Quilling is a wonderful and incredibly fascinating art. People who see quilling panels on the wall are not able to realize how it is possible to make such a beautiful drawing from thin paper strips. Indeed, this technique requires certain skills, because absolutely different figures and elements of a picture can be rolled up from the same strip.
Future professional masters begin training with simple petals and leaves, hone their skills with quilling hook, comb and ruler. We will talk about the purpose of each tool a bit later in the article. You will also learn how to make do-it-yourself quilling panels with your own hands, how to fold different elements and how to attach them to the background surface and between each other in order to obtain a three-dimensional image.
Usually, crafts from strips of paper begin with simple flowers such as chamomile, with a round center and oblong petals. And only then they make whole story paintings from polyhedra or strips pasted on the end part. This is a very delicate and accurate work, which requires attention and concentration.
Tools and materials for quilling
If you just want to touch the art of quilling slightly, then first buy a quilling kit from multi-colored stripes of paper. Instead of using a special folding hook, use either your hands or wrap paper on a wooden skewer, at the end of which a slot was made. Insert the edge of the strip into the hole and wind it around the stick.
However, to create a quilling panel, you will need to purchase all the necessary tools:
- A hook is a metal stick with a slot in the end to help wind paper around the base.
- Ruler - there are several types of it. For starters, you can purchase an option with round holes of different diameters. Twisted skeins are inserted into them to create parts of the same size. There are rulers with triangular or figured holes.
- Scallop or comb - stripes are wound around the rods to create multi-level leaflets and branched branches.
- The remaining auxiliary tools help in winding up.
You will also need scissors and PVA glue of a thick consistency for attaching elements created using the quilling technique to panels. Before doing the work, you need to think over the drawing, strips of paper of what colors and widths need to be purchased. They are sold in convenient sets of one or different colors.
Learning to do quilling elements
The simplest part in the quilling technique is a round skein. To make it, the edge of the paper strip is clamped into the slots of the hook and wound around the central axis until a certain circle thickness is reached. If one strip is not enough, then another one is glued to the edge and continue wrapping further.
You can make not a tight, but a free skein. For this, you need a ruler. A tightly twisted part is inserted into the hole of the selected diameter and the edge is released. The coil is untwisted to the desired size and only then the edge of the strip is glued to the last turn of the PVA.
The remaining parts are made of twists by squeezing with fingers on one or both sides. It turns out the shape of a leaf or drop. If you need to make a triangle or give the skein a square shape, then squeeze the paper in several places.
Variety of parts
In addition to leaves and drops, circles and triangles, you can collapse long twists with smaller inner coils. This can be done with a metal comb by threading paper between its rods.
Thin and long plant stems and antennae curls are performed by gluing the strip with the end part. To do this, be sure to use thick PVA glue. After drying, the element is firmly fixed on the background sheet of cardboard.
The gluing of the strips together is done not only to increase the volume of the skein, but also for a two or three-color pattern. For example, one leaf can be decorated inside with a light green stripe, and the outside can be made dark green.
The openwork details look beautiful inside, having several smooth turns from the outside.
A simple version of the picture
Quilling panels can be made from several colors. In order for the craft to be voluminous, round dense centers are glued on top to the joint of several petals. The core of a wide strip looks interesting, one edge of which is cut with "noodles". A CD was used as the base for attaching the flower arrangement. First you need to cover the hole in the center to place the middle of the colorful petals.
For large flowers, strips of different colors are selected around the central composition. The inner loops are crocheted alternately, and the outer parts are assembled from tight turns. For all the petals to be the same size, use the template ruler.
Panel "Bride"
To create a gentle quilling panel, only white strips of paper were used. The painting combines two techniques - silhouette carving and quilling. The head and neck of the girl, as well as the silhouette of a hand bent at the elbow, were cut out of black paper along the drawn contours. A veil and a dress with short sleeves-lanterns are made of quilling stripes. Most of the curved lines of the pattern are made by end gluing thin strips.
Small identical flowers are located only on the skirt of the wedding dress. The master especially worked on the bodice of the dress. For a thin waist, I had to cut many small pieces and attach them parallel to each other. The panel looks impressive due to the delicate pattern. A bright contrasting spot on a black and white background stands out the pink bouquet of the bride. Such a picture can be made as a gift to the newlyweds at the wedding, for a long time it will remind the newlyweds about the pleasant moments of their lives.
Unicorn for happiness
The method of face gluing of curved stripes made a small pony from the popular cartoon. This panel can decorate the girl’s room. For all its apparent simplicity, such a picture required a lot of effort and time. Glue should be applied to the chosen place with a thin layer so that after drying there are no spots or dried drops.
The strips are bent by hook or using a round stick, for example, a felt-tip pen. It is enough to draw a rounded part of the rod over the paper so that a thin strip curls up. In this work, much attention is also paid to the accuracy of measuring each element. An additional expression of the picture adds a spectacular combination of colors.
Panel "Birds" - do-it-yourself quilling
The next version of the picture, in addition to flowers, contains an image of two small birds. Each oblong detail of the titmies is performed on a comb from a set. Gather the image together on a separately cut cardboard template. On the selected background, first strip strips of the basket are glued, then flowers with petals of the same color are collected separately.
The core is attached by a second tier, so the image is voluminous. The same is with the bouquet. Some flowers are attached directly to the background paper, others - either on the bottom row, or on a stand made of a thick skein of paper. To give the flower a concave shape, when gluing use a bowl or ball. When the glue sets, the round shape will remain.
Volume Quilling
Details for paintings or panels are placed either directly on the background sheet, or on a stand of one or more tightly wound circles. In the picture shown in the photo below, you can see how spectacularly the flowers collected from several layers look. The lower, largest, consists of almond-shaped petals collected from white and pink elements. Two flowers are attached on top, the same in color, but different in diameter. The white center completes the work.
As you can see, work with strips can be diversified at will, combining different techniques and combining small elements into one part. Try to create a do-it-yourself wall panel to decorate your workplace or living space. This is incredibly fun! Good luck