

For those of you who may not be familiar with husking; it is an interesting technique. Instead of rolling the paper the paper is wrapped around pins. Starting with pin #1, wrap it around the pin several times or to make a tiny glued loop around the pin, then wrap around pin #2, back to #1, around #3 back to #1 and so on. It is optional as to whether you want to put a dab of glue each time you get to #1, but you might want to the first time out. Once the shape has been completed,, I suggest that you twist the pins to remove them (just in case they got any glue on them) and then gently lift the finished piece off the board/card. Husking with pins has the advantage of making all of the shapes exactly the same size. It is especially pretty when done with specialty papers like two toned or graduated strips. You really get to see both sides of the strips because husking is much more “open” than traditional quilling. I also like to use gilded edge strips when I make husked snowflakes (I actually like gilded edge strips on my regular quilled snowflakes too); I like to used the blue gilded edge on white for my husked snowflakes.

Of course you can “do it yourself” with a piece of graph paper (on which you mark your pattern), waxed paper, a work board and pins. When I teach this technique that is what I use rather than having students invest in materials for a technique they may or may not enjoy. The down side of drawing your own designs on graph paper is that it wears out pretty quickly; the holes get larger and kind of sloppy. The laminated cards eliminate that problem; if you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel the pre marked pattern cards are a good idea.

We have carried Elizabeth’s Creations wooden husking boards for years, our customers have been very happy with them, although sometimes they have trouble deciding which one(s) they want. The laminated cards are 1/3 the price of the wood ones so you can get a bigger “bang for your buck”, no small consideration these days.

These cards have multiple sizes of each design on a card eliminating all of the guess work. Mary Elizabeth has 10 cards to start with more to come. Designs include: T001 Butterflies, Dragonflies and Flowers which includes 4 sizes of each petal/wing, T002 Classic Hearts in eight sizes, T003 Original Hearts in 7 sizes, and T004 Primitive Hearts with 10 sizes. (Mary Elizabeth says “These hearts are fun to make and can be used for many different designs . . . angel wings, flower petals, borders, butterflies, and oh yes . . . hearts) T010 the Snowflakes and More cards have three styles of snowflakes. There are five “nothing but holes” T005, T006, T007, T008, & T009 cards each with a different scale (i.e. 4 holes to an inch, right up to 8 holes per inch). The more dots per inch the smaller the grid, we do still carry that wonderful Dutch book “Quilling for Cards” by Janetta van Roekel-Wolters that has instructions for 21 husked designs. The book is written in Dutch and English; it is a great companion to the nothing but holes card.

Sister Consolata & Quilling

Sister Consolata

I had a very good friend who used to tell me “What goes around, comes around”, I was never quite sure what he meant but have finally found an example which illustrates this point. As most of you know, anecdotal history tells us that quilling was “invented” by nuns centuries ago. The story as I heard it was that nuns cut off the gilded edges of old manuscripts to decorate religious artifacts. The result looked much like metal filigree. Recently, I was contacted by a nun, Sister Consolata, who asked for a catalogue of our products. I sent her our standard “info pack” which includes our order forms, color chart, samples of some of our specialty papers, and an informational letter which includes information about the quilling guilds (here in the USA and in England) and information about some of the online quilling groups. Several weeks later, I received a lovely typewritten letter from her; I would like to share some of it with you.

“Dear Miss Caputo,
While going over the material that was sent to me by Whimsiquills some time ago, I came across you very kind letter which was included with the material. I am very sorry that I somehow overlooked your letter when I first opened the envelope. Today, I determined to write to you.

I am a 94 year old Notre Dame Sister, and I have done quilling for about eight years. At one time I had some gift tags which were being sold in a shop here in Omaha. A dear lady was interested in them and obtained my address. Her name is Jan. She wrote to me and asked if I gave lessons on this craft. I wrote back and told her that I did not give lessons, but would teach her what I knew about quilling. I learned by using two books that a dear friend had given me.

So this lovely Jan came out to our convent and we became good friends. Jan far surpassed me in quilling. I told her “because of her nurse’s fingers,” you have become and expert in this craft. We had so many interesting times together and Jan gave me many materials to help me in my work. I am very sorry to tell you that lately Jan sent me, through a friend, much of her quilling paper. She has been very ill and cannot do any quilling.

However, I now have a little boy of Omaha, who is my new pupil. His grandparents, when touring our building, noticed me working on a quilled picture down in my art work room. They told me about their eleven year old grandson who is very talented in art and music. When they left our convent, these good people stopped at a craft store and purchased a book and some quilling tools. The next week, this dear grandmother brought young Spencer to me in order to learn about quilling. He is such a dear lad and I know he will do some beautiful work. In fact, I just learned that his teacher wants him to teach her to quill!!”

Her letter went on to tell me a little more about herself, she is a former teacher, and she “still make(s) many gift tags which sell well. I do tire easily so I cannot work as fast as I once did . . . but I want to keep on quilling as long as the Good Lord gives me the strength and ability to do so.” What a delight! Oh yes, she said in her letter that “I am the only nun in the community who does quilling . . .so far.

Quilled Card Making Techniques Continued

Quilled Card Making Techniques Continued

I’ve toyed with the idea of trying some other techniques with my quilled cards. The first technique I tried was paper pricking (piercing). That’s when you prick out a design on the card with a pin (or a special pricking tool). The design can be pierced from the front or the back of the card or a combination of both. It’s really quite pretty and combines well with quilling especially if you use the pierced design as a border. I felt it was way too time consuming to use on a card; I used the technique to make some very pretty background piercing on handmade paper (which I bought, I did not make it). Then I quilled bouquets of flowers which I put on the background and framed. I have since discovered (well I didn’t really discover it, but I found out about it) a tool called the pounce wheel. This wonderful little gizmo will do a pricked border in a jiffy! You can’t use it for everything, although I did do a very nice scalloped border, but I use it to give a pricked edge on some of the papers I use for my cards.

