Free Quilling Instructions Spiral Shapes

To continue my lesson on the basic shapes, these instructions are for the Spiral Shapes. You can click here if you have questions about cutting your own paper quilling strips.

The picture shows the basic spiral shapes, please click on the picture to see a larger image with more detail. I will explain how to make the following shapes: Loose Scroll / Open Coil, S-Scroll, C-Scroll, Heart Scroll / Open Heart, and Spiral shapes.

All of the shapes in the attached picture were made using 4" (10.2 cm) pieces of quilling paper in the 1/8" (.3 cm) width.

General Tips:
With these Scroll shapes, since you are not gluing the ends, it is not necessary that you tear the end. Often times, if it is a shape where the end is visible, I will cut the end at an angle so that it tapers. Otherwise, tearing or cutting produce similar effects as the end is in the center of the shape and is generally not visible.

Before we go too far, I wanted to talk about something that you will hear quillers (or any paper artist) talk about and may not know what the reference means. The term is called "conditioning the paper." The best way I can explain this to you is to make you think about what you do to ribbon on a present. With that in mind, you take your finger nail and run it along the end of your quilling paper. The end result is a strip that begins to curve. You can get the same effect by using your needle tool or a pin. The reason you want to do this is that it loosens the fibers in the paper and makes it easier to shape. By looking at the way the paper curls you can also see the natural curve of the paper.

Loose Scroll / Open Coil

• Place the quilling paper in the slot at the very top of your slotted tool or at the top of your needle tool or corsage pin
• Holding the loose end of the paper in one hand and your tool in the other hand, begin turning the your tool gently pulling the paper
• Keep an even tension. For this shape do not pull as tightly, keep a looser tension so that the shape will open up when pulled off the tool
• Keep the edges of the wound paper as even as possible. This prevents creating a little pop-up in the center of your shape. Some people will call this a belly or a tornado.
• When you get to the end of your strip, pull the coil off the tool. If using the slotted tool, it is easier if you turn the slotted tool approximately 1/4 turn in the opposite direction before pulling the paper off.
• After pulling the paper off, let the coil open up.
• Do not glue the end, leave it open.
• This shape is actually kind of neat to use - it gives a very loose look to many patterns that you might use the loose coil for, and if you use your imagination think of waves, clouds, even musical notes, so many options... just with changing the length of the coil

S-Scroll

• This shape gets its name because it looks like an "S" when finished
• For this shape condition both ends of the strip such that one end is curved one direction and the other end is curved in the other direction (creating a loose S shape)
• Place the quilling paper in the slot at the very top of your slotted tool or at the top of your needle tool or corsage pin
• Holding the loose end of the paper in one hand and your tool in the other hand, begin turning the your tool gently pulling the paper
• Roll the paper in toward the center starting at one end and then moving to the other end once you reach the approximate middle of the strip
• Remember, to roll each end of the strip in opposite directions
• This creates a shape where both ends are approximately the same size, this can be changed by making one end smaller than the other simply by changing how far down the strip each end is rolled.
• Play around with this to see the difference it can make.

C-Scroll

• This shape gets its name because it looks like a "C" when finished
• For this shape condition both ends of the strip such that each end is curved in the same direction (creating a loose C shape)
• Place the quilling paper in the slot at the very top of your slotted tool or at the top of your needle tool or corsage pin
• Holding the loose end of the paper in one hand and your tool in the other hand, begin turning the your tool gently pulling the paper
• Roll the paper in toward the center starting at one end and then moving to the other end once you reach the approximate middle of the strip
• Remember, to roll each end of the strip in the same direction / toward eachother
• This creates a shape where both ends are approximately the same size, this can be changed by making one end smaller than the other simply by changing how far down the strip each end is rolled.
• Play around with this to see the difference it can make.

Heart Scroll / Open Heart

• Take the quilling paper and fold it in half
• Next, condition the paper the same way as for a C-Scroll by conditioning both ends of the strip such that each end is curved in the same direction, since the paper is folded this creates a loose V-shape
• Place the quilling paper in the slot at the very top of your slotted tool or at the top of your needle tool or corsage pin
• Holding the loose end of the paper in one hand and your tool in the other hand, begin turning the your tool gently pulling the paper
• Roll the paper in toward the center starting at one end and then moving to the other end once you reach the approximate middle of the strip
• Remember, to roll each end of the strip in the same direction / toward each other
• Roll until you get to the bottom, or the fold and then start rolling the other end. Now adjust the heart to the size you want by pulling the coils

Spiral shape

• To make this shape a needle tool, dowel, knitting needle or some such tool to create the spiral shape.
• A trick is to moisten the end of the strip, either by using a moist towel or sponge.
• Take the quilling strip and wrap it around the selected tool.
• Start at the tip and continue to wrap up the length of the tool.
• When approaching the end or handle, start sliding the paper off of the front of the tool so that you can continue to wrap the spiral shape until you reach the end of your quilling strip.
• A neat use is to take very long strips (by attaching them end to end) and outline a photo - not an easy task to keep it even when using long strips

Enjoy!
Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, free quilling instructions, free instructions, naqg, childrens crafts