Quilling Update

I am almost finished! I have 19 snowflakes done. I will need to make about ten more - five for my kids and I, and five to allow for choices. Unless I make German/Moravian star ornaments that are all identical, I'd like to give the kids, one at a time or via their mothers, the chance to choose one out of a lot to keep.

I changed my quilling plans for the name I drew for Christmas. I just don't know that I have the patience for a big project. I already bought the paper, and have used some of it for the snowflakes, and that is OK since paper doesn't really go bad or expire. It's archival quality, so the colors should stay true. I will need to get more white quilling paper, though. The last batch of flakes took at least three strips of paper each. Using more paper frustrates me supply-wise, but pleases me product-wise. Good thing the paper is easy and cheap to get.

quilling on my own, part 2

Just noting that blogger's photo rotation sucks, I've looked in their help area to no avail and want control over my own images again! I cannot find a way to contact blogger, so I don't know if I'll get to ask blogger people about this problem soon. I'll keep searching. Control over the rotation is that important to me.

I made one and a half quilled snowflakes tonight. I like quilling for the same reason that I like knitting. You do not need many supplies to get the job done. Just paper strips, the quilling tool, and a little glue. A little spot on a table and I'm all set. Sewing and scrapbooking are such space-hogging crafts.

I thought I would make hearts tonight, but in the process of manipulating one strip of paper, I ended up with a lopsided shape. I like asymmetry a lot, so I made all of the would-be hearts into this shape. I moved them together to get an idea of how the snowflake would look. I would need to alter the shape in order to get the strength I wanted (these will be ornaments for the Christmas tree). I puffed them out to look like this.


I really like this look. They make a nice shape altogether. I am waiting to see if inspiration strikes again later when I go to finish this flake.

Quilled snowflakes

We can't get real snowflakes, so we are quilling snowflakes. My 7 year old really likes it. Actually, everyone who has tried it, likes it. Here you can see "I" of GAIN and some of the snowflakes. The snowflakes are light blue, and I have a no-flash photo here. That means that the contrast and pattern of the snowflakes is great, but the resolution is lower than with a flash.

Interesting historical note that I read somewhere in cyberspace but cannot find any longer (story of my life): Quilling began when nuns would trim pages for books. The quills used for writing were used to wrap the trimmings to make decorations for pages, book covers, etc. You can see the wiki entry here, though it is not worded as nicely as the source I found earlier.