Beginners Guide on DIY Quilling Paper Art & 43 Exceptional Quilling Designs to Materialize

You might find these useful :

- simple slotted curling tool; this is by far the most important tool in our short list. This can help you curl curl paper strips into the desired coils and shapes that you are going to use further on in patterns. You can purchase them in any hobby shop or you can create one from a needle or even a toothpick.

- quilling paper strips; the strip that you are going to used is directly related to the project ahead of you. The most common width however is the strip of 1/8" . You can buy the strips pre-cut or make it yourself. The advantage of pre-made strips is that they are uniform and consistent and they will save you time, bear in mind that this is after all, a do it yourself project.

- Glue; a good quality glue will not ruin the work on which you've spent hours. Keep that in mind. On the first projects you can start with lower quality glue and see how it goes though.

The tools mentioned above are obviously absolutely necessary in any quilling paper art project. The ones are ahead aren't absolutely necessary but you might find them quite useful.

- A workboard; working in a system can make things easier. The first and most part of the system is of course the working board. You can make an inexpensive one from cork, corrugated cardboard, polystyrene or you can purchase one. We suggest you to cover the workboard with a thin piece of plastic or some wax paper to make things easier to clean, to stick quilling with glue on it and prevent damage to the actual board when you make a composition test or simply to improve its durability.

- Tweezers;useful to manipulate small pieces in your ensemble and glue them successfully in narrow places.

- Toothpicks; you can use them to apply very small portions of glue on each piece.

- Straight pins; used to pin quilled scrolls and coils into place on the workboard or to use the so called"husking technique" which is explained below.

- Ruler; it will ease your work when following instructions or patterns.

What is Husking?

Husking is a technique that you use to simulate a shape or pattern by pining things on your workboard, the paper strips are wrapped around each pin. It is very useful if you want to multiply a design as you can keep the pins into place and simply maintain the key positions in the compositions. This technique is very used when intricate patterns are recreated .

You can, of course, purchase a quilling kit that contains absolutely everything that you need to get started. It is theoretically the best value option for beginners. However we suggest you to start without purchasing anything but paper and glue. If you manage to materialize two three pieces and you really like the process and results it is ofcourse worth the purchase. All the tools listed above are included in such kits and additional molds used to create 3D paper domes and some handy foam shaping board can be found in the kits as well.

If you're just starting out, a quilling kit contains everything you need to get started and so is probably the best value option for beginners. On top of that I've listed paper strips and quilling tools which are the most vital products needed for this hobby, plus there is a very handy foam shaping board and a fun mold for making 3D paper domes. I've picked the products with the highest rated reviews so you know you'll be getting the best: