I thought I’d start off by telling you how I started twirling paper
I started quilling early in the year 2000 with a kit that my mother had given me in 1974. I carried the kit around – un-touched by my perfectionists hands – as I moved from place to place, state to state, and finally decided to either learn it or give it away. So, I sat down and started quilling using the directions from a book that came with the kit. The paper was old, rough and thick, not at all like the smooth, thin paper of today. It didn’t take long for me to be hooked.
Since I was self taught, I was so excited when I found out about the North American Quilling Guild (NAQG) that I went to their 8th annual conference in 2001. It was fabulous! I had such a good time and saw such great quilling that I couldn’t wait for the next year’s event. In 2005 I hosted one of the conferences myself. What an event. I had such fun putting it together and seeing it all come about.
The North American Quilling Guild (NAQG) consists of members from around the world and holds an annual conference that is now called NAQGCon. I highly recommend attending if you can. I have now attended 13 of their 28 conferences and am still awed by the work that quillers bring to share and compete. At these events there are classes to learn new technics or perhaps a different way to do an old one.
They also hold a competition that is judged by its members. To win means a lot because it is judged by your peers who understand the amount of work involved. I have been lucky enough to win in many of the competitions. See my gallery called Competition Pieces.
In 2003 I took some time to do some teaching. I enjoy passing on new ideas and information to others.
As I learned quilling I stared by making designs from books and was soon able to create my own designs. I’ve tried to give credit to those who inspired each image, but if I missed one, let me know and I’ll be happy to add it. I am lucky enough to be married to a professional photographer and so the pictures make my work look even better.
I use a very wide variety of papers including American, Dutch, English, and Australian. Each paper has it’s own characteristics and is used for certain things. There are bright colors, pastels, neon, sparkling, pearl, vellum, mirror foil, metallic (both shiny and brushed), gilded, gradient and two-tone (different colors on each side). Look closely at my designs and you’ll see what I mean.
I hope you enjoy going through my Galleries and get inspiration there, but please be sure to make your own designs and not copy mine.
Enjoy,
Rhonda.
For the history of this ancient art called Quilling click here.