Quill It! Tutorial - From Etsu Johnson First and Foremost after printing and cutting out any coloured strip to be used in a quilled shape, fold it in half lengthwise – that is: so it is half it’s original width, width, but the same length. White sides to the inside, coloured sides to the outside. As shown below:
Where I have provided you with very thin strips for spiralling/wrapping around your base object, then unless stated on the sheet, you do not need to fold these in half. Do take extra care when cutting out the thin strips, and make sure the white side is out of sight as you roll/wrap. When you place your work on your card/project you will be placing it with the creased/folded edge uppermost – so the colours show. The open edges will be to the bottom of your work. Specific instructions for each project are provided on the sheets / in the kits – using these basic shapes/methods. To Begin: If you do not have a quilling tool, a cocktail stick and a dab of glue will suffice. Simply substitute the “slotting into tool” instruction with “attach with a small dab of pva glue to the end of the cocktail stick” (NB: take care that you can remove the coil from the stick when you are finished rolling!). A Basic Coil:
The secret of good good quilling is to maintain an even tension as you roll the paper strip. This will produce a more regular evenly spaced coil coi l to work with. The finished product produ ct looks much neater,
Line up the end of the paper in the slot on the quilling tool.
Turn the tool so the paper winds tightly around it.
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Release the coil.
Put a small dab of pva glue on the end of the strip. Use as little as possible.
Seal the coil by pressing down firmly onto a cocktail stick.
A finished basic coil.
Basic Shapes: All of the shapes show below are used in my projects/sheets.
TEARDROP Pich the coil into a point using your thumb and forefinger
RECTANGLE Make in the same way as a square but with 2 long and 2 short sides
EYE SHAPE Pinch the coil at both ends
LEAF SHAPE Make an eye shape then gently press 2 opposite edges together
OVAL SQUARE Gently squeeze the Make an eye shape, coil with the join on then pinch the other two one side sides to form a squre
PETAL SHAPE Pinch the coil into a teardrop, then pull the point over to 1 side
HEART SHAPE Make a teardrop, then put a dent in the rounded end, using your thumbnail, or a cocktail stick
These all take practice to get right, but are really pretty simple to get the hang of. To help keep your shapes more uniform, try using a measured grid base, or if you prefer a ruler is a good enough rough guide. Peg: As the Peg is made from solid paper, it is worth the trouble of smoothing the layers and tidying the centre for a neater finish.
Roll a tight coil but don’t let it go
Glue the end down, keeping the coil tight. Remove the tool, and tap the peg on hard surface to even out the layers
To smooth the centre place a cocktail stick the centre and twist
A Solid Coil:
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A finished Peg
Turn in end of strip as tightly as possible
Roll by hand into a tight coil
Keeping coil tight, apply a dab of PVA glue
A finished coil
This is difficult to get the hang of but well worth the effort. The solid coil is also used as the base shape for making a dome – see below: (The dome is one of the shapes used in my “box of
chocolates” shadow box card/project kit. push with your finger or use the head of a round headed pin.
To make the dome – gently
Spirals and Paper Sticks: The following shapes involve the use of florist’s wire, if you do not have any then do what I did and get hold of a medium sized paper clip and unroll it. This is not as long as a strip of florist wire, but I have found it works well in all of the projects I have made for CUP sheets/kits. Also a fine knitting needle will work very well here too. With this kind of crafting I find I can let my imagination run free! The paper sticks cope well if you use a cocktail stick to wrap them around. Spirals Spiralling takes practice – as with coils the secret is in keeping the tension as you roll – keep the paper taut as you roll the wire.
Using 1/1.5 mm paper strips, dampen the end and wrap round the wire at a 45 degree angle. Hold the paper and twist the wire.
When you have wound the whole strip, carefully push the paper off the end of the wire.
tighten the spiral by pulling and twisting it at the same time.
Paper Sticks The important thing to remember when rolling paper sticks, is to roll the paper round the wire tightly and keep it centrally aligned – keeping the ends even.
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1. 1. Fold the corner of a thin sheet of paper over the wire and glue it down using PVA glue.
2. 2. Roll the paper tightly round the wire.
3. 3. Glue the end of the paper in place and remove the wire.
Bell Shape:
The bell shape (as used on my motorbike sheet, as well as others) is made as follows : Slip end of paper into tool, and turn 2 – 3 times, adding a spot of glue to secure. Method 1: Continue rolling, gradually moving the paper further up the tool to achieve a bell shape. Add a little glue every few turns to keep secure, glue off loose end. Method 2: Make a tight roll. Push over sharpened end of a pencil or small round pin head, or special tool to give bell shape. Smear glue inside bell – allow to dry.
Use whichever method works best for you.
You will see on some of my sheets I have used greys and yellows where gold and silver would look great (for example the bike bell/tank/wheel inners and handles all would look stunning in silver). This is due to the fact that most domestic (home) printers cannot well reproduce these colours, so grey and yellow are used instead. Feel free when working to use your own strips of gold or silver paper cut to the sizes I have given you on the sheet if you wish. My aim on the sheets is to give you the colours and strips you need to make the items, together with instructions – as ever with CUP kits/sheets – be creative in your card making! Most importantly of all, have fun! To Conclude: Take care when cutting out the colour strips not to leave any white edges showing, and to be neat and straight. When folding down the length of the strip again try to fold evenly down the centre. If any white does show try and keep this to the inside of your coil as you roll. Lastly, when you glue the finished sheet to your card/project, make sure the coloured edge of the folded/creased side is facing uppermost, with the raw edges facing downwards onto your work.
Thank you for looking.
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