Quilling – First form of 3D Art – Indian Quillers perspective

Since the U.S. Postal Service unveiled its first “Love” stamp in 1973, the annual design has featured roses, swans, ribbons and, yes, plenty of hearts. But none quite like this one.

“We consider stamps to be miniature works of art,” says William Gicker, the Postal Service’s manager of stamp development. And indeed, the average Valentine-sender probably has no idea just how much time and effort went into creating the impossibly ornate, three-dimensional handmade artwork featured on the 44th “Love” stamp.

First there was a general idea from one of the Postal Service’s art directors, followed by review by a citizen committee. Then there were months of sketches and revisions to determine the exact specification and the precise placement of every colorful swirl of paper, which required approval by the postmaster general. And then it took seven days for London-based artist Yulia Brodskaya to create the delicate heart design that will adorn the upper right corner of countless letters and cards this year.

Brodskaya created the piece using a technique known as quilling  (sometimes referred to as paper filigree) which involves creating intricate three-dimensional designs with narrow strips of paper that are glued in place by their edges.

“The idea for the new stamp was to make something warm and tactile, with positive energy and personality,” she says.

But it also needed to translate to format as flat and tiny as a stamp, Gicker notes: “It’s arriving in the mail and people only give it a quick look, so we want to capture their attention, but we also need to keep it pretty simple.”

Quilling is an age-old craft; some sources suggest that the earliest technique dates back to ancient Egypt, according to the U.K-based nonprofit Quilling Guild. But the art form’s roots are most commonly traced to the 15th and 16th centuries, when French and Italian nuns used paper-rolling to mimic metal filigree ornamental decorations of silver or gold wire and created art that often adorned religious documents or reliquaries, the containers for holy relics.

The earliest Quillers used the base of a feather to mold loops and circles in paper hence the name “Quilling.”

Paper-rolling, paper-scrolling, filigree, mosaic and quilling are all names which have been given to our art during its long history. Quilling or paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. Today, Quilling is seeing resurgence in popularity with Quillers

Quilling is great for all ages thanks to the simplicity of the techniques and how relaxing it is. The craft has become increasingly popular due to the low cost of the material. It is used to decorate wedding invitations, for Christmas, birth announcements, greeting cards, scrapbook pages, and boxes.

“It is an amazing craft which presents papers in a new dimension. You can create beautiful art with different colors of papers. Thin strips of quality papers are usually considered best for Quilling. Using newspaper strips, we can make beautiful patterns like flowers and birds.” So notes Pavithra Amarnath who is a Quiller from Chennai who is effectively balancing her professional profile with Accenture and her passion for Quilling.

Back then in eighteenth century Europe, it gave ladies of leisure something to do. Again during the Renaissance, priests and nuns used this art to decorate book covers and religious items. In recent years, it received a shot in the arm thanks to Yulia Brosskaya, who popularized the same and secondly due to digital technology. The art in question is quilling, a ‘paper filigree’ form of decorative art, which has suddenly become ubiquitous, think jewelry, greeting cards, boxes, wedding invites, bookmarks, photo frames and posters and is seeing a fascinating comeback..

One of Chennai’s patrons of Quilling, Aishwarya Lakshminarayan, an analog design engineer, perfected her skills while doing her Master’s in Germany. Aishwarya turned her passion for art into a start up called Curls and Strips. She reminisces, “A friend introduced me to quilling, which is a popular art in Europe. I have always been artistically inclined; hence it caught my eye.” On relocating to India for work, the electronics engineer realized that Quilling was relatively unknown in the country. “Since affordable and Eco-friendly craft always has a good reception in Chennai, I decided to turn entrepreneur, with Curls and Strips,” she explains. 


Coming from a family of artists, Aishwarya constantly improvises on her design techniques. “I learnt calligraphy in school and practise it regularly. I learnt many more quilling techniques from a popular Russian quiller. I also went to Italy and learnt a few more. Since my mother is also an artist, she helps me with my art,” she adds.

Pune-based Pritesh Ananth Krishnan who runs regular workshops on quilling and also runs Aadya Originals, an arts and crafts studio, He says “I got into quilling by chance, My sister initiated me into the craft and I nearly gave it up because I did not have any tools and the result was poor. The best thing about the art is its versatility; one can create a wide range of things using just paper.”

"It was an unusual request to make a chess set and frog pond for a friend, which sparked off the career option. he reminisces, After that, the requests kept flowing in!"

