Quilling Resources

I’m noticing a number of people visiting here in searches for various crafts. That’s just neat! In the hopes of being actually useful to these people, I’m going to post some resources to some of my newer crafts and favorite crafts. As always, if you find websites that you think should be part of my resources, feel free to comment. If your website is linked here and you do not want it linked, please email me and I will remove the link.

Today’s resources will focus on the craft of quilling. If you are unfamiliar with this craft, quilling (also known as paper filigree or twirled paper) is a craft that is at least a couple of hundred years old. Most of the examples I’ve seen are from Colonial America, but I understand the craft was also practiced in Medieval and Renaissance times.

The craft itself is simple enough that resource books are being published for children. You take a quilling tool, which is a small stick with a narrow, slotted tip. You place a strip of paper into the slot and gently roll the paper around the tip. When you have made it the size you want, you twist the tool backwards slightly and slowly slip the roll off the tip. You can either glue the strip at this point, or you can let it uncoil a bit before gluing it and then pinch it into various designs. These designs are called tiles and you can make all sorts of pictures and 3-D objects with them. My favorite to date are a quilled chess set and chess board.

This craft is starting to gain in popularity, making it much easier to find materials and patterns.

Some great books:
The Search Press Book of Traditional Papercrafts
The Book of Paper Quilling
Twirled Paper

Some fun websites:
Quilling Information- Techniques, Designs & Ideas
Project Index of Quilled Cards

Keeping an Inspiration Book

After so many years of crafting, I have several patterns and instruction pages for various projects and techniques. Despite my normally organized manner, I have had a tendency to just lay these down and forget lose them. After three years of planning an organizational system for these little gems, I finally sat down and organized what patterns and instructions I could find.

I took a three-ring binder (which I will eventually decorate) and filled it with sheet protectors. Then, I placed a sheet of paper in each sheet protector and placed one pattern on each side of the paper. I grouped everything by type of craft. Those that came from kits have their front cover as the first page so I can see quickly what is in the side of that sheet protector. I have also put pattern pamphlets in the back. Everything is conveniently placed so that I can find it quickly.

I like to periodically flip through my book to see what’s in there. It’s rather relaxing, actually. Usually, instead of being inspired to revisit one of the projects in the book, though, I find myself inspired to work on a project that is not in the book. It’s a little recharge. Of course, the reverse happens, too. I’ll be looking for a project to work on for a tournament, find something, and think, “Wow, that project in my book would work really well with this!” Sometimes I act on it, sometimes the whole project gets forgotten. I’m very grateful for having the book together to fuel my creativity.

At Amtgard, when someone is just starting in the arts and sciences, we often advise new people to start one of these books. They rarely listen. Now I’m suggesting that regardless of what sort of activity you do, make yourself an inspiration book and use it in a way that inspires you. If you love crafts, make a book of patterns and techniques. If you love any sort of graphic design work, keep scraps of wallpaper with appealing color combinations and articles on current design trends. (Hey, laughter and nostalgia are two of the strongest motivators out there.) If your true love is cooking, collect pictures of table layouts and old-style menus.

You get the idea! Build it for yourself. Use it to inspire yourself. Share it with others so that they may be inspired, or at least so they can envy your “with-it-ness”.

Portable Crafts

Over the weekend, I read something about knitting being the ideal craft because it’s so portable. You just throw it in your bag and go! It really made it sound like all of the other crafts out there tie you down. Yes, there are some who would probably love knitting, both for the portablility and the craft itself. However, portability should not be the sole reason for picking up knitting.

I found, as I thought about that little bit of reading, that the vast majority of my crafts are portable. In middle school, I carried around a bright yellow, zippered pouch that held all of my friendship pin materials. It was even decorated for friendship pins and had this great reference card on color symbolism so you wouldn’t accidentally give your best friend the dreaded orange bead that marked your enemies. In middle school, this same bag became the carry-all for my friendship bracelet supplies. Oddly enough, many of the color sybolisms for friendship pins carried through to friendship bracelets, which made life very interesting when people asked for a bracelet in our school colors, which included that evil orange.

When I took up plastic canvas and needlepoint in high school, I inherited a craft bag from my mother to carry everything around in. It wasn’t cumbersome, just tacky. I replaced this bag in college with this wonderful zippered notebook with handles that was designed with crafters in mind. Both went easily into backpacks and suitcases.

