Quilling a Letter

Making beautiful typographic art through quilling is not as hard as it may look! This is my second time to quill a letter, and while I'm still learning a lot about quilling myself, I think this one turned out well enough to do a tutorial.
Recently, my interest in quilling has spiked, and I am going to try to see how much I can do with this art. I'll be sure to keep ya'll updated! But now for the main event!




WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1. Cork board (I used foam core for this one, but have since found that cork is MUCH easier on the fingertips!)
2. Strips of paper, either cardstock or quilling paper, at 1/4in wide
3. Printed letter as a guide
4. Straight pins
5. Glue
6. Tweezers
7. A small paintbrush or toothpick
8. Frame with no glass
9. Patience! 

TUTORIAL:

I made this letter for a friend of mine's three-year-old daughter, whose favorite color is pink. First, I measured my frame so I would know exactly how big to make my template letter. Then, in a Word document, I made an oval shape to those dimensions, then picked a font with a pretty "M". I knew I wanted it to be fun and girly. Next I painted a layer of acrylic white on my drabby old frame to start the sprucing process.

Once I decided on a font and an orientation, I changed the opacity of my letter to 20%, making it a very light pink. You don't want to see the printed letter in the final product! It was then printed, the oval cut out, and pinned to my board.

Another coat of white for the frame...

I continued to add coats of white throughout my quilling until the frame was completely covered and how I wanted. Next, you want to frame your letter. I have seen multiple ways to do this, but what I have found easiest is to use your straight pins to hold the strips of paper while you form the frame around them. Hopefully this will make sense as I continue. You'll also want to make sure you have a little bowl or pile of glue next to you and ready to go: you will be painting it down as you go. (You can see my little blob of glue in the top right corner there.)

This picture here is what I'm talking about with using the straight pins. Start on a flat area, I chose the bottom corner of the M. Then, place a pin in the corners as you come to them, using the pin to hold the paper in place. On the straight-a-ways you'll want to alternate inside/outside to make sure the paper is staying straight. When you fold around a pin, try to make the crease as crisp as possible--it will make things easier. Also, don't forget to paint down a thin layer of white glue as you go.

Keep winding and winding, using the print off as a guide and the pins to hold the paper in the curves and corners while the glue dries. When you reach the end of one strip of paper, just glue the next strip right to it, using the pins to hold them together as you continue to frame your letter.

Once you start doubling back, the previous pins will start to get in the way of your paper strips. The white glue tends to set rather fast (but gently test the area to make sure!) so you can go ahead and remove those old pins. It also gives you a first glance at how you're doing!

Once you get back to your starting point, snip off the extra paper and glue the ends together. Give it a few minutes to dry, then:

TADA! Framed letter! Now you could leave it like this if you want, but personally I like it better with all the swirlys inside. Another thing to keep in mind, is that while you can't really mess it up with what you put in there (after all, it is YOUR letter), usually having some sort of pattern is more aesthetically pleasing.

I chose to put tight coils in all the "rectangle parts," and a double coil in the top "rectangle part." Plus the extra little one at the middle point there. :)

Then, I curved some hot pink strips in the humps, using more pins to hold it in place. At this point you can still see the pin pricks, but don't worry, we'll make them disappear!

I continued to add straight lines, trying to keep it as symmetrical as possible. I used my tweezers to place pieces precisely, and put pins (without pushing them down) to keep the pieces spaced apart. The tension of the paper kept the pins upright.

I then added some of the basic quilling pieces: zig-zags, tight coils, starburst, and tight coils with tails to finish filling out the letter. I used white, hot pink, light pink, and a very light peachy-orange. Once you've made it look how you like, the hard part is over! You can now add all kinds of swirlys and curlies around your letter, or just leave it as is. I added a little flower and some curls. Just play with the paper and have fun! You have a beautiful piece of art, that now only needs a frame.

All finished! Be sure to put a piece of paper the same color as your background paper behind your work so the pinholes don't show through. Feel free to send me pictures of your own quillings--I would love to see them!

-Stacey :)