How to Quill Paper Flowers

Quilling flowers is part of an age old tradition of making paper coils with fringe. However, with a modern twist, you can add quilled flowers to almost anything. Affix quilled flowers to greeting cards, tags or gifts. Vary the size of your coils and make a quaint bouquet of quilled flowers. Most quillers use special quilling paper that comes in precut in various widths. But a beginner can use card stock, construction or tissue paper to learn the basic form just as well. So if you would like to learn more about the basic form, follow these steps. You will quill flowers in a matter of minutes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper strips (one wide, one narrow)
• Quilling tool
• Scissors
• White glue
• Toothpick

1. Cut strips of paper. Start with two strips of paper. One strip will be wide, about 3/8 inch. Another strip will be narrow, about 1/8 inch.

2. Make fringe. Take the wider strip of paper and cut slits perpendicular to the long edge. Make sure to cut within 1/8 of an inch of the long edge. Try to make sure the slits are evenly spaced. Making cuts in the paper provides flexibility.

3. Secure the two strips of paper with glue. Align the narrow strip of paper to the long edge (the non-fringe side) as you will want to have a continuous line. Apply glue to the paper with a toothpick.

4. Thread the narrow strip of paper through the eye of the slotted tool. Hold the slotted tool with one hand. Start twisting the tool so the paper forms a coil. Use your other hand to guide the paper.

5. Apply glue to the loose end to secure the coil. Applying glue will make removing the slotted tool easier.

6. Remove the coil from the slotted tool.

7. Allow the glue on the paper to air dry.

8. Shape the flower. Hold the base of the blower with one hand. Gently push the petals back with the other hand.

9. Use a felt tip pen to color the edges of the quilled flower (optional).

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with different colors of paper. Quill flowers with multi-colored paper to create daisies and carnations.
• Quill several blooms to create a bouquet. Just glue the flowers to florists' wire underneath the quilled flower. Add leaves to cover the spot where you attached the wire. Gather the quilled flowers in a bunch and secure the bouquet with ribbon.