I also bought a book on parchment craft . . . and parchment . . . and tools. However after sitting down and looking at the book, I decided I was not ready for parchment. It seemed very involved and rather complicated. What I have found though, is a book called The All New Compendium of Cardmaking Techniques by Search Press. It came up when I was doing a search for new quilling books. It has a 27 page section on quilling; the designs are some of the ones found in Diane Crane’s Quilled Greeting Cards. What it does have is very basic information for a number of other techniques. “Thread Cards” their term for paper embroidery is just one of them. While I might not want to make a whole thread card, that might be an interesting technique to use for the vase of quilled flowers. I always have to think about what design to use for a vase; making a “threaded vase” might give a whole different look and texture to a piece. It would be pretty small if I were making it for a card but might look pretty neat in a framed piece as well. Hmm . . . There is a section on watercolor cards, which I almost skipped right over . . . I don’t enjoy painting anything, furniture, walls, NOTHING! But . . . there is an interesting section on creating a wash for a background and getting some really neat looks using spattering and salt, of all things! The “Quick Parchment Cards” section has made me rethink the whole parchment thing, especially when I saw some of the border designs and saw it used on color cards. When I got to the silk flower section, I just substituted quilled flowers in my mind. The section on beaded cards combined paper pricking and lace. I am not trying to read the whole book to you but it does have some good basic information so if you are interested in trying any of these techniques, I think it is a pretty good starting point. I have a whole bunch of small quilled pieces that I had made for the 2009 Accord calendar and of course that project got scrapped. So I think I will take a look at them again and look through my books and maybe I can really dress them up. I don’t usually send cards out for Halloween, but some of the designs are really cute Halloween designs, so maybe I will just surprise my family with Halloween cards this year.

Glues & Fixatives Part # 2

Glues & Fixatives – Part 2

Here comes the part about fixatives/sealers etc. Just like with the glue, everyone has an opinion or favorite. Here we will be discussing my favorites and some of my “not so favorites”. I think most new quillers worry about how to “preserve” their work. Of course paper filigree is more fragile than metal filigree, but it is surprisingly strong especially when rolled and glued on edge. I don’t use a sealer or fixative on anything but pieces that are free standing or are not protected by glass. I don’t use anything on pieces I put on scrapbook pages or greeting cards, paper is much stronger than most people realize. I have one of the very first pieces I made, a Sunbonnet Sue, which I made to hang in my daughter’s bedroom. It is done on a wood plaque, it has not been sprayed or coated with anything and is not under glass. It still hangs in my studio 34 years later and still looks the same, (except for the dust).

One of the very first quilling books I bought was written in 1974. It was called “Quilling Paper Art for Everyone” by Betty Christy and Doris Tracy. It contained a wealth of knowledge, (no color pictures), and I still like to leaf through it now and then. It’s a little dog eared, especially since one of my dogs chewed the corners when he was a puppy, but it was the first quilling book I bought and it still has a special place in my quilling library. (Partially because I have met Betty Christy, and spent time with her at several quilling conferences. She is quite a character.) However, this book recommends spraying your finished pieces with a clear plastic or acrylic spray. I have tried many different sprays over the years, and found that even the ones that say non-yellowing have a tendency to yellow the papers especially on white snowflakes. Some quillers recommend coating the pieces with a thinned mixture of white glue, I find that when the glue dries it leaves a shine, making the paper look almost like plastic. If I take all the time necessary to make those little rolls and coils, I’ll be darned if I want it to look like plastic. I’ve also heard of quillers who use, lacquer, varnish, and even nail polish! YUK!! Still plastic looking not to mention the smell! But of course, that’s just my opinion.

The first product I found that I really liked was a product called Petal Porcelain put out by Plaid. I have no idea why I tried it, maybe because it said the finished look was like porcelain (which beats plastic in my book). This came in a little jar, was quite thick; it had to be applied with a brush and it was PINK! But . . . it dried to clear bisque like finish and it did not change the look of the paper at all! I used it a lot when I was making and selling quilled earrings (about a hundred years ago) and it worked really well! It protected the paper from the oils of fingers and even survived my accidentally dropping an earring in the glass of water I used to clean my brush. The downside was that it was thick and if you were coating a large piece it took a long time.

When I made the quilled tea cup and saucer I knew I needed to find something that I didn’t have to brush on or the coating would take as long as the quilling. That’s when I found Stiffen Stuff by Beacon products. It was originally intended for stiffening ribbons (you know like the kinds you put on baskets etc.) I tried it out on something other than my first tea cup and was very pleased with the results. Because it is sprayed on, it is quite wet, so several very light coats are recommended letting it dry between coats. It dries pretty quickly, but if you are in a real hurry you can use a hair dryer on low. Also, I learned that you really need to rinse off the spray top of the bottle after each use or the Stiffen Stuff will clog the spray hole. For several years, this was the only product of this type I could find although now there are several other brands available. The problem seems to be finding it. When I first purchased it, I found it a Wal-Mart and have since seen it at Michaels. But a number of Whimsiquills customers have told me that it is not available in their Michaels or Wal-Mart’s, so we have brought it in as an item on the Whimsiquills web site in case you want to try it but are unable to find it.

PS I have an interesting little anecdote which kind of relates to flowers looking like plastic, porcelain etc. I had a young woman come to the Whimsiquills studio to choose a design for a wedding gift she was giving to a very special teacher/mentor. She came with her mom, and we spent considerable time picking out colors, style of quilling, and which flowers were to go in the finished piece. When they were ready to leave and were walking down the hall, where I have many quilled pieces displayed, her mother turned around and asked me, “but where do you BUY these flowers?” Needless to say, I turned them right around and gave them a little impromptu demonstration!

Glues & Fixatives with Quilling

Glues and Fixatives

As those of you who follow this blog know, I have been quilling for 30+ years, actually it is almost 35 years. Two of the questions that keep popping up are about what kind of glue should be used and does the finished piece need some kind of fixative to preserve it. Let me start with the glue.

Glue can be a sticky subject (just kidding); everybody has an opinion and/or a favorite; this is my opinion. In general terms, white glue that dries clear, is water soluble for easy cleanup, and one that is non toxic and has no fumes is preferred. Since every coil you make will either have to be glued shut, glued to a surface or another coil you want to be working with a product that is safe and easy to use. Having said that, one of the most important things to know is that “less is best” when it comes to gluing your work. Even though the glue will dry clear, that doesn’t necessarily make it invisible. If you are using excessive amounts of glue, it WILL show either as a shine or as a shiny glob, clear but obvious. When I started quilling, I used white glue put out by Leewards, it was inexpensive, it didn’t smell, and it dried clear . . . then I actually had a bottle go bad and turn an ugly brown color (I have no idea who the actual manufacturer was). Then I tried Elmer’s and Sobo. I didn’t like the Elmer’s, I felt it was too “watery” and it took too long to hold. I was more satisfied with the Sobo. One year I decided to put my quilling on glass Christmas balls, what a joy that was! I had quilling sliding down the sides of the round balls, YUK!! That’s when I tried Aleene’s Tacky Glue which solved my “sliding” problem. Before long, I was using the tacky glue for all of my quilling; I guess I am just not patient enough to wait for a thinner glue to “set”. Recently, we started carrying pearlized and metallic finished papers here at Whimsiquills and my impatience reared its ugly head again. I hate to glue a coil shut and have it “pop” open the minute I set it down. I especially hate it if I am placing it directly on a mat (which is my usual way of working), if it moves, it leaves a smear which is really tough to remove. So . . . . Now, I am trying Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue. I don’t like it for everything, but it does work well on those shiny coated papers.

