As I have mentioned previously, my mother passed away nearing two years ago. Part of what I took with me into my home, upon her leaving us here on earth, was a large collection of items from her craft room. I have piles upon piles of papers in every color, theme and size. I will be able to color and paint until I leave this earth. I LITERALLY moved a U-Haul of her stamps, paper, scissors, storage cabinets, glitter, rhinestones, paint, and more. I am certainly trying my hardest to honor my mother's memory by using the supplies to create things that I think she would have loved to have shared with me if I were to have visited her and done a project with her.
But then there is this drawer.... what the heck was in this drawer?
I have to admit, that my mother did have a tendency to hoard lots of scraps of paper and pieces of things that I wasn't sure she would ever really use. As much as I brought home, I probably also threw away in equivalent amounts of recyclables. So it wasn't too surprising to me to see this pile of what seemed like just scraps of paper to me. But upon closer inspection, I saw that these strips were intentional. They were even packaged up just like this for some reason. So I started looking at the other things I found in the drawer and realized just what this was for: QUILLING!
Quilling is a art form I have never learned, but now that I had a few of the tools and the l instructional sheets about it, I thought I could give it a try.
Qilling is also known as paper filigree and it is an art form that that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs.
A quick look at Pinterest and You tube brought me a number of instructional videos and articles that I thought would be helpful for beginners and I was ready to try it out!
I have no idea what any of this stuff is called, so please bear with me as I learn a these things too. :)
There are a few things that seem necessary when quilling: paper strips (obviously), a small needle typetool to wind the quilling papers on, a comb or pick (wide toothed), liquid/fast drying glue, a foam block, pins or needles, and a scissor.
Some other things I have found in my mom's collection that have been useful: a fringing tool, a paper shredder for do it yourself quilling strips, and a painter's guide that helps you measure circles.
So this is where I started. :)
The first thing I tried was to make a quilled mosaic heart. I figured a heart was a pretty open shape and that I could try my hand at a number of quilling techniques this way.
I actually started out with just normal glue sticks, but found those didn't work so well. The glue was hard to control on small spaces and not concentrated enough to really work out a standing shape with the quilling paper. So, off to Michael's I went to grab some liquid glue with a fine tip applicator.
With the glue back in hand, I could work on getting these pieces put together to try to fill the heart with different techniques and shapes.
I rolled, glued, released the coils and shaped a number of different techniques until I had a few crescents, tear drops, loops and more.
And then I filled them all into this heart.
I have to admit, I have a ways to go with this, but I was overall very happy with the final results. :)
I tried a few other things too.
Making a Butterfly:
And then some flowers and foliage.
I even had my seven year old in on the fun for a while as we figured out how to make a butterfly for her.
I now hope to get these techniques down and offer them soon as classes and art from my studio. My interim goal is to now take these techniques and learn now to make snowflakes so I can make a nice piece to hang in my YOU NEED ART THERE (see previous blog) area of my stair well as my winter piece.
Well, that is it for now, friends.
Please follow, comment, and try it yourself and send me a picture of your attempts! I look forward to sharing again!
Check out my website for opportunities for you to get art, handmade gifts, custom wine glasses and more!
www.oakgrovecalicocrafts.com
UNTIL NEXT TIME!
