All kinds of handicrafts have never lost their popularity. We often see “handmade” clothes, handmade design objects, souvenirs, jewelry. Along with the well-known traditional techniques of creativity, modern fashions such as quilling, that is paper twisting, are widespread.
In fact, the art of quilling is not a new invention. It originated in the 14th and 15th century Europe, presumably among the monks who made books. In the 19th century quilling was popular among European ladies of the nobility. Today, the art of paper spinning becomes one of the most vibrant areas of applied arts.
Technique of quilling is the skillful twisting in the spiral strips of paper and molding of decorative elements. The resulting blanks are given a different form, they become modules of the future composition. Such modules are used to create flat and three-dimensional paintings, postcards, albums, interior design items, jewelry, and much more.
Quilling requires attention, assiduity, accuracy and availability of raw materials. No special expensive raw materials do not have to buy. A distinctive feature of paper spinning is unusual and beautiful decor at low cost. The basic material – colored paper of increased density. As a rule, sheets colored on both sides with a density of 116-160 g/m2 are used. Ready-made quilling strips are available in specialized stores, but you can cut them yourself. Usually, the width of the strips varies from 1 to 15 mm.
To make the handicraft, you’ll need the following tools:
- pencil
- ruler
- compass
- stencil with different size circles
- PVA glue
- office and nail scissors
- tweezers
- A special tool for twisting.
You can use an ordinary wooden stick, an awl, a rod from a ballpoint pen, or make a tool from a thick needle, breaking off part of the lug. In stores there are special “forks” designed for twisting paper strips. By the way, mentioned above monks used in their work a feather (engl.quill), which was the basis for the name of the art of paper twisting.
More experienced masters of quilling also use machines for cutting fine fringes, special cork boards to pin elements to them when assembling, a hot glue gun to make three-dimensional structures.