How do I apply the glue? When I first started quilling I would put a little blob of glue on a piece of waxed paper and apply it with a toothpick. That works pretty well, but you do get a buildup of glue on the toothpick so it needs to be cleaned frequently; the glue on the wax paper starts to dry out and needs to be replenished. Boy was I thrilled when I tried my first fine tipped glue bottle! The first ones I bought were from England; it took me a long time to find a company that manufactured them here, but I have been sold on them ever since. We usually send our bottles out with two tips, one finer than the other so they work well with thick or thin glues. The glue bottles give so much more control when applying glue to those tiny pieces of paper we are so fond of. But there are times when the glue bottle might not be your best option. If you do your work on a work board and then transfer it to a mat or other surface, you may find you need to dip your pieces into the glue. What I find works best for me is to spread out a thin coating of glue on an easily cleaned surface like a plastic lid from a yogurt container or a “Glue Spot” (I’ll explain about them in a minute). Then pick up the quilled piece with your tweezers (I used a bent nose tweezers) and very gently let the bottom edges of your piece touch the spread out glue. If you get too much glue on the piece, tap off the excess by placing it on another piece of plastic and then lifting it off. The excess glue will stay on the plastic and you can place your piece on your mat. This is the method I always use when placing flower stems on a piece.

To get back to the “glue Spot”; this is a nifty little item patented by my friend and fellow quiller Molly Smith (She is the author of “The New Paper Quilling” ). She gave me one at our NAQG quilling conference and I have been using it ever since. It has a great plastic like finish that you can spread your glue on. After you are done working you just peel off the dried glue remnants and toss them. We will be carrying them at Whimsiquills, keep watching the NEW page on the web site. Next topic Fixatives (there was a lot more to say about glue than I thought) so long for now. (If there are any errors in this blog, it’s not my fault. I had to take 75 mg of Benedryl in order to keep breathing today!)

Quilled Greeting Cards & More

Quilled Greeting Cards & More

Handmade greeting cards have been very popular "across the pond" in England for a long time, and now they seem to be growing in popularity here in the United States. Let's face it . . . the cost of cards, like everything else, continues to rise. With gas prices out of site, and in a few months, those of us who live in colder climates will be dealing with the outrageous cost of heating oil, I don't think there is going to be a lot of extra money for $5-7 greeting cards or much of anything extra. In my last post, I wrote a little about quilled greeting cards; I thought it would be a good idea to expand on the topic.

I have just received an advanced copy of Alli Bartkowski's new book 50 Nifty Quilled Cards. I don't know about you, but I always enjoy looking through books because they stimulate me and give me ideas about what I would like to try. Coming up with ideas for fifty cards can't be easy, but Alli managed to do it. The quilling is relatively simple, but is dressed up by stacking different papers together to make the background for the quilling. For example: one of her cards used embossed vellum over plain card stock, a pearl on each of the 4 corners and a ribbon tied around the whole thing. Where was the quilling? A circle was cut out of the vellum with the cardstock showing through. Alli made two tiny birds (using a shaped teardrop for the head, and a larger shaped teardrop for the body) that look like they are "kissing" beak to beak; and above them two tiny teardrops make a heart. It's adorable! And easy! She has also added things like bits of ribbon, decorative embellishments like buttons and charms, decorative papers and gems. There are cards for holidays (I love her tiny angels) and for any occasion you can think of. It's a fun book and should be available in September.

Another fun book about card making is Marie Browning's New Concepts in Paper Quilling. In this book Browning actually shows you how to make the card blanks, liners, and envelopes. I generally stick with the card blanks we sell, we have white cards with rectangular, oval or heart shaped windows; we now have color cards and envelopes which are fun to work with as well. When using the window cards, I usually use a contrasting paper behind the cutouts and then place my quilling inside the cutouts.. I enjoy making cards using various border punches and quilling strips, but am intrigued by some of the ideas in this book as well. I like the look of the cards when different papers are stacked or layered. The cards in this book are quite elaborate although the quilling itself is not too difficult. The theme for the card is also carried over to the envelope which is another nice touch to the cards in this book. Some of these cards are almost too pretty to be cards and would certainly be appropriate for framing.

Of course, you might not want to send quilled cards to everyone on your greeting card list, so in my next post I will be discussing some other ideas for handmade cards. Then again, you might have people on your card list who wouldn't appreciate a handmade card. When I taught a workshop on dressing up your quilled cards at North American Quilling Guild Conference in Rhode Island, we had quite a discussion about who should get the fruits of our labor. One of the quillers said she would never send her sister a quilled card because she knew it would just get tossed; other quillers agreed that that sister didn't deserve a handmade card. I made my mother a set of quilled note cards several years ago because she always enjoyed getting my notes. When I visit her, they are still sitting on her desk, she wouldn't dream of writing on them and sending them off to someone else. I guess Moms are just like that. Here are a few other books to look at when making cards with quilling: Whimsiquills Book Review PageB171 Greeting Card DesignsB173 Quilling for Scrapbooks & CardsB5988 Quilling for CardsB352554 Card Making Techniques

Quilling Greeting Cards

Quilling Greeting Cards

I’ve decided not to buy greeting cards anymore. I’ve decided to make them . . . for a lot of different reasons. First of all I find it very difficult to find a card that says exactly what I want it to. For example: I didn’t actually meet my biological father until I was fifty five years old. He left to go off to the war when I was just a few days old. When he came back, both he and my mother were very different people and their marriage became a casualty of war. When I “found” him, I learned that I have a brother! Hallmark just doesn’t have a card that says what I need it to. I can spend hours, literally, reading through every card on the rack and then either leave empty handed or settle for something I’m not really pleased with. It didn’t really leave me much choice. Then of course there is the cost! It seems the only cards that appeal to me are the ones that cost megabucks.

Since I am a quiller, I would occasionally quill a card for a special occasion, (I always quill gift cards), and then worry about it getting squashed in the mail. Of course we all know how time consuming quilling can be, so I began to look for ways to “dress up” my quilled cards, to make them really pretty without having a lot of elaborate time consuming quilling. I started paying a little more attention to card making and scrapbooking books. Well, my worries are over; as card making grows in popularity here in the United States there is more and more information and ideas at your fingertips. We carry several books here at Whimsiquills specifically geared toward card making. My first cards were on plain white cardstock, and then I started trimming the edges of the cards with fancy edged quilling strips in matching colors. (I would cut the wide quilling strips with those decorative edge scissors.) Then I moved on to some tri-fold cards with decorative cut outs like hearts, ovals, and rectangles. I liked the openings because they “framed” the quilling, I would use a contrasting color as the background in the opening.

