Many steps are required to create a piece of quilled art. First the piece must be designed, and then each individual strip of quilling paper must be rolled and shaped by hand. The quilled shapes are then laid out onto the background to see how the design looks. After adjustments are made to the design, each individual piece of quilling paper is meticulously glued to the background. The piece is then placed in a frame deep enough to accommodate the quillwork and is finally finished.
Let’s unroll a dainty paper scroll and read what history
has recorded about quilling. The origin of quilling or paper filigree has
been traced to European monasteries of the fifteenth century, but the actual
creation of the art may date back to the thirteenth century. The fine
strips of handmade paper trimmed from the pages of religious manuscripts were
far too precious to be discarded, so a new form of art was developed to utilize
them. These strips of paper, which were rolled and curled around goose
quill pens, came to be known as "quilling."
By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, paper
was more widespread and much less costly. The decorative art of quilling
spread to France and England. Quilling suddenly became the rage! It was
considered to be a "proper" pastime for the fashionable ladies of the
time, and was a perfect compliment to the elaborate furnishings of the Victorian
period. Embroidery needles were tucked away and ambitious damsels worked
tirelessly under the tutelage of hired instructors until they mastered the fine,
new art. Princess Elizabeth herself gifted her physician with a quilled
screen, which is now displayed at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Even
novelist Jane Austen, in Sense and Sensibility (1811), refers to a
"filigree" basket.
Quilling spread from England to the American colonies, where it found a home in the New England area. This craft become so popular that newspaper advertisements for some boarding schools listed "Quill-Work" among the subjects taught. Examples of Pre-Revolutionary War pieces of quilling can be seen on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In the Colonial Williamsburg collection, in Williamsburg, Virginia, there are two cribbage boards, made sometime between 1790-1810, a late eighteenth century tea caddy, and an English three-dimensional picture of a castle.
For reasons that aren’t clear, quilling’s popularity seems to have faded during the late 1800s. Not until the middle of this century did quilling re-emerge. Today, thanks to the enthusiasm, knowledge, and skills of quillers everywhere, this captivating craft is back to stay.