I have been quilling around wedding invitations for years. It’s always interesting to see what will come in the mail or through the door. When my best friend’s daughter was getting married last year, of course I wanted to do something special. When I saw the invitation I was stumped. It was a large 7” square  embossed with a large & and the text took up a couple of inches in the upper right hand corner. Typically, when I get something unusual or challenging, I just let it sit a while and keep going back and looking at it until an idea comes to me. I knew this was going to be a black and white wedding so that was a start. I wanted it to be dramatic but still keep the "flavor" of the invitation. Here is the final result (minus the frame). The bride loved it!

Domed cards for Quilling

These domed cards are my new favorites. They are actually a tri-fold card so all of the mechanics of placing a back ground, quilling, and the dome are well concealed. They also travel through the mail really well with no extra packaging at the first class rate of US $.46. I decided to use a two inch border punch on the top and bottom of the face of the card to dress it up a little. I backed the punched area with a ½” wide strip of quilling paper. I cut a colored piece of accessory paper slightly larger than the outside dimensions of the dome and marked the center of the paper to center my design. I didn’t fasten the dome to the card right away so I could occasionally lay it over the design as I worked. (I wasn’t sure how close to the edge of the dome I could get or how “deep” the quilling could be.) I was pleasantly surprised that my roses, which I make using 3/8” strips fit under the dome beautifully. Once I worked out my design, I taped the dome inside the opening and then centered my design inside the dome and taped it in place. Then I used a double-sided tape to close the third panel over my efforts. I did find it a little tricky figuring out where the design should be placed so it was right side up when the card opened. I also noticed that the two end panels are very slightly different in size as one is meant to cover your work and the other is meant for the greeting. These come three to a package (with envelopes) for $5.50; the item number is ECSK417021 if you would like to try them. I would love to hear what you think of them.

Vintage Quilling Books

Over the last 35+ years, it has been my privilege to meet and get to know some of the quillers who were responsible for the resurgence of quilling here in the United States in the 1970’s. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Betty Christy (author of Quilling Paper Art for Everyone published in 1974), Marlene Bartels (owner of Quill It), and I still stay in touch with Malinda Johnston (founder of Lake City Crafts). Recently, I have been visiting (over the phone) with Gini Antoine. Now in her 80”s, Gini “discovered” quilling in the 1960’s. At the time she was giving painting lessons and very active in the world of arts and crafts traveling around the country teaching and demonstrating at the national hobby industry shows.

She visited a friend who showed her a piece of antique quilling. She was fascinated and like so many of us, she got hooked. She formed a company which she called Priceless Pastimes and starting selling kits and strips and adding color to her work. She published two books Heirloom Treasures Quilling Book I which includes patterns for a wreath, Christmas tree, a Spanish fan, "crystal" snowflake, cross and a peacock among others. Heirloom Treasures Quilling Book II includes designs for wheat, mushrooms, an Owl, snowflakes, cross and some very pretty borders.

She was the quiller who Betty Christy to quill and is credited with naming the different shapes. In her book Quilling Paper Art for Everyone Betty Christy said “More than ten years ago, Gini Antoine of Independence, Missouri, pioneered a delicate lacy form of paper filigree. She began the custom of naming the various coils when she first researched and introduced what she called a “lost art.”

I have had several delightful conversations with Gini and learned that she still had some of the books she had written. These are vintage books published in 1970 and 1972. My two favorite designs are a lacy Victorian Christmas tree, and a rather intricate Valentine border design. There are also several pretty snowflake designs. For those of you who are collectors of “all things quilling” I have put them up on the web site.

Valentine

At the beginning of the New Year I usually spend some time trying to reorganize my quilling studio. Sometimes I am surprised by some of the things I find. Since I haven’t been able to do much quilling, I’ve spent a little more time straightening up. I found this sampler I used to bring to my advanced quilling classes back when I was teaching. It shows bandaging, wheatears, alternate side looping, and braiding. Sometimes I think that because I’ve been quilling for so many years I kind of get in a rut using the same techniques over and over.

I am very slowly getting back to quilling, the acupuncture seems to be helping. So I decided to play a little and made this little Valentine card. I cut out a heart shape of light pink paper and then used the bandaging technique to outline the heart. (For those of you who may not be familiar with that technique, I stacked six strips of pale pink and then “wrapped” a darker pink strip around the stack) and outlined the heart.(it is easier to see on the sample since I used a contrasting color for the wrap.) I used 6” strips and made 11 tight rolls and 10 uneven S scrolls. I started at the bottom of the heart placing a tight roll at the outside point off the heart and then started alternating the S scrolls with the tight rolls adjusting as I went. (When I make this kind of border, I don’t start gluing until I get the spacing worked out) I put an open V scroll at the top of the heart and added a 12” tight roll in the center of the V.

