Dreams, Hopes & Happiness

Hello! 😊

Paper To Petal

A short 3:25min video for ideas and inspiration. At :40 seconds, ManuK slows down and shows many how-to shapes she uses for her creations. She has individual videos on her channel for how to quill all these flowers.

Happy crafting or doing what you love. Have a very warm & safe end of the year. 

May the New Year bring you and yours new dreams, hopes and happiness. 

xo 🎉

Molly 

 

Paper Quilling is Easy, We Make it Difficult.

Hi there, 👻

I hope you find this video inspiring. Daisy starts at 2:20 mark and is a little more than 4min long.

Miriam's Challenge for Beginners

I love the daisy. She uses regular 1/8" (3mm) wide strips and the coils are loose. I like shaping loose circles. You don't need any of the tools she uses. Put your circles on a flat slick surface to release as you roll them. When you glue them, try to make them the same size. The circles > flower petals do not need to be exact. If you ever do a commission like Miriam is doing, YES make them exact. 😉 Always use odd number of petals 7,9,11... even numbers look unbalanced (unless you are doing a 6-point snowflake).

The center yellow doesn't need to be as big as hers to be awesome. In fact, you can do a tight roll > dome center if you don't want to do the fringing. I noticed she fringes 2 strips at a time.

It looks like she uses a peg to lift the daisy when gluing to the surface. A peg can be 1-3 tight rolls glued on top of each other and then to the back of the flower to prop it up.

To make the tight circle berries, use a round tool to shape them into a dome... be sure to coat inside with glue after shaping and let dry. I use round jewelry and wooden beads, with a toothpick glued in the hole. They work perfectly. Lots of pens and markers have a rounded end. Look around and you'll be surprised what you have.

The green wheatears are quick and easy looping of the paper. Make the number and length you want. It looks like she folded and glued two green strips together and glued on the edge to start. The same with the brown berry stems. 

Happy October!

xo 🌻

Molly

P.S. I think this design would look good using 1/4" wide strips. I may try it. You DO NOT need a slotted tool to quill. I used a slim toothpick and then a hat/corsage needle-- to begin, for 20 years. 😁 If you do try these two tools, lick the end of the paper like you would a thread, and this will make it easier to start rolling. 

Colorful Outlined "R"

Hello friends, happy May!

Well, I attempted to quill another project using Quillography and regular 1/4-inch paper strips. I purchased the pattern on Etsy and was happy with the $3.50 price. I am a beginner at using the on-edge, also referred to as outlining, technique. 

I didn't use a large enough piece of cardstock to trace the pattern, but went ahead with it for practice. I will use a wide mat, 2" or so, before framing. I am thinking a teenage girl won't notice my errors. 

(photoshopped frame for show)

I did learn while doing this project (thank you NAQG FB members) that the thicker Quillography strips are primarily for lining, shaping and sculpting, and especially not for loose and open coils. So halfway finished I started using regular quilling strips for the Q-colors that were too thick, some colors did just fine. This is noticeable with the not-so-tight centers.  

Thank you for stopping by and looking.

Have a fun month and be safe.

-Molly 🌼

Easy Quilled Hat

One day while experimenting, I realized that I could make large quilled shapes if I used wider paper and crimping it before rolling. It was easier to work with and control the tension.

This is a photo of the first crimped quilling project I submitted that was published in a book (2003). They wanted an easy, framed quilled project that would take less than one hour to make.

You only need two loose coils. One shaped-half circle and a shaped-marquise. The instructions say I used a 1/4" wide by 68 inch  (.635 cm x 160 cm) crimped strip to make each shape. I made two circle templates with the same paper that I dropped the coils in to release. One 1.75" (4.45 cm) diameter for the top and 2.5" (6.35 cm) diameter for the brim.

I have also used this design to make red and purple hat motifs for cards, tags, scrapbooking (The Red Hat Society) and a wedding hat. The possibilities to embellish the hat (the fun part) are endless!

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day!

-Molly

Miniature Quilled Flowers on Card

The background paper is my inspiration for this group of miniature flowers. I used a thin quilt needle tool and narrow English paper strips. These strips are more narrow than the American 1/16" wide paper.

This is similar to the Mother's Day card I made last year, using a different background. More how-to details are here. 

Thanks for looking!
Have a great week :)
~Molly

Quilling Fill-in Technique

This is such a simple, quick technique that can be applied to any printed motif. On the left is my trio of dresses project from my book. I was commissioned by an international craft magazine to teach various quilling techniques and this is one of them. The issue was published in 2007 and the pictures I have left from the projects aren't the best, but they give you an idea of how to get started.

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

All the printed motifs I used are free clip art that I altered slightly. I started with a simple handbag. I drew a diagonal line and filled in one side with black then printed on a white card. The blank area is filled in with 1/16" (0.158 cm) wide "S" scrolls and loose coils/tendrils. The lengths varied and ranged from 1/4" to 3/4" (0.635 to 1.9 cm).

 Using tweezers, I first tap the bottom edge of the shape on a thin layer of glue on wax paper and immediately apply to the card. The editor wanted quilling to be the main focus so I did very little embellishing. I inserted two eyelets and added a string of pearls for the handle. I let the handle dangle loose on one of the cards, but the purse was printed too low so they didn't use that one. 

I also filled in a dress and shoe. I added pink to the heel and removed the printed bow on the shoe. I added a black satin ribbon bow on the finished card for dimension.

If you try this technique or have used it before, please let me know and I'll post your project!  Enjoy!
~Molly

BIG Quilled Flowers

I quilled these BIG flowers just as I would normal size pieces. Using the same shapes, same techniques- just a bit more glue than usual :o) I made them as table decorations for a quilling conference, many years ago. They are made using the traditional looping technique and are about one foot in diameter.

The tulip was an experiment and didn't work out very well.

 

I found a stack construction paper at Sam's Club for under $10.00, so these flowers are very inexpensive to make. I used one inch wide, 12-inch long strips and glued various colors end to end to make the individual petals.
 

I crimped ALL the strips before looping or rolling. The crimping technique (as explained in my book) seems to make the pieces easier to work with, plus a bit more sturdy.

Thanks for looking!

~Molly