My daughter, who is into scrapbooking, told me about the decorative borders she used in scrapbooking, so I started looking at borders and border punches; it was just a logical progression to start using some of these ideas in my cards. Since I was enjoying using these, I decided to include them in the Whimsiquills line. Funny how things happen. One of my suppliers, Paplin Products, asked if I would be interested in seeing some cardboard mailers . . . perfect for mailing quilled greeting cards! Of course I was interested! Then they asked me what I thought about a line of colored cards and envelopes. At first I wasn’t sure about how the quilling would look on the colored cards. But I remembered doing some Easter quilling for Family Circle magazine several years ago. The cards they sent were colored . . . I got a lot of calls about those colored cards. At the time, I checked with Family Circle and they told me they had bought the cards at a little boutique. Paplin sent me some samples and I really enjoyed working with them. I used some circle border punches to “frame” the quilling on some of them. Circle punch On others, I combined some of the border punches to dress up the cards. The small designs I had created for the Accord quilling calendars were perfect for the cards. Combined border punches. There are tons of samples on the cards and scrapbook link .

Of course after you make your pretty handmade card, you have to decide what you want it to say. There are some great sites on the internet like http://www.verses4cards.co.uk/ and http://quotegarden.com/ These are just a couple of sites, there are tons more out there. You can print out a verse in a pretty or fun font and attach it to the inside of your card. Of course if your handwriting is nice or if you know calligraphy you can write your verse. I use a removable adhesive called Dotto to attach the “verse” to the inside of the card. The verse can be removed and the card can be recycled! How about that!! You can have your own line of “green” cards, save gas by making them at home, save money by not buying the fancy commercial greeting cards, and your cards can be recycled!

Digital Quilling

Digital Quilling

Actually, I can’t take credit for finding this site, Debbie, my right arm, did. She saw a picture and the caption “A box full of Quilling paper filigree pieces new in the Shoppe”. She printed it out and ran upstairs to show me. My initial thought was that it was a kit of some sort, but then I thought, how can that possibly be? It said there were 230 quilling pieces . . . in several different color combinations ready for you to be creative with them and arrange them into patterns for corners of photos or frames and pages.” I probably reread that caption three times before I realized that I had missed the words “on individual files” . . . then I realized I was looking at DIGITAL QUILLING!!! HI-TECH QUILLING!!!!! How cool is that! I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around it! Of course, my next step was to try and learn a little more about it. I sent an email to “Blushbutter” the creator. Her name is Vanessa and she, as it turns out lives in Australia. She told me she started quilling about 11 years ago when her oldest child was 4 years old. Vanessa said after studying graphic design 6 years ago and having two more boys, she found little time for quilling. She finally decided to make a digital quilling kit. In her email to me she said, “I am sure you can appreciate the skill taken to digitally cut the pieces out of the backgrounds of my cards which has taken many hours of patience, but it’s been worth it as a lot my customers who have adored the quilling craft in their younger years but don’t have the fine motor skills of their fingers either from arthritis or swelling anymore can now do the craft digitally.” Actually, I can only imagine the skill it must take to do this as I am totally clueless about digital anything.

My scrapbooking, like my quilling, is the paper and scissor variety. I wouldn’t know where to begin trying to create a digital page combining my work. I did have a very interesting conversation recently with Paige Meeker, a fellow quilling guild member, and she was telling me a little bit about digital scrapbooking and gave me a couple of sites to check out. My daughter, who is an avid scrap booker and a not-so-avid quiller has also volunteered to help educate her poor-over-the-hill mother in the ways of all things digital. (Did I tell you she used 1/8” navy blue quilling strips to pin stripe the pages of her New York Yankees scrapbook?) I will keep you posted as I learn more about this! Here is a link so you can see for yourself. Take some time to browse; there is lots of interesting stuff . . . even if I don’t know how to use most of it. http://digitalscrapbookpreviews.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3703

BTW Here is another interesting link; this is a blog whose author/artist creates a skull a day! That’s right . . . a skull a day! I have no idea why, but the interesting thing is that one of the skulls is QUILLED! It’s really neat . . . I had to add my comment when someone referred to quilling as an “old lady craft”, little do they know that not ALL of us are old ladies, although I did acknowledge that I am well on my way. Here is the link http://skulladay.blogspot.com/2008/04/312-quilled-skull.html Enjoy!

Quilling & Home Schooling

Quilling & Home Schooling

I came upon a mention of quilling in a site recently and was surprised to learn that it was a site for home schooling. I was an "at home" mom during my children's early years and enjoyed all of the activities we shared together, but I can't imagine the energy and dedication it must take to home school them. It is obvious that our educational system in this country leaves something to be desired and that the needs of many young children are not being met: I guess that's why so many parents have decided to home school and why so many magnet schools are popping up. It is the exceptional teacher who can keep the subject matter fresh, new, and exciting. But I digress! I thought it was exciting to see quilling in a study unit, especially when so many art majors and teachers have never heard of it. I contacted Amy Pak http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmhvbWVzY2hvb2xpbnRoZXdvb2RzLmNvbS8= and told her that I was a quiller, a member of the North American Quilling Guild, and how happy I was to see quilling included in the study program. I am always happy to see quilling being introduced to a new group of potential enthusiasts. I also told her about the blog and that we had free reference materials and patterns on our web site. Amy told me "We included quilling in the program as it was an art form that had carried over from Europe to the colonial era of America. It is important to us to share various forms of art for the children to try and experience!" Amy said she hadn't actually tried quilling until she did the Colonial Life unit, but she said "It was a joy to do!" She went on to say that her sons, 9 and 11 years old, enjoyed their quilling experience as well creating "scenes that were totally their own, by using the shapes to fit as they needed."

I took a few minutes to browse through some of the information on the Colonial Life unit and saw other "hands on" activities like punch tin, reverse painting, making a rope bed and straw tick. I thought back to when I was in high school; I hated history and didn't understand its significance. I took US history in summer school so I wouldn't have to sit through a whole school year of history classes. I probably would have felt differently had I had a more "hands on" experience and learned what life was really like in colonial America; I know I would have enjoyed learning about quilling. Let's see; I learned to quill when I was about 30, if I learned in school, just imagine how much more "stuff" I would have made by now!. It is certainly food for thought!

Quilling Comfort Zone

Quilling Comfort Zone

Today I’d like to talk a little about punches. Many quillers use punched flowers in with their quilled flowers. I actually bought a book on punched flowers at one of AGM’s I attended. But as I sat and read the instructions, I felt like this was a wholly different thing that what I love to do. I never even attempted one flower from that book. I’ve also seen some pretty neat leaf punches, but there are so many different ways to make quilled leaves, that I just never even tried the punched ones I do sprinkle a few small punch flowers in with my work, some simple flowers made with ¼” hole punches or heart punches. But the bulk of flowers I use are quilled.

