Paper Quilling 101 – Essential Basics to Getting Started

Paper quilling is a form of art or craft born out of creating decorative designs using thin strips of curled paper. This age-old quilling craft has emerged since the Renaissance time, and dated back to about 3 centuries old. It was during the time when all the nuns used small edges trimmed from the Bible pages. From there, those pieces were used to create simple but beautiful form of artistry. This craft was known as “Quilling” due to how the scrapped of paper were wrapped around goose quills to create “coiled shapes”.
Getting into paper quilling craft was not expensive as most of the time you will only need few inexpensive basic materials, which you can buy at most art and craft stores.
Because of this, paper quilling has created much interest in family and friends especially home makers into creating endless opportunities around this paper craft. They are some enthusiasts who are totally involved in the craft, making their own sets of designs and ornaments, and even making it big by having inventories large enough to enter into local arts and crafts show.
With hard work and perseverance, anyone can be assured that the opportunities opened up by this unusual and highly flexible medium are endless. Christmas ornaments made through paper quilling are quite common and in-demand. According to a paper quiller, Lana J Bates had earned $900 in a farmers’ market Christmas crafts show. That’s quite a good to gain.
Moreover, the tools used in paper quilling are rather simple and straightforward. Some of the common tools used in the process are slotted quilling tool, needle, glue, tweezers and pins. Just by using these simple tools, long strips of paper are wound tightly and released, and hereby forming complicated and complex shapers. To get higher precision of quilling accuracy, these tools should be made with better metal quality and made to last longer.
Here are some of the basic uses of such tools
Slotted Quilling tool – the slot that is attached along its shaft is used to hold the paper securely as you turn the tool in your hand. Generally, the knurl on the handle ensures a firm grip of your hand that will be helpful in the rolling of a neater and even tight roll.
Needle tool – Basically the needle used to used to enable a finer centre hole after rolling. This will generally produce a much tighter roll with a smaller hole in the center.
Glue – One of the most important tools in paper quilling. The glue is widely used in joining the shaped quills. In order to produce better and tighter quills, a basic mastery of glue handling is necessary ie the quantity and how you apply them onto your paper.
Tweezers – Tweezers are excellent tool to put together small bits and pieces of your paper quilling in right place. They can be used to hold the coils that have been shaped, while you put a few drops of glue on the edges you are glueing together without damaging it.
Pins – While the tweezers will help you to put together all the small bits and pieces when you are sticking them, pins are used when you are drying up the glue. The pins will allow you to put the project aside and finish it later, while waiting for the glue to dry up.