When I started beading in graduate school, I had an old caboodle from middle school that I threw everything into. In time, I also put supplies for other crafts in there. The caboodle was great because I could just throw it in my backpack and not worry about anything in it getting hurt. I have outgrown that caboodle just in time to inherit one the size of a tackle box from a cousin. I carry supplies for no fewer than six crafts in it, and I love it.

When I decided to teach myself how to make chains and other jewelry, I started with an old plastic box I had once used to sort my floss for friendship bracelets. Again, it had that great benefit of being able to be thrown in a backpack or a suitcase without a second thought. In time, I moved to a cosmetic bag that was large enough to hold my pliers and small bags of jump rings or beads. Right now, the bulk of my jewelry-making supplies live in the bottom of the new caboodle, while the components I’m currently working with or thinking about working with are in a very nice little purple bag that was designed for artists. It has a number of small tackle boxes that stack and keeps everything organized and easily accessible. There’s even room at the top of the bag for me to store my wig jig!

Most craft stores either have a specific area devoted to portable storage solutions for crafters, or have craft-specific solutions in the same area as the craft. This is a nod to the fact that many crafts are easily portable, and many crafters are on-the-go people. Storage solutions have become so universal that a pouch designed with one craft in mind can easily be adapted to another craft’s needs.

Now, if only I could design the perfect portable pad to go in my little purple bag.

Learning to Quill

As I may or may not have mentioned the other day, I have been learning some new crafts in preparation for an artistic competition later this month. One of these crafts is quilling, otherwise known as filigree, an art form practiced heavily in colonial times. It involves coiling paper and then pinching it into various shapes, although it is not limited to coiling the paper. The art form was nearly lost until a small group decided to try to revive it.

I became aware of the craft last year while reading through some of my mother’s craft books in preparation for this same competition. I opted not to try quilling at that time, but was definitely fascinated by it. Then, my aunt gave my mother another copy of that book, and it became mine. I’ve spent several hours looking over the quilling projects. It looked so simple, which meant it probably was a nightmare. Earlier this year, I came upon a quilling tool and strips in a local craft store. I figured I’d get farther if I actually acquired the tools, so I went ahead and bought them, but I still did little more than read my book. Then I got another quilling book and read it, still doing nothing. Finally, about a month ago, my mother came across a Klutz book for “twirled paper”. As a big fan of Klutz products, I just had to get it. For some reason, this seems to be the impetus I needed. I sat down and created an angel from teardrops. She’s rather…unattractive…, but she was the first attempt, and I was inspired to quill something else. This led to more reading. A lot more reading, actually.

Inspiration hit this time in the form of challenging myself to quill something for this competition. I got a small shadow box, and a piece of scrapbook paper that looked like the sky. I cut the paper to fit the box. Today, using my handy quilling books, I created two dragonflies and a number of flowers, and created a lovely springtime scene. It took me about seven hours and was rather easy and fun.

Learning Temari

In December, during one of my many excursions to local craft stores, I found a book on temari. They look like colorful balls. I assumed that they were wrapped on styrofoam balls, and I thought they looked like fun.

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to pick up a book of temari techniques (you’ll notice it listed in the Recent Reads). I placed it on my crafting shelf and left it there for another month. Last week, I picked it up and started reading it. I was surprised. There is much more to temari than wrapping thread, and you don’t actually wrap thread.

To be authentic, you really should make the entire mari (which is Japanese for “ball”). I used an old, clean pair of pantyhose, which rolled nicely into a fist-sized ball. This is covered with wool yarn wrapped “every which way”. I did that part last night with a nice heathered blue from Wool-Ease. The mari is then covered with some inexpensive thread. I opted for a blue pearl cotton, which knotted in a fantastic manner despite how carefully I laid it out before I started wrapping the mari. This the mari’s current state.

Over the next few days, I’ll be setting the equators and pins, and then I’ll be stitching (yes, stitching) an interlocking spindle pattern. I’m doing the entire mari in blues in the hopes that someone might look at this and recognize its practical uses for a LARP I participate in.

Temari are decorative and beautiful, and can be used solely for decoration. However, they were initially designed as a child’s/young adult’s toy. Artisans in the Japanese courts would actually compete to make the most beautiful temari. These balls were then given to the princess to keep her entertained on the journey to her betrothed’s home.

I’m very excited to be learning this craft that has been fun so far. We’ll see what I think of it after setting the equators and stitching the pattern.