Like everyone else, I find that sometimes I get into a rut and make the same flowers over and over in different colors. I am in my comfort zone and it is definitely easier to make what I know than it is to think up new flowers and experiment with them. That’s where books come in. On a quiet day, I make a cup of tea, and sit down with a stack of quilling books and just browse. There are all kinds of ideas and techniques to try, even in the books I am not particularly fond of. The next step is to play around with my quilling strips and try some of the “new” flowers. Some come easily and others seem like they are more trouble than they are worth. That seems like a strange thing to say considering how many roses I make. I make the kind made with rectangular pieces of 3/8” paper. Each petal is a separate piece of paper, and I fill the centers with gently curved ¼” holes. I make them using 3 different shades of the same color making the centers darker and the outer petals a lighter shade. What could be more trouble than making these roses? Well, that’s just it; I don’t consider them trouble because I do them easily and I do them well, but some of the other flowers can be a real challenge for me. For example, I love some of Claire Choi’s flowers in her book “The Art of Paper Quilling.” She has a flower on page 44 of her book which she simply calls “yellow flower wrapped in white strips”. She starts out with two yellow half moons and then places an orange four looped wheatear (or she calls it a vertical husking) between the two half moon and then wraps the whole thing with a white strip several times leaving some space at the tips of the petals so she can pinch it to a point. I LOVE this flower. There are several variations of this flower in her book. Do you think I can make one? NOT!!! This one is so far out of my comfort zone it might as well be at the South Pole. But, I will keep trying; I think I might be trying to make it too small . . . but I LIKE small flowers . . . oh well. There is another book, just out called “Quilled Border and Motifs” by Judy Cardinal. She does some really neat flowers, she calls fantasy flowers. Again . . . talk about comfort zones . . . I tend to try and make my flowers look like “real” flowers while she is having fun. Hmmm . . . I think I need to take a good look at this whole comfort zone thing. Well now that I have completely gone off on a tangent, I really didn’t talk about punches at all but I will next time. Next time I will talk about punches that I have come to love, border punches . . . in the meantime, here is another new book Quilled Wild Flowers by Janet Wilson to give you some more food for thought. Maybe I will sit down with Claire Choi at out next AGM (Annual Guild Meeting) and ask her to show me how to make those flowers.

Quilling Without a Pattern

Quilling without a Pattern


Where do I get patterns for quilling? How can I quill without a pattern? These are frequently asked questions, especially for new quillers. Most people when they look at quilling for the first time are overwhelmed by its complexity. That’s because they are looking at a finished piece not the components that make up the piece. When I taught basic quilling classes, I would always bring in a piece with a quilled border and tell my students that by the end of the class, they would be able to duplicate the border. Then I teach them the basic shapes and go back to the border to show them each coil they have just learned. They are always astounded! The border they thought was so complex is now relatively simple. I don’t teach using patterns because I never wanted my students to feel limited to what the pattern calls for. After they have learned the basic shapes, I give them each a small mat board or card and encourage them to “do their thing”. It is fascinating to see how a group of ten students will come up with ten totally different ideas.

I do demonstrate how to quill using a pattern, but I have never enjoyed trying to make my quills “fit” on a pattern. If I use a pattern at all it is just a starting point, to give me ideas. I like having lots of quilling books around for the same reason. I can be sitting, having a cup of tea, and leafing through a quilling book and sometimes a technique or combination of colors just jumps out at me, and I think “Why didn’t I think of that!” It is easy to get in a rut, with or without patterns. My best friend was looking through the new 2008 Accord calendar and told me she could pick out all of my work without looking at the names. I asked her how. (She is not a quiller; how could I have a best friend who is NOT a quiller you ask? That’s another story.) She said she could pick my work out by the colors I use, and she’s right. When I think about it, I am drawn to softer more muted tones, when I look at my sample wall; that’s what I see. But I digress. When I took on the calendar project with Accord and started contacting quillers, some of them said they couldn’t participate because they couldn’t think of something original or small enough. I am just finishing up the work on the third calendar, the 2009, and what quillers told me this time, was how could they think up something that hadn’t already been done? But you can ask 10 people to make a Christmas tree, or an angel, or a poinsettia, and as long as you DON’T give them a pattern, you will end up with very different pieces. As we have again this year.

So how do you quill without a pattern? Well some like to get an outline drawing, the kind you find in coloring books or clip art collection and then just fill in the outline with marquises or teardrops, whatever fits. I prefer to get an actual picture, in color and then try to duplicate the color texture and feel with quilling strips. When I do birds or butterflies I may use wheatears to get the look of feathers and the lacey look of butterfly wings. I usually go to books like Audubon guides to make my pieces look as realistic as possible. It is trial and error sometimes to get the “feel” of the piece, and because of that I don’t write down instructions and make patterns for the pieces I do, but it works for me.

When I am working on small things like the calendar pieces, I often use stickers for my inspiration. I am a sticker nut! I buy those great big calendars at Staples or Office Max, write my appointments on them and then as the days go by, cover each day with a sticker appropriate for that month. You can’t even imagine how many snowman stickers I have for January. I also do some scrapbooking (actually what I am doing is our entire family’s life story in matching albums, scrapbook style) and I often use stickers there. When I found my Dad after 55 years of not knowing who or where he was, I made him a scrapbook/photo album of me, growing up. You know the kind of pictures, me with no teeth, a broken arm, graduating from high school etc, and lots of stickers. Oh yes, and lots of quilling strips, because I use them to border my pages, and use border punches on them to dress them up. My Dad treasures that book, it helps him get back some of the years we lost) but here I go digressing again! My stickers can be inspirational. In the 2009 calendar, I did a little black cat sitting in a pumpkin, a penguin on ice skates, an Irish teddy bear, a witches head, and a jack-o-lantern with a handle . . . all were ideas I got from stickers. For the witches face I used green tight rolls because I wanted her to have warts. I wanted the penguin to look chubby so I used a large loose coil for his tummy and head and crescents for his back and feet. That’s what I mean about playing with the shapes to get the “feel” you want.

When I am doing borders for things like wedding invitations or baby announcements I try to incorporate the theme on the announcement. I even did a quilled Mickey Mouse on an invitation that sported Mickey and Minnie, on a Korean wedding invitation I duplicated the flowers on the cover of the invite. If the announcement has sail boats or sea shells, I work them into the border. Last year I did a border around a poem a bridegroom had written for his bride. In it he likened her to the many wild flowers she loved and voila!, I had a new wildflower design. Try it! Try thinking outside of the box. Look around you; use the many quilling books in your library or in your town library to give you inspiration. It works!

