When looking for fresh options for creativity, you should pay attention to quilling - weaving from strips of paper. This activity will appeal to both children and adults, and its techniques are very different, simple and complex.
In the photo of quilling crafts, you can see how beautiful and unusual the finished products are. Even a beginner in this business can master quilling, you just need to familiarize yourself with some points and find out the history of the origin of this art.
Origin story
Quilling appeared in Europe in the fourteenth century, from English it is translated as paper rolling. It was first invented by the novices of the monastery, who used gilded paper to create exquisite jewelry.
Then the ladies from high society laid their eyes on such products, and since paper was expensive in those days, only the know could afford such kind of jewelry.
Quilling was considered a primordially feminine type of needlework, even Princess Elizabeth learned the basics of this art. Quilling is also common in Japan, but Japanese craftsmen create more delicate, filigree work that looks more like jewelry. As a result, the quilling itself is divided into two types: European and Japanese.
Materials for work
To get started, you need to prepare all the necessary materials and tools.
- Strips of paper.
- Glue.
- Ruler.
- Scissors.
- Tweezers.
- Pins.
- Knife.
You can purchase quilling paper strips at a specialist store. The stripes can have different densities, they can be metallized, colored and covered with glitter.
You will also need to prepare a paper curling rod to create curls.
Useful tips for beginners
Before you start creating quilling crafts for beginners, it is important to learn a few nuances that will help you in your work.
- The most convenient paper weight for quilling is 120 and 160 g / m2. Such paper holds its shape perfectly, making the product stronger.
- The standard stripe width is five millimeters, with wider stripes up to ten millimeters wide.
- The ideal length of the stripes, allowing you to create a voluminous craft, should be up to 75 cm.
- Use colorful paper to create fantastic masterpieces.
Basic elements of the quilling technique
The simplest elements of the technique are curl, drop, spiral and semicircle.
- To make a tight spiral, you need to twist a strip of paper as tight as possible, for this you do not need to remove it from the needle;
- A loose spiral is obtained from a tight spiral, it must be inserted into the template and then release the needle, the spiral will unwind. The tip of the spiral is fixed with glue;
- To make a drop, you need to twist a tight spiral, then make it semi-loose. After that, the center is shifted in the desired direction, the other end is pressed with your fingers so that it is more pointed;
- To create a semicircle, a free spiral is taken, one side is pressed and made even. Thus, a semicircle is obtained.
All the schemes for quilling crafts presented are simple, after mastering them, you can start learning more complex techniques, thanks to which you can create stunning crafts.
Master class: flowers
Making simple flowers is not difficult, the main thing is to follow the instructions. You need to prepare the following materials:
- 0.5 mm paper strips.
- Tweezers and glue.
- Quilling tools.
- Stencil ruler.
Drops are formed from five strips of paper, free edges must be grabbed with glue. With the help of tweezers or fingers, the shape of a petal is created, in appearance it should resemble a boat.
All petals must be the same length, then the two petals are glued together opposite each other. After that, the rest of the petals are glued, a bead is glued inside the flower.
Master class: sunflower
Detailed step-by-step instructions for making a quilling craft will help every beginner, try to make an amazing composition in the form of a sunflower.
To do this, you need to prepare all the necessary quilling tools, as well as paper strips of black, green and yellow.
- A tight spiral is made from the yellow stripes, which needs to be shaped into a drop. The center of the spiral should be near the elongated edge, then the drop is fixed with glue. As a result, there should be at least twenty-five petals;
- You need to make dense spirals from the black stripes, which must be made convex, shifting the center slightly upward. There should be about twenty of them;
- Take a circle of green cardboard, give it a slightly tapered shape. Black spirals are glued to the middle of the cone, yellow petals are attached to the remaining free edges;
- Green stripes are glued to the base of the cone, which need to be twisted a little. As a result, you will get a beautiful sunflower, which can be one of your first works.
Quilling schemes
To master the quilling technique, you need to understand how to make quilling crafts according to the schemes. Schemes are of different levels of complexity, both for beginners and more experienced needleworkers.
Before learning how to create compositions, you need to master the basic twisting techniques. Having mastered these techniques, you can safely proceed to schemes and learn to create more complex things.
The quilling scheme represents the outline of the drawing, as well as its elements. Starting to work in this technique, the most difficult thing is not to go beyond the contours and create twisted elements that exactly repeat the scheme.
Schemes include a list of basic shapes, including their sizes and the required number. That is why it is very easy to work with them, pre-prepared elements are simply assembled according to the principle of a constructor.
When the quilling technique is mastered, you can move on to simpler schemes, and in the future, even come up with your own schemes, connecting fantasy and imagination.
Anyone can do quilling, and this fine art is definitely worth it to be mastered.
Photo of quilling crafts
