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

Quilled Table Decorations

I have been somewhat remiss in keeping up with this blog in these last few weeks. I have been called away on a family medical emergency which is not yet totally resolved. However, I am back home for the time being, and would like to share something with you on a more positive note. I will be attending a brunch on Saturday for my father who is celebrating his 90th birthday. This is an interesting story. I have only known him for the last 10 years. He and my mother were married in 1939, and he went off to the War in 1943, two days after I was born. Their marriage was only one of many war casualties. I didn’t “find’ him again until ten years ago. After all those years, we have reestablished contact and I gained not only a father, but a wonderful brother and a really bright and beautiful niece. What does all of this have to do with quilling? When I received the invitation to this special birthday brunch, I called to see what I could bring. I was asked to do some table decorations. What else could I do but quill something. I really can’t take total credit for the idea because I immediately thought of some of the large scale decorations my friend Molly Smith did for her book The New Paper Quilling . So I ran out to the dollar store and picked up some clear glass vases, went to Michaels to get some clear glass marble thingies, pulled out some wooden shish kebob skewers, and went to work. I usually work with short lengths of quilling strips, sometimes as short as 1”, so this was quite a stretch for me, working with 12” and 24” strips. I used all 3/8” width strips and started making flowers. After the flowers were dry, I turned them upside down and glued the skewers into the centers for stems. (I painted the wood skewers green). To save time, I used green squares of tissue paper for “foliage”, poking the stems through the squares and then scrunching them up and voila! Table decorations!

PS - I will do part 2 of Quilling for the Blind as soon as I get all of the comments you sent compiled.

Quilling for the blind?

I had a very interesting phone call the other day from one of my quilling friends. She had been contacted by an agency that works with the blind; they wanted to know if she would teach a quilling class. She wanted to know if I knew any blind quillers. I do know a couple of legally blind quillers who are able to quill using the magnifier closed circuit TV devise (I am not sure of the actual name of these devises; I know they are very helpful for those who are not completely blind) I am writing this blog in the hopes that some of you may have some other ideas, or may know someone who works with the blind. I suggested she might want to talk to someone who works with the blind, possibly one of the schools for the blind.I know they teach other handwork and thought some of those techniques might be applied to quilling. We brainstormed on the phone for a while . . . here are some of the thoughts we had.

Making some of the various shapes and then letting the student “feel” the shapes is a possible way of demonstrating the kinds of shapes that can be made. It would seem to me that finger rolling would be the best way to go rather than trying to “thread “a slotted tool. I am also thinking that starting with wider strips might make sense since the pieces would be larger and perhaps easier to handle. Of course you wouldn’t be able to “show” this technique, but by feeling a straight strip, and then explaining that the strip should be run over the fingernail to “soften” it and start it curling. Once the curl at the tip is started, it is fairly simple to continue to roll the strip into a loose coil. I would suggest using a fine tip glue bottle to glue the end of the strip down so the glue can be placed exactly where it is needed. (I find the glue bottle less messy than working with a toothpick and spot of glue). Once rolled and glued it would be fairly simple to pinch the coil into the desired shape.

Then we have the issue of colors etc. Many sighted quiller store their strips in the original packaging, If the packages were marked in Braille it would be helpful in keeping colors organized. My thought would be to put finished shapes into something like the cups of a styrofoam egg carton. The edges of the cups could be marked in Braille with the color and shapes. Another option would be to store shapes in small strips in the plastic chests used to store nuts and bolts etc. That is how I store my quilled flowers, small strips and extra shapes. I do organize them by color and either have a small strip of the color or the name of the color taped to the front of the drawer, again this could be marked in Braille. As I think about it, I think the chests might work better than the egg carton idea; they wouldn’t get knocked over or tipped as easily.
When it comes to actual designs, I am kind of stumped. Perhaps letting the students feel some different designs would give them some ideas. Arranging pieces would be determined by feeling the shapes. These were just a few of my thoughts. I think a blind quiller would have to be much better organized than I am. (No piles of bits of strips and shapes like there are on my work table) It is a challenging question. I would love to hear your thoughts and will be happy to share them in a future post. You can comment on the blog or email me directly at Whimsiquills@cox.net

Differences in Quilling Papers/Strips - Updated

I spent some time reviewing previous blog posts and realized that it was time to update my post about the differences in quilling strips. When I first started selling strips, Lake City was the main American supplier, now Paplin Products has a wonderful line of papers, as well as Quilled Creations. J&J Quilling (English) still leads the pack with some wonderful novelty papers, gilded edges, pearl edges; holofoil edges . . . read on to learn more about how these all differ and how they are alike.

