If you don’t know what quilling is, its that craft where varying lengths of fine strips of coloured paper are rolled into tight spirals, molded into the required shape and then the shape stuck onto card or paper as the design or part of it. When its done well it looks brilliant and nice results can be obtained with only a little practice. Another of those easy, but looks better if you put some effort and skill into it things which defines a craft.
Quilling paper can be bought pre cut and most strips are about 3mm across. If you are not confident of being able cutting your own sheets of paper this way then its probably worth buying the precut packs. Winding can be done on a pencil, but a toothpick or cocktail stick is better as it creates a much smaller. However interesting effects can be obtained by winding around the point of a pencil so its worth experimenting to see what produces the effect you need. To get the basic shape the paper strip is wound tightly to create a clockwork spring effect as opposed to the elongated spiral of normal springs.
As you make your first turn you may find putting a dab of glue at the point where the paper meets helps to keep the spiral tight and less prone to unwind. Once you have finished winding allow the spiral to unwind a little so that you can form it in to the shape you want and then use another dab of glue to hold the end in place against. When this is dry you can stick it down on the piece of card or paper you are creating the design on.
Try making a simple flower or sun using a central spiral with surrounding spirals pinched to create a leaf, tear drop shape.
