A mindful afternoon twiddling

I’ve recently spent an afternoon doing as what only be described as ‘twiddling paper’ and once again I’ve been inspired by many fantastic paper craft and quilling artists over on Instagram. What they can do with twirls of paper is just amazing, and clearly they’re far from my beginner level.

However, as I’m firmly of the belief that everyone has to start at the beginning, and that starting is better than not I decided to get some pre-cut strips of paper and some basic tools, and try it out for myself.

Now this is clearly where this post strays into ‘all the gear, no idea’ territory but with an online tutorial or two under my belt I was ready to get started.

Rainbow tonal packs of strips of coloured paper pre-cut for quilling

How pretty do all the tonal strips of paper look?

Tweezers, quilling tools and a cork backed guide

This flower template also came with the kit, but was quickly put aside for a more ‘advanced’ day.

Laminated paper with various flower designs for quilling

So how did I get on? Well, I had some success - though not much - and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. I think it’s something I’ll try again and aim to develop further so that I can incorporate the shapes into card making, but in reality I’m a long way off some of the wonderful creations I’ve seen. Thankfully I’m also a realist and realise Rome wasn’t built in a day.

mid and light mauve quilled 'swirls' in a tray with partitions (mostly empty!)

For now though my quilling adventures have been cut short as a plaster on your index finger doesn’t provide the dexterity needed for such detailed craft. I’ll return to this again, soon hopefully. And my finger? Well it’s the most mundane of injuries - a simple, but dramatic, cut through picking up the food processor vegetable slicer the wrong way, ouch. Those blades are sharp, way sharper than I expected!

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