Happy Thanksgiving & Christmas Quilling

Happy Thanksgiving & Christmas Quilling

Well, here it is the week of Thanksgiving and I think this is supposed to mark the beginning of the Christmas season (although I’ve been noticing Christmas stuff in the stores since before Halloween). Oh well, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, none of the “hoopla” or “commercialization” (is that really a word?) that seems to come with Christmas. It’s a time for friends, family, fellowship and food . . . just a nice easy relaxing day. We each bring a different part of the dinner so it doesn’t end up being a monster job for any one person and we spend the whole day visiting.

However, when it comes to quilling . . . Christmas is queen! There is no end to the Christmas quilling ideas and they just keep coming. Over the years, especially when I sold my work at craft fairs, I made all kinds of Christmas ornaments. I think my first quilling was a snowflake; I still enjoy making them and hang them in the little windows on my front door. Now I make them with the gilded paper (silver on white or blue edge on white), but when I first started there was just plain old white strips and they were still beautiful. I also did free hanging ornaments like stockings, candy canes, poinsettias, and wreaths, then I started putting them on 3” circles of mat board so they wouldn’t get “lost” in the tree branches.

Somewhere along the way, I saw some of the Quill Art little dimensional figures, I thought they were adorable. (They were nowhere near as elaborate as the Jinisans I’ve talked about previously.) So I made tiny toy soldiers, Santas, angels, and Christmas mice. I put them inside of empty egg shells which I coated with diamond dust. Some I hung and others I put on little filigree stands. Everyone in my family knew that if you used an egg, you were to open it carefully, wash it out, and leave it to drain until I cut out the oval for one of my figures. Some years, I used the eggs as place cards, each egg would have the appropriate character inside and there was a little tag with a printed name. They were fun and some of my family members still have them from years ago.

Malinda Johnston used to write a newsletter called the Lake City Gazette which she sent out to her customers. One year, it had directions for a wreath made from quilled poinsettias, I loved it. It was probably about 8’ in diameter. I used it for years.

One year I got really ambitious and made dimensional Christmas trees (my original tree is pictured here on the blog and on the web site). I had no idea how I was going to make it, I just did. I will post the general instructions I wrote up for it. The fun part was decorating that little tree (it’s about 7” tall), I made little bells, ornaments, candles, stars, and roses. The one I made for my Mom (which she keeps out all year long) was decorated with Victorian fans, bows, candles, roses, and of course a tiny angel at the top.

Another year, I made a gingerbread house. I used the same pattern I used for my real gingerbread houses. (It was a family tradition while my kids were growing up, we would bake gingerbread houses and then all of my kids and their friends would decorate them . . . we would give them as gifts) I made the house out of card stock and then covered it with quilling. I don’t have a picture of it here on the blog but it is in the picture gallery of the web site and in Malinda Johnston’s Book of paper quilling. http://www.whimsiquills.com/servlet/the-template/photogallery/Page (If I were doing one today, I would use mat board as a base; it is much sturdier than card stock, but my first one was prior to our getting involved with framing and matting). Well I guess I’ve rattled on long enough about Christmas quilling. I will have to see if I have any pictures I can post (of course these were all done long before digital cameras). I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgivng and take the time to enjoy the holiday season.

My Quilling Dream Store

My quilling “Dream store”

As all of you know by now, I have been quilling for 30+ years and I am still quilling. Over the years I have taught, lectured and demonstrated, written quilling newsletters, served as a regional representative here in the USA for the English guild, and held office in the North American Quilling Guild. Quilling is important to me and working to keep it alive is important to me. This in spite of carpal tunnel in both hands (got it fixed), trigger thumb in both hands (that one the chiropractor and acupuncture fixed), plus all of the joys the aging process brings (like bifocals and aching backs). I think I have beat the migraines and am now dealing with vertigo (acupuncture again) . . . but through it all, I managed to keep quilling. I was quilling when my hands were still in bandages after the carpal tunnel surgery. I’ve quilled with my hand in a splint. I switched my work area over to a drafting table to help my neck and back, but still kept quilling. I love it! I love the challenge of trying something new. I love the look on someone’s face when it finally hits them that they are looking at paper. I love the “light bulb” moment when a newbie realizes that THEY can quill. I love it when someone I have taught or helped inn some way creates something that is awesome!

I explained in an earlier post that when I couldn’t find supplies in the stores, I started buying wholesale, so I would have what I needed and be able to make the supplies available to other quillers. I hear quillers all the time wishing that there was a store that carried a full line of quilling supplies. If someone asked me what my “dream “quilling store would be like, this is what I would say. “I would like to shop in a store where the people actually know what quilling is and be familiar with the products they carry and be willing to answer questions. If I called the store to see if they carried a specific product, I would get to talk to a real person (knowledgeable) and not get stuck in voice mail jail where I spend 15 minutes (on my dime) listening to an automated voice telling me to press #1, #2 etc. and never get to talk to a human. I would like to be able to leave a message and get a call back within a reasonable length of time. I would like to shop in a store that carries a HUGE selection of papers, in all the colors and sizes I like to use. I don’t usually use kits, but my dream store would have lots of kits from different quillers and manufacturers, because even if you don’t quill from a kit, you can get all kinds of good ideas from them. My “dream” store would have lots and lots of books on quilling, not just one or two, because you always learn something new from a book even if it just the inspiration to try a new technique. If I were physically unable to get to my “dream” store, it would have a terrific web site with pictures of everything they carry. I would be able to go to the web site and type in the word “green” and see how many green papers they had, or click on “gilded papers” and see all of the colors available. My “dream” store would have lots of tools for me to choose from and all of the latest items available in the quilling world.”

Here’s where it gets exciting for me. At the risk of blowing my own horn, I finally have my “dream” store and it’s called http://www.whimsiquills.com/ . I’ve spent literally years building up an inventory that includes a huge variety of specialty papers, plus all of the “standard’ stuff. We not only carry papers, tools, books, and kits from the big guys like Lake City, Paplin, Quilled Creations, and J&J, but we carry kits and books from the little guys, like Quirky Quillers, Jinny Alexander, Paige Meeker, Cathy Schlim, and Bruce Yanochek) I checked every plastic bottle I could get my hands on before I decided on the soft plastic fine tip glue bottle we sell. (Ours is nice and soft so tired fingers like mine can squeeze it easily). We carry a variety of tools so you have a choice of fringers or slotted tools.

