This is a short picture video of my paper art designs.
What is it?
This is called 'Quilling". Also known as Filigree. You may have heard of filigree as a jewelers term. That's true, it really is. Though this is not wielded in metals or gold, it's done with simple scraps of paper! Actually, quilling dates back hundreds of years. Women would use a needle or a porcupine quill to manipulate paper into different shapes and make beautiful framework and bookplates. Even before this early time, people were using quills, sticks and shaped rocks to mold metals into shapes for jewelry and decorative elements for things. No one really knows how long it has been around or it's origin. All I know is, it's beautiful, creative and all around us.
Yes, everywhere you look you can see some sort of Quilling. It may not be the small designs fabricated by hand with a quill and paper, but instead, fabricated by machines in factories. Look about and see the buildings around you or even afar. Those fancy designs on metal barred windows and fences, inlays and grates made from glass, metal and even wood. These are all a type of filigree. It's all around the world! So enjoy it and all it's beauty. Quilling, aka filigree, is amazing.
How I discovered Paper Quilling..
I stumbled across this artwork purely by accident while at a craft fair. I was 17 at the time. A lovely elder woman was sitting at a booth with a younger lady selling t-shirts and handmade accessories. I noticed that the woman was twirling paper with a very strange looking tool. I stood there for a moment or two, intrigued with what she was doing. She held up a panel with the most beautiful unfinished fan on it. She motioned me closer to really look at it. To my surprise the fan was made from no more then small intricately shaped pieces of paper! The younger woman asked me if I would like to watch her mother quill. I guess the look of wonder and joy on my face made the elder woman laugh. She motioned me to sit near her and I did.
With soft, broken English, she explained to me that she was quilling. Then explained to me what quilling was. I was amazed at how fast she was with that strange looking tool, twirling the paper and squishing the small roll into a shape. She handed me a spare tool, it looks like a small pencil. Instead of a lead it has a small slotted metal end. She showed me that one end of the paper goes between the slots and you begin to roll the paper around the post until the paper is near the end. Then you let the finished roll unroll until the desired size. After that you dab a touch of glue to the end and complete the hoop, then shape it by gently squeezing the sides. It took me a few tries before I figured it out.
I sat with her making different shapes out of different colored paper for nearly 4 hours! It was the rain that made us quit. Before I said thank you and went on my way. The sweet, sweet woman gave me a quilling tool, some paper and...... The Finished Fan. I was so thrilled. I hugged her, thanked her and hugged her again. I went home and made some more little shapes just for fun..and practice. For the next two weeks I would see the elder woman and her daughter at the fair. I'd sit with her for a few hours and quill. On the third week however, they weren't at the craft fair. I didn't know why, until the local paper came out. My wonderful quilling teacher and good friend had passed away at the age of 96. She was a wonderful woman and I will never forget her or what she had taught me.
Though I had stopped quilling shortly after that, I never did forget how. It wasn't until I was about 26, when I went to visit my mom, that sparked the quilling frenzy again. She had been at the dollar store and came across a quilling kit with a new tool in it. It was amazing how fast I remembered how to quill again. Once I started again, I haven't been able to put it down. It's been almost 6 years since the re-kindle of my quilling passion. The above video shows only my very favorite projects that I have made.
In memory of Scarlett Svetskyah. 1901-1997
Thank you and God Bless.
What is it?
This is called 'Quilling". Also known as Filigree. You may have heard of filigree as a jewelers term. That's true, it really is. Though this is not wielded in metals or gold, it's done with simple scraps of paper! Actually, quilling dates back hundreds of years. Women would use a needle or a porcupine quill to manipulate paper into different shapes and make beautiful framework and bookplates. Even before this early time, people were using quills, sticks and shaped rocks to mold metals into shapes for jewelry and decorative elements for things. No one really knows how long it has been around or it's origin. All I know is, it's beautiful, creative and all around us.
Yes, everywhere you look you can see some sort of Quilling. It may not be the small designs fabricated by hand with a quill and paper, but instead, fabricated by machines in factories. Look about and see the buildings around you or even afar. Those fancy designs on metal barred windows and fences, inlays and grates made from glass, metal and even wood. These are all a type of filigree. It's all around the world! So enjoy it and all it's beauty. Quilling, aka filigree, is amazing.
How I discovered Paper Quilling..
I stumbled across this artwork purely by accident while at a craft fair. I was 17 at the time. A lovely elder woman was sitting at a booth with a younger lady selling t-shirts and handmade accessories. I noticed that the woman was twirling paper with a very strange looking tool. I stood there for a moment or two, intrigued with what she was doing. She held up a panel with the most beautiful unfinished fan on it. She motioned me closer to really look at it. To my surprise the fan was made from no more then small intricately shaped pieces of paper! The younger woman asked me if I would like to watch her mother quill. I guess the look of wonder and joy on my face made the elder woman laugh. She motioned me to sit near her and I did.
With soft, broken English, she explained to me that she was quilling. Then explained to me what quilling was. I was amazed at how fast she was with that strange looking tool, twirling the paper and squishing the small roll into a shape. She handed me a spare tool, it looks like a small pencil. Instead of a lead it has a small slotted metal end. She showed me that one end of the paper goes between the slots and you begin to roll the paper around the post until the paper is near the end. Then you let the finished roll unroll until the desired size. After that you dab a touch of glue to the end and complete the hoop, then shape it by gently squeezing the sides. It took me a few tries before I figured it out.
I sat with her making different shapes out of different colored paper for nearly 4 hours! It was the rain that made us quit. Before I said thank you and went on my way. The sweet, sweet woman gave me a quilling tool, some paper and...... The Finished Fan. I was so thrilled. I hugged her, thanked her and hugged her again. I went home and made some more little shapes just for fun..and practice. For the next two weeks I would see the elder woman and her daughter at the fair. I'd sit with her for a few hours and quill. On the third week however, they weren't at the craft fair. I didn't know why, until the local paper came out. My wonderful quilling teacher and good friend had passed away at the age of 96. She was a wonderful woman and I will never forget her or what she had taught me.
Though I had stopped quilling shortly after that, I never did forget how. It wasn't until I was about 26, when I went to visit my mom, that sparked the quilling frenzy again. She had been at the dollar store and came across a quilling kit with a new tool in it. It was amazing how fast I remembered how to quill again. Once I started again, I haven't been able to put it down. It's been almost 6 years since the re-kindle of my quilling passion. The above video shows only my very favorite projects that I have made.
In memory of Scarlett Svetskyah. 1901-1997
Thank you and God Bless.
