History of Quilling
The history isn’t very long, but provides you with insights on how and why quilling became popular with the rise of paper.
The history isn’t very long, but provides you with insights on how and why quilling became popular with the rise of paper. Most places that have written about the history of quilling (which I will link to throughout this article), say quilling began as a craft sometime around the 15th century. The North American Quilling Guild believes quilling could have started a few centuries earlier. For example, Spruce Crafts believes it may have started in the 13th century in China, around the time paper was invented.
My Modern Met shares, “it is believed to have been created by French and Italian nuns and used to decorate religious objects in an effort to save money. The filigree was fashioned to simulate carved ivory and wrought iron—two very costly details”. Relatedly, nuns sometimes used gold-gilded paper(trimmed from the edges of books) to make the decorations look like metal. Spruce Crafts reveals quilling resurged in popularity in the 18th century as a "suitable" pastime for the women of the aristocracy. While Quilled Creations explains that this art form was popular in the American colonies. “However, based on the lack of historical samples, quilling seems to have lost its popularity during the late 1800's”.
My guess for the reason the history is so spotty and not many products exists from previous centuries is due to the malleability of paper. This quality of paper is great for quilling, because it can be shaped in so many ways, and inexpensive. However, this feature makes paper products easy to destroy if not handled properly. Today we have more resources to protect work from damage, such as sealing it with a glaze. Alas, this may be why there are not many older examples of quilled pieces of work made from paper. Quilled Wonderland has collected the stories of a few older pieces that survived the times.
Aside: You may notice that the phrase paper ‘filigree’ pops up a lot when exploring the history of quilling. Filigree is decorative or ornamental metal work. The metal flower, as well as the embellish found within the larger petals pictured is similar to shapes and patterns that can be quilled with paper.
Gold filigree intricate work from Portugal. Photo by Ss.analuisa - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47816424
Quilled paper flowers by All My Quills.
How I Started Quilling
Here is some inspiration on how to get started quilling.
Hi All,
I figured I would share a little bit of encouragement about quilling. The first picture is the first item I quilled. I call it “Joy”. Just kidding. It’s really a collection of shapes that I later realized could be rearranged to make flowers.
When I started quilling it was quite by accident. I was learning how to make greeting cards through various YouTube channels when I stumbled upon a card that was quilled. I thought it was beautiful. I watched the video, learned it was quilling, and looked up what it meant to “quill”. During that search, I learned about Yulia Brodskaya and that was it! I was hooked. I went to work… and created what you see here.
It was okay for a beginner, but nothing close to Yulia’s work (which is not really quilling, but paper art). However, that is okay. You have to learn how to walk before you can run. The first picture illustrates me walking. The second picture (not even two years later; inspired by the Disney Princess, Tiana) shows me moving a bit faster. I am still learning how to run (one day with scissors)! I am a life long learner.
If you stick with this blog, I will take you on my quilling journey, and show you what I know as I go along. The beautiful thing about quilling is that it is really a community activity. Everyone I have met on this quilling journey has been pretty supportive, and wants to teach others, (so we others with whom we can quill ).
My goal is to post once per week. (Maybe more when time allows). My post will always have something to do with quilling or paper arts and crafts. I will share what I am working on, what I am learning, what I reading or watching (as it relates to paper crafts). Feel free to ask questions or share your work! I would love to see what you are quilling, as well as get feedback on my creations.
Well, thank you for your time. I have a few minutes left in the day…just enough time to roll a few more circles before I get ready for tomorrow. Be well friends… and don’t forget to take some time to chill and quill.
This is the first picture. The picture is comprised of various quilling shapes that have been placed together as flowers, as well as paper hearts.
This quilled picture was inspired by the Disney Princess, Tiana. It is a portrait picture of Tiana in her gown (waist up). She has her her head resting in one hand and is looking up.