We have been working on our new web site for four months and are almost finished. I am really proud of it and would like to invite you to take a look. We have broken our product line down into every possible category to make it easy to find what you are looking for, more than 1,300 items. We have a wonderful photo gallery and a book review page, and of course a link right here to our blog. We have a ‘blow out sale” page for items that are being discontinued at really great prices. The only thing the web site doesn’t do is give me the opportunity to “chat” with you the way I can here. I’d love to hear back from you . . . maybe there is something you think I should add to my dream store. Let me know.

Quilling Applications (Where do you put your quillling?)

Where do you put your quilling?

I thought, on the heels of my little blog about Megan Wilson, that maybe it was time to talk about some of the many applications quilling has. I think I may have mentioned that my first exposure to quilling was a quilled snowflake. Quilled snowflakes look so lacey and delicate and I still love to make them, hang them in my windows and give them as little gifts. But when I decided to sell my work, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to earn much selling such a small item. Over the years, I have done quilling around literally hundreds and hundreds of wedding invitations, anniversary announcements, poems and birth announcements. These became my “bread and butter” items; there was always a market for these occasions when people are looking for a very special gift. But there are so many other applications for quilling; I usually tell people the only thing that limits them is their own imagination! Here a just a few things that I have tried or seen others try.

I still have a quilled switch plate in the Whimsiquills room that is almost twenty years old. It is a fairly simple design on a wooden heart shaped switch plate that I bought in a craft store and painted to match the woodwork in the room.

I had quilling around a mirror mounted on a wood background with a towel bar underneath in my bathroom for years until just a couple of years ago when we remodeled the bathroom. We did knock a few of the quills off from time to time, but I just replaced them . . . it was kind of neat!
I designed and quilled a chess board to go with the chess men I made from a kit. Once I made the men, I felt they had to go with a quilled board. That design is available in Malinda Johnston’s Book of Paper Quilling on pages 105-106.

Dimensional or free standing quilling can be challenging but very exciting. Jinny Alexander’s Jinisans, my tea cups and saucer, and Christmas tree all pictured here on the blog are just a few examples.

Quilled greeting cards are very popular, especially when you look at the prices for greeting cards in card shops! Why not make a really special card with your personal touch? Several years ago (2003) I did some quilled eggs and Easter cards for Family Circle magazine at their request. They sent me some colored cards with oval cut outs etc. I got a bunch of calls asking where to buy those cards; Family Circle told me they had purchased them from a little boutique in New York. Now those kinds of cards are available in craft stores and on the internet Combine your quilling with rubber stamping, embossing, Pergamano (parchment craft), and embroidery to make some very unique greeting cards. I know others have done this as well, make a removable quilled Christmas ornament part of the greeting card. I make matching quilled gift tags to give to all of my customers with their orders.

One of my quilling friends, Rick Whitman, loves to do counted cross stitch. She will stitch an appropriate Bible verse, then mat it and quill on the mat and frame the whole thing for a very special gift item.

One of the more recent applications is the use of quilling in scrap books.
Quilled jewelry, I’ve made quilled pins, earrings and stick pins. There are a couple of kits and books with jewelry designs, and we are including quilled jewelry in the 2009 Accord quilling calendar. Of course the Quilling calendar (2008 now available) was a really unique application for quilling. The first calendar was done for 2007; each page has a quilling design, the directions are printed on the back of the page, and the strips are on the bottom of the page.

And last but not least we have the Megan Wilson application just in case you missed it! http://www.meganwilson.com/projects.php

I would love to hear what everyone else is doing, I’m sure I couldn’t have possibly covered everything. Share your ideas!

FYI there are two new posts on the Whimsiquills blog, one about a very interesting artist and another on the many applications of quilling. Also for those concerned about the 2007/2008 calendars I have put in a call to Accord publishing, but I really think the two calendars on the web are actually same calendar, the 2008; (even though one picture shows the 2007 box. I was told that the leftover 2007 calendars were destroyed which upset me more than a little.) The publisher has a suggested retail price ($14.99 for the 2008 calendar), but anyone selling them can charge whatever they choose. Mega calendar is just one of the distributors that Accord (Andrews McMeil) sells to. If I find out anything different, I will be sure to post to the groups.

Specialty Quilling Papers/Strips (Graduated/Dark Center)

Specialty Quilling Papers-Graduated and Dark Centers

We get a lot of questions about the specialty papers we carry, so I thought that might be a good topic to cover here. One of the questions we get frequently is "What are they used for?" Let me get some of the basic information about the strips first, and then we'll give some suggestions as to how they can be used. When we first brought graduated and dark center strips in from England, there was nothing like them here in the USA. All of the English graduated and dark center strips are 12" long. That's because they are printed on the paper. The English graduated strips come in 10 colors and in all 4 widths: 1/16", 1/8", ¼" and 3/8"as well as mixed/multi packs. One end of the strip is very pale, (almost white) and the color gets deeper as it goes up the strip. The dark center strips are pale on both ends with the deeper color being in the middle of the strip. The English strips come in pink, orange, yellow, opal green (which is like a turquoise), bright green, blue, red, lilac, brown and black. They are available in single packages or mixed/multi packages with all ten colors. Lake City now has some papers which they call watercolors which are dark center. They are also 12" long, and come in mixed packs only, no single color packs, in 1/8", `/4", and 3/8" widths. They come in ten colors which are quite close to the English colors except they have two shades of pink and no opal green. Paplin Products have also created a line of graduated (although they are actually dark center strips) papers. They are available in all 4 widths , their colors include red, yellow, fern green, peach, purple, orange olive green, pink, federal blue, orchid, and hyacinth (which is like a pale periwinkle) I like the Paplin colors because they "match" their regular papers. For example; the English and Lake City greens are bright almost Christmas green and that's a color I only use for Christmas. Paplins olive green and fern green are the kind of greens I prefer in my work. Quilled Creations also have graduated and dark center strips in the same colors as the English strip, but don't offer them in 1/16".

OK, so what do you do with them? I guess the first thing to think about is how long a strip you usually use. I generally don't use anything longer than 6" for conventional quilled shapes, so for me the dark centers work well; I cut the strips in half and then I have two six inch graduated strips. Then you decide whether you want the lighter or darker color on the inside of your shape, and that's where you start rolling. I especially like to used the graduated strips when I am doing wheatears or alternate side looping, (you remember, that's husking without pins). The quilling in those techniques is much more open so you really get to appreciate the shading differences in the papers. I will use the whole 12" strip for husked petals and love the effect of the petal center one shade and the shade deepens as you finish the petal, with the darker shade wrapping the petal. I also like fringed flowers using the graduated and dark center papers, it is a somewhat softer look than using two totally different colors. There is also a flower that I like to make that reminds me of lupines. It is a series of open s scrolls that get progressively smaller and the shade changes very softly with these papers. I don't remember where I first saw it, probably in one of Jane Jenkins books. On page 36 of her book Quilling Techniques and Inspiration, she has a very pretty arrangement of flowers all made with graduated and dark center papers. Next up we'll talk about two toned papers, and I will get some pictures posted so you can get the effect of these and other specialty papers. I would also like to see what you are doing with these strips. Stay tuned.