“The enormous amount of patience required in the art led” Says Bangalore-based Preeti Shenoy, a bestselling author (Life Is What You Make Of It, 34 Bubblegum's and Candies, Tea For Two and a Piece of Cake) to take up Quilling as a De-stresser.

Capitalizing on the current trend Quillography Preeti mainly creates name boards and flowers with ball pins and slotted Quilling tools. She admits that her first priority is writing books, “I sell personalized cards which are priced at `600 (inclusive of shipping). I have been flooded with over 15 orders a month, and had to refuse some orders to concentrate on writing.” Preeti also makes pencil portraits.

Nature seems to be a prime source of inspiration for Quilling enthusiasts.

Pritesh muses, “She (nature) never seems to shy away from challenges. She adapts, improvises and goes on. I seek inspiration in every creation of hers.”

Aishwarya and Pavithara feel the same way. Citing floral designs as her inspirations, Pavithra is intended to create elaborate Ganeshas on plaques, desktop accessories and cute bookmarks. 


While bonafide tools make the twirling process easier and simpler, one can also use toothpicks and drill bits to create shapes like tear drops, triangles, circles and eye shapes. Pritesh, however, swears by the Panduro Quilling tool, made by a Swedish company called Panduro Hobby., Aishwarya sets herself apart by using a wooden base to enhance her Quilling with calligraphy. She proudly states, “I wanted to break the monotony of book reading, and created attractive bookmarks,” and adds, with a hint of modesty, “I would say that it is my original (and quite famous) idea and am very happy that it has got a lot of takers.”

Considering the widespread popularity of the art in recent years, we wonder if it is a short lived fad. The response is unanimous, ‘due to its scalability, it is definitely here to stay, and has a very wide scope’. With digital technology, the opportunity for expansion is vast.

On discussing with Pavithra on the purpose of Quilling she notes “Learning is an art and learning an art is fun. Paper craft is very simple to learn. Anyone can learn Quilling paper craft with no age bar. To design our desired shapes on our own with minimum money, mind and margin (space).only time as an investment and at any point of time you can do, no need to wait for any vacation or weekend.”

"Depended on our interest we can sell the crafted items to make pocket money. (She laughs and includes) Of course no one makes art with a capital gain in their mind."

Deepti Patil a professional Quiller from Delhi who runs online programme for Quillers across Asia and also supplies Quilling tools shares some precautionary steps to follow while Quilling

“Quilling is the art of rolling narrow colored paper strips of 3 mm, 5 mm, into coils or scrolls and arranging them to create elegant filigree.”

1.     To try coiling with a needle tool, get your fingers a little damp and then curve one end of a paper strip around the needle.

2.     Use your thumb and index finger to apply pressure and roll the paper around the needle.

3.     When you have rolled the piece of paper all the way around the needle tool, take it off.

4.     Once the coil is as big or small as you want it, glue the tail.

5.     You may want to pinch it into an eye shape for a leaf. You could also do a triangle for an ear. The possibilities are endless!

6.     This is the basic method to make a coil or different shape with a needle.

On asking Anuja Kulkarni a Quilling professional hailing from Hyderabad "What would be the most difficult thing about paper Quilling? Could you please share a few tips for those who want to take it up professionally?”

She says “I feel giving a good finishing touch to the work is one of the most difficult things about paper quilling. The next would be making similar shapes of things as maintaining uniformity is a big task in this. Every person has a unique way of doing it and the most important thing that one can do is follow their heart while making a paper quilling, it’s only then that it will turn out to be the best. In other words, I feel that when one is creating a work he/she should put something of his in the form.”

References

1.     You may reach Aishwarya’s Curls and Strips boutique by visiting her website and dropping in your details http://giftinginstyle.weebly.com/contact.html

2.     Deepti Patil can be reached for Quilling tools and guides on her Phone +65 83511228

3.     Pavithra can be reached through her mobile +91 9500114478 she offers variety of Quilling arts based on your requirement. Must try some of her works as a gift options for occasions like your friend’s wedding, house warming etc.

4.     visit Pritesh Ananth Krishnan for exiting Quilling arts at affordable price; He can be reached at Aadya Originals 7, Gulmohar Apartments, Sahakhar Sadan Path, Dr. Ketkar Marga, Off Prabhat Road, Pune, Maharashtra 411004 Phone 072192 75508

5.     You may reach Preeti Shenoy on her mail ps@preetishenoy.com to give your requisite for personalized quilling greeting cards and other arts.