The design in the center of the heart started with a 12”sculptured roll in the center; then I added a 6”open heart scroll inside of a 6” open V scroll at the top and bottom of the sculptured roll. I then added the four 6” teardrops. 

Penguin on Skates

Happy Holidays! I went for my first acupuncture treatment last week-no miracles yet, but maybe a little improvement. I’m still not quilling, but I thought I would share this little guy. I put him on my Christmas cards last year, he is surprisingly simple to make. Here are the directions:

Penguin on skates

1 White tight coil (48”) wrapped in black for body
4 Black crescents (3”) for back of penguin
1 White tight coil (24”) wrapped in black for head
2 Yellow crescents (2”) for feet
2 Green (.5”) curled at one end for skates
1 Red bunny ear (3”) for hat
1 Green strips (1”) fringed for pom on hat
1 Yellow tiny strip folded for beak

Arrange as shown

Flower Pot

I haven’t been doing much quilling lately. I’ve been having “issues” with my neck, shoulder, and arm; partially due to an accident I was involved in over the summer and I think the hand is starting to wear out. Next week I am going to try acupuncture; I’m keeping my fingers (on the other hand) crossed. But when I got some new papers in I decided to play a little. We finally got a terracotta color in which made me decide to do a little flower pot treasure box. The flowers on the top are all done with our new translucent vellum strips. I found them easy to work with and love the colors. I did have a little trouble fringing them; I think they are probably too smooth for the fringer to grab them and feed them through. What I did to solve that challenge was put a regular strip of quilling paper on top of the vellum strip and feed them both through at the same time . . . perfect!

For those of you who might want to try this, I used 15 strips of terracotta to make the flower pot. It measures about 1 1/2" across the top so it is big enough to old a small treaure. It did take several tries before I got the shape I wanted, but since I fed the strips in (rather than gluing them to one another), it was easy to start over. I coated the inside with glue and put it aside. Since I wanted the flowers to look like they were “in” the flower pot, I made the top a little smaller than the bottom so it would fit into the flower pot. I was a little surprised that it took 20 strips of the kiwi vellum to make a smaller top. I mounded the top slightly and coated the inside with glue. Then I just played and made some flowers using 3” translucent strips, I really like the colors!

Graduated & Dark Center Strips

Last week a quiller emailed me and suggested that I post some examples of uses for the graduated and dark center quilling strips. Hence this post. Today, I am talking about graduated and dark center papers. These papers are actually printed, allowing for the gradual color change of color. These strips are only 12” long and come in a variety of colors. The English graduated and dark center strips as well as Quilled Creations come in fairly bright colors. The Paplin strips are geared to match their regular colors, they call their strips graduated but they are actually dark center strips. Which strips you use, depends on your style of quilling and how long a strip you  usually use.

In example #1, I cut a 12” dark center strip in half and made 6” teardrops. In one flower, I started rolling from the light end of the strip and I started from the dark end of the strip for the second. Two different looks, and certainly easier than “wrapping” the teardrop in a lighter or darker color.

In example #2, I crimped and then rolled a full 12” strip for the center. I alternated 6” strips cut from a yellow dark center strip for a different look.

In example #3, I cut a dark center strip in half and made a four loop wheat ear for each petal. I rolled a 6” strip for the center.

In example #4, I started at the light end of a strip and made a 1” loose coil, then a 2”, 3” and 4” s scroll. I strated at the light end of a green strip and made 3 loop wheat ears for leaves.

In example #5, I used the whole 12” strip of graduated (light to dark) and made eccentric teardrops for petals. I used one of the template boards to keep the shapes uniform. The leaf was a 12” strip of dark center green which I made into a eccentric shaped teardrop.

In example #6, I made one of my favorite shapes for graduated strips. Staring at the light end of the strip, I combined a wheat ear with alternate side looping. Each petal took the whole 12” strip. The leaves are a smaller version using 6”.

Example # 7; these are two fringed flowers using the whole 12” strip. One is done starting with the light end of graduated paper, the second is done using dark center paper. I used ¼” wide strips for these.

These are just a few thought starters for those of you who may not have tried these papers yet. If you are not familiar with the wheatears and alternate side looping techniques, just click the link.