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Quilling or paper filigreeing is an ancient art thought to have been developed by nuns and monks in the Middle Ages. It is the art of rolling thin strips of paper into various shapes and designs. The paper strips were deemed to have been rolled on feather quills, hence the name, quilling. These decorative rolls of paper were used to accent religious items by providing the same effect as metal filigree. Today, quilling is considered a decorative technique in cardmaking and other paper crafts. The tools you will need to do this cardmaking technique are: paper, sharp scissors, glue, ruler, pencil, work surface, tweezers, and a damp sponge or wash cloth. Optional tools include a quilling tool and a cocktail stick. If you do not have a good work surface, you can create one by using a corrugated cardboard covered with wax paper or Styrofoam covered with plastic wrap. To get started, use the ruler and a pencil to score the paper into strips of equal sizes and then cut. You can skip this part by buying pre-cut quilling strips from craft stores. Afterward, you will roll the strips. You can do this in two ways: with or without a quilling tool. To roll without a tool, get a strip of paper and scrape the end with your fingernail to curl it. Squish the end into a tiny fold and then roll the entire strip over the tiny fold until you come to the end of the strip. To roll with a tool, place one end of the strip into the slot of the quilling tool. It helps to dampen the end of the strip a bit to make it stay in the slot. Now, you start rolling. In this cardmaking technique, you have the choice to make a tight roll and a loose roll. With a tight roll or grape roll, you can glue the ends to secure them or you can release the roll so that it relaxes into a loose roll before you glue the ends. If the roll is too loose, pull the end a bit before gluing it. With both the tight rolls and the loose rolls, a lot of shapes can then be formed. With a loose roll, you can create a circle that you can then surround with curved rays to make it look like a shining sun. You can pinch one end to make it into a teardrop. Pinch the opposite end to make it into an eye or a diamond. Pinch the two points in the smooth sides of the diamond and you create a square. There are other designs that you can make from the quilling cardmaking technique, such as hearts, quotes, flowers, butterflies, leaves, and many more! Just practice making different shapes from the rolled paper strips.
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