A frequently asked question, especially from new quillers, concerns the differences in quilling strips. How are English strips different from American strips etc? Probably, the most obvious difference is in the length of the strips. In the 1970's, 24" was the standard length for quilling strips. That is no longer the case. Lake City papers are 24” long with the exception of their watercolors, which are 12". Paplin papers, another American paper, are generally 23" long, their graduated and two toned strips (which by the way are actually “printed”) are 12” long. Quilled Creations, another American company, strips are about 18" long; their graduated papers are about 12" long. English strips are about 17” long with graduated strips coming in at 12”. The English also have some wonderful novelty (specialty) papers such as graduated strips where the colors darkens as it goes up the strip, dark center strips which go from white to color to white again, two – toned papers which have different colors on each side of the papers, pearlized on edge papers, & holofoil and gilded edged papers which are absolutely beautiful. Not to be “outdone”, the American companies (Paplin and Lake City) have both come out with lines of pearlized and metallic papers, which have a pearlized or metallic finish on both sides of the strips. Paplin has some beautiful pastel pearlized colors, and both companies have some very rich “jewel toned” metallic’s, deep green, blue, and a deep wine color. I have used these papers for some very special effects. I recommend that you use tacky glue on these strips as they have a different finish (almost slippery) than standard strips.

Both papers (American & English) work well together although with today’s economy and with the difference between the dollar and the British pound the English strips are more expensive. We continue to bring in English colors that are not available here in the states. The weights of the different papers vary, some of the darker colors are a heavier weight (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). 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 a heavier weight paper for a flower center, 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.

In some English kits and books, directions are given as using 1/4, 1/8 of a strip. Obviously, if you are using papers of different lengths, you will have to go back to the tried and true method of measuring out your strips. I hope this has answered some of the questions about the many papers available.
Here is an added note of interest for those of you who might be combining quilling with card making or scrapbooking. Paplin offer every one of its colors in 8 ½ x 11 sheets and will do special cuts ½”, or 1” strips to be used for punched flowers/leaves or borders. They also offer a line of color greeting cards which match some of their most popular colors.

Quilling with Rick Whitman

It is my pleasure to introduce Rick Whitman as this week’s featured quiller. I know Rick pretty well and I am proud to say I gave Rick her first quilling lessons. I remember her sitting in the class and saying that she had just retired from her job and was looking to learn something new. She wasn’t at all sure that quilling was for her, but after her first class, I was convinced! I generally teach the basic shapes for my first class and then let the new quillers use those shapes to create a design of their own. When Rick came back for her second class, she showed us a tiny Madonna and child that she had created. Her pattern was a tiny line drawing that she found in a newspaper. From then on there was no stopping her! She quilled a tiny bouquet of flowers to match the ones her niece carried as a flower girl. Rick also does counted cross stitch. She often does bible verses which we mat (I help with the matting) and then she quills on the mat. She loves to do tiny, tiny flowers and has an incredible imagination. In addition, Rick and her husband Wil are super nice people. We always enjoy a visit with them here at Whimsiquills.

When I agreed to coordinate the first Accord Quilling Calendar (1997), I had a little trouble getting quillers to participate; some felt they couldn’t create small, “simple’ designs that could be included in the calendar/kit. Rick came up with 27 designs including a horse drawn sleigh,






garden tools,

and a tiny woven basket with fruit.

Her designs for the 2008 calendar (N2008) were also outstanding. I’ve included just a few of the pictures here.

When Accord decided not to publish the 2009 calendar, we were all disappointed. Rick had done some adorable nursery rhyme characters. Since they weren’t going to be used for the calendar she had to figure out a way to use them. She used that great imagination again. Here is what she did with them. She told me her nephew helped her with the computer generated backgrounds; these are the pieces she brought to display at this year’s NAQGCON. (North American Quilling Guild Conference 2009)

But two of my favorite pieces of Rick’s (although I love them all), are this three dimensional hummer, and this tiny replica of her own wedding cake . . . and this from someone who wasn’t sure she could learn to quill!