Creating art with paper
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on January 31, 2018 2:48 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Trudie Brinson rolls a piece of paper around the tool used to create the quilled designs.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Several members of the class decided to try other colors of quilling strips for their snowflakes to make them brighter and more colorful.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Members of the quilling class at Steele Memorial Library meet in one of the multipurpose rooms to work on their designs and socialize.
Like magic, tiny strips of rolled paper turn into beautiful objects -- snowflakes, birds, flowers, framed art and a lot more.
It's done through quilling, an art form that's been around for a long time.
"It goes back to the Renaissance era," said quilling instructor Paige Newcomb. "French and Italian nuns and monks used to actually use quilling to decorate book covers and religious items. They used gilded edge paper.
"It was more for the well-to-do people back then. Now it's come back because it's cheap to do. So it's no longer an upper class art form."
Paige, the reference library assistant at Steele Memorial Library in Mount Olive, heads up the quilling club that meets there each month. The club formed back in September.
Paige learned to quill from a member of the library's craft club, Miss Pat.
"She wanted to do quilling for one of our craft club sessions," Paige said. "When she started showing us the different techniques, I just enjoyed it so much that I wanted to make a separate club just for quilling."
She explained that quilling is a paper art form, using strips of paper that are rolled, shaped and glued together to make decorative designs. It uses special quilling paper.
"You use a special quilling tool with a slot in the top -- sort of like a needle -- where you slide the paper through," Paige said. "Then you twirl the quilling tool, rolling the strip.
"Once you get it twirled, you use a small ruler with holes in it to make the strip the size you want it. You put the rolled strip into a slot and let it go. It will expand to fit the slot. Sometimes you have to tap lightly on the strip of paper to get it to expand and it will start unwinding."
When it's the right size, you glue it.
Then is when the fun starts.
You can make the strip to get any shape you want, like teardrops, hearts, flowers and many more.
You can also experiment rolling the strip of paper to make a a different shape. For example, you can bend a strip in half and roll one side down then roll the other side down and you've got a heart.
"Once we learn the basics, we'll start making bigger designs," Paige said. "Right now we're staying small with snowflakes. But there are several different designs of snowflakes, from simple to intricate."
The club started out with all white snowflakes, then got creative and used different colors of strips to make unusual snowflakes.
"The thing is, none of them are the same," Paige said. "They're handmade. They don't have to be perfect either because when you hold up one of these snowflakes, it is beautiful. Those little imperfections make it unique to you."
Paige took the snowflakes she had made and put them on her Christmas tree at home, using fishing line so all anyone could see was the snowflake, which looked like it was just floating on the tree. But she said you could also use any type of pretty ribbon to attach it to your tree.
"You can be as creative as you want to," she said. "Once you learn how to make the shapes, it's really up to your own imagination what you want to do with it."
Paige said a person could turn quilling strips into coasters just by putting a piece of cork board under it and something see-through, like glass or plastic, on top to keep it from getting wet.
Or you could decorate cards with quilled strips to give away. You can even decorate books with them.
"Back in the Renaissance era, they decorated furniture with quilled strips," Paige said.
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Quilling club member Carol Gregory, 65, eventually wants to make quilled jewelry.
Before she joined the group, she had to look up quilling on the Internet because she wasn't sure what it was.
"But the intricacy of it caught my eye," she said. "It's very delicate looking and I like the look of it."
Trudie Brinson was making colorful snowflakes her second time going to the club. Once she gets the knack of it, she wants to make quilled items to give to her family as presents.
"I looked online and saw the beautiful colors and details," the 42-year-old said. "It's fun and I like to create. I found it very therapeutic and stress reducing. It was amazing."
Patricia Curtis took a quilling class at Aycock Birthplace a couple years ago and loved it. So when she heard about the quilling club at the library, she jumped at the chance to join.
"I have made a flower with a stem, a cow and a snowflake," the 67-year-old said. "You think it's tedious, but it's now. It's just relaxing."
She wants to make her own cards with quilled strip designs to send to friends and family. And she wants to frame some of the designs she makes.
"It's unlimited as to what you can do," Patricia said.
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Paige agrees. She said quillers can get patterns in books or off Google for anything they can think of to make. And if you are more advanced with the art form, you can even make up your own patterns.
"Quilled items look like something fantastic, not just strips of paper," she said. "They are very fancy. Looking at a quilled item, you wouldn't think it's paper at all."
Paige said quilling is relaxing. It might help someone with arthritis in their hands. And it helps with hand-eye coordination. And it's great for all ages.
Anyone interested in joining the quilling club at Steele Memorial Library needs to register first by calling 919-299-8105.