About Paper filigree / Quilling - Part 1

Quilling was started as a hobby by women in ancient days. They started by rolling off paper strips around the tips of the quills(feather) to form scroll shapes, hence the name ‘quilling’. The scrolls were then pinched on to make different shapes and glued them to surfaces and decorated.

To start with Paper Quilling / Filigree, You will need:
- Quilling paper (available in shops) or cut thin strips of paper in different colors. [standard width : 3 mm ]
- Quilling slotted tool (if you don't have one to begin learning start with you can use a toothpick to roll, but the tool makes the job easier)
 - Quilling board , to get perfect coil size (its optional, i myself don't have one)
- PVA Glue, to stick the scroll ends.
- a toothpick, to apply glue n the paper
- scissors , to cut the paper
- finally a lot of Patience :)

Okay, Now lets see How to do it

Insert one end of the paper strip into the slot of the tool. Start rolling tightly (if the ends slip away then slightly dampen one end of the paper with water and insert before rolling).Make sure the paper is well aligned as you roll.Once you reach the end of the paper, apply glue with the help of toothpick and stick the ends. This is called tight roll.

Loose roll : follow the same steps, then instead of gluing the ends of the tight roll, hold the roll and remove from the tool and allow it to loosen up a little and then glue the ends. Well if you have a quilling board place them on the preferred coil size and release the roll to unwind.This is the base for all the rolls.

if you don't glue the ends its called scroll.  Again there are many types of scrolls.

Continued in Part 2 - for more types of rolls and scrolls....