by Kathy Deutsch

Created on: August 12, 2008

My mom and I have been quilling-on and off-since we learned about it in the 1970's. It is one of my favorite crafts because it is easy to do, can be done almost anywhere, and creates terrific results. The quilled pieces can be quite impressive-looking much more difficult than they were to make.

"Quilling" is also called "paper filigree" and "rolled paper dcor". It probably originated in the Renaissance, as a decorative art. The nuns and ladies of leisure trimmed the gilded edges of their prayer books into long strips. They rolled these strips around hairpins into coils. The coils were glued with water-paste, and then arranged into fanciful designs that looked like wrought-iron filigree.

Quilled designs edged important documents and miniature portraits of loved ones. The delicate swirls of gold-edged paper decorated mementos of loved ones. As paper grew cheaper and women had more free time, all the decorative arts, including quilling, became more popular. By the Victorian Era, quilling was a preferred way to decorate pictures. It was also used, under glass, as table inlay.

In the 1970's, colored craft and heavy wrapping papers were introduced to the range of quilling materials. Other styles of quilling evolved-fringed paper and paper coils actually pushed into shapes (like apples, beans, etc.). The coming of the Internet made quilling into an international phenomenon. Quillers from all over the world swapped papers and techniques.

To quill: cut a strip of paper about inch wide and 12 inches long. Take a toothpick or a pin, wrap the short end around the pick, and turn the pick, rolling the paper tightly in a snug wrap. Once the paper is wrapped completely around the pin/pick, use a tiny dab of glue to secure the end of the paper. Pull the pin out, and what remains is a tight coil. If you relax the coil slightly before gluing, a spring-like coil is formed. This is the basic form.

If you pinch the coil, it makes a teardrop (or a flower petal, or a leaf, as you wish). There are many shapes you can tweak from the basic coil. "S" shapes, "C" shapes, and other open-ended forms are easily made.

The shapes can be combined in a mosaic-like way to make a single large picture. Or the forms can be joined to make trellis-like designs around a wedding invitation or photo. Groups can decide on a design, and with each person contributing coils, a single large piece of art can be developed. My class at grade school made thousands of coils and combined them to make a big picture of the Virgin Mary. Framed behind glass, it was something we could all be proud of.

Quilling has a long history, and has been virtually unchanged for 500 years. It has been popular because it is interesting and easy to do. The results can be impressive.

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