Quilling is it Art or Craft?

Quilling: Art or Craft

Many quillers struggle with the question as to whether quilling is an art or craft. My personal opinion is that it depends on the quiller and who the quiller is discussing the subject with. It has been my experience that many art "shows' don't have a quilling category simply because they have no idea what quilling is. How can they make a judgment that quilling is not an art when they really don't know anything about it? Sure quilling supplies may be purchased at craft stores, but oil paints and brushes are sold a craft stores as well; does that make oil painting a craft? I have seen quilling that is undoubtedly "art", in fact, a couple of pieces of my work are presently on tour with Exhibits USA, an art museum that puts together traveling exhibits. I have also seen quilling that would only fit into the "craft" category. To further illustrate my point: my painting ability could never be considered anything other than a "hobby/craft" and could never be mistaken for art, but that doesn't mean all painting would fall into that category; there are many outstanding artists who use paint as their medium and their work would never be considered anything but art. It definitely poses an interesting question. I recently read a post by Niki Abbott, a NAQG (North American Quilling Guild) member who was asked the same question, and with Niki's permission, I am reprinting her words and thoughts for your perusal. We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this topic. Niki is a Canadian quiller who also sells quilling supplies Blueberry Lane Quilling I have included this link for the convenience of our Canadian quillers. She also writes a blog

Quilling - Hobby or Art? By Niki Abbott

Recently I was challenged with the question of whether quilling was an art or just a hobby craft. To be honest, I had not really considered it until now; I assumed anything a person made through their own innate creativity was art. I had quite a bit of difficulty answering this question, and I'm not entirely sure I've done so even now; but I have managed to dig up enough information to shed a bit of light on the subject.You can ask any serious quiller whether they believe their work is an art or a craft, and they will tell you that they wholeheartedly consider their work to be art - myself included.Unfortunately, quilling is considered a hobby craft in the art world, like scrapbooking and wood burning. This is because it is most commonly associated with scrapbooking and paper crafting.From an art critique's approach, although a quilling pattern may be original, the techniques and materials used nowadays are not. And in respect to that point of view, there is no real transformation of materials or unique signature of the person who created it. To put it bluntly, any two people can go out and purchase the same or similar materials, use the same pattern and produce nearly identical pieces. And that's why quilling falls through the cracks in the art gallery floor, so to speak.I know this point of view is highly argumentative, and I want to reassure you that I do not share this opinion on quilling - I believe each piece is unique in its own way and that quilling is an art form, albeit a lost one.I posed the question to the members of NAQG (North American Quilling Guild) and received some great responses and insight. I also contacted Mary Walker, a professional quiller in British Columbia, Canada, who had managed to convince her local art community to recognize quillwork as a true art form. She currently has many pieces on display in art galleries across Canada. According to Ms. Walker, who has done extensive research in her quest to revive the artistic side of quilling, it did actually start out as a craft. The common shapes used in quilling, marquises, pegs, teardrops, etc. are Egyptian in origin. Thirteenth century quilling extended from this craft, as Italian nuns began to create them with paper on a quill.Two centuries later, the nuns were melting silver or gold and covering the exposed surfaces of the paper, softening the edges. At this point in history, a name was chosen for this pastime and 'quilling' became recognized as an art. This was because by artists' own definitions, when you add a precious or semi precious metal to anything, you have created an art form.So, unless you soften the edges of your quillwork with gold or silver, it falls under the craft category. But if melting your own gold and silver is not an option for you, there is also a special paper available at quilling supply shops which already has the edges softened, thus giving the finish you need.Once you work is gilded, then and only then are you actually quilling - and creating art.

Different Quilling Manufactures Differences in Quilling Strips/Papers

Different Manufactures & Differences in Quilling Strips

American & English papers work well together. Right now the cost of English papers (especially in the wider widths) is higher due to value of the dollar (down) overseas and increased shipping costs. The weight of the English papers is pretty consistent (with the exception of the heavier dark colors) Depending on which American papers you use weight can vary from color to color, again with darker colors being somewhat heavier. English strips and Paplin Product strips come in the 4 standard widths 1/16", 1/8", ¼" & 3/8". Most Lake City papers come in all four widths although some of their colors are not available in 1/16". Quilled Creations strips come in 1/8', ¼", and 3/8".

In the 1970's, 24" was the standard length for American quilling strips. That is no longer the case. Lake City papers are 24' long with the exception of their new watercolors, which are 12". Paplin papers, another American paper, are generally 23" long. Quilled creations papers (American) are about 18" long, their graduated papers are about 12" long. English papers are 17" long with their graduated and dark centers 12" long.

When I brought English papers into my inventory they came in a much larger variety of colors than American papers, including some of the dark "jewel tones" like navy, hunter green, royal purple etc. Now many of those colors are available here in the states (mainly Paplin papers which are actually a nicer working weight than the English dark colors) I have been told that the heavier weight has something to do with being able to take the darker dye, although the Paplin black is a nice easy weight to work with. The English also have some wonderful novelty papers, graduated strips where the color darkens as it goes up the strip, dark center strips, two toned strips (one color on one side of the paper, a different color on the other side), fluorescent colors, ultra white, pearlized edged papers, gold & silver edges. Not to be out done Paplin Products and Lake City have come out with lines of pearlized and metallic papers (not just on edge all the way through). Paper weights can vary, specialty papers, like parchment, tend to be a lighter weight. Some of the "quilling" paper sold in scrapbooking stores, (especially the tube paper sold as "quillstix") is very heavy, almost as heavy as cardstock. Unfortunately, some members of the scrapbooking community are saying this is the only weight that will hold up in a scrapbook. Those of us who have been quilling for a while know that this is not accurate. Regular quilling paper is incredibly strong when rolled and placed on edge.

Since we carry so many different kinds of papers here at Whimsiquills, I have tried them all. I don't like working with the heavy "card stock" like papers, and find them difficult to finger roll without getting unwanted creases. If I have to roll a heavier paper, I generally use a tool to keep tension even.

All of the choices now available can cause some confusion for new quillers. I find that all of the papers can work pretty well together if you are just careful to measure the strips you cut from the different brands. For example: if you are using an English yellow for the center of a flower, but an American orchid for the petals, you will want to start out with the same length strips. If you are using the English navy blue (which is a heavier weight), you will either have to make the strip a little shorter to compensate for the larger size center, or perhaps make a couple of extra petals for your flower.