Quilling an Iris and Modifying Kits

My little 5x7 framed iris.

This post was supposed to be about my fun time at the NAQG quilling conference - but it turns out the guild embargoes all material relating to the conference until their next newsletter comes out (after June).  I think that this policy is not good for the guild.  My reason is that I think it is important to get new, young quillers into the guild - and having a strong, timely web presence is essential for that.  It means getting updates about events out immediately, and having them on several platforms (along with nice pictures and interesting text).  But I'm not in a position to make those decisions.  Sooooo instead we get an update post about an iris!  I'll post about my time at the conference later.

The original kit design,
note buds.

My husband's favorite flower is the iris.  I've been telling myself I'd quill him a little something for quite a while, and of course an iris came to mind.  But without a lot of extra time for quilling right now, I had to quill something small and straightforward.  I happened to have a kit to quill an iris on a card, and so modified that kit to fit my little frame.  I also changed some of the leaves and buds to fit my own idea of what an iris bud looks like (the one on the card is rather stylized).  I like the final product - a little framed picture he can take into the office.

So my question for you is this - do you use quilling kits?  Perhaps in a teaching setting, or for gifts?  Do you usually follow the directions along exactly or make your own modifications?

Image credits:  Top, my own picture of my own quilling, bottom, Quilled Creations Iris Flower card kit.

Preparing for a Quilling Conference

I'm soon off to attend my first quilling conference!  This is the North American Quilling Guild's 2016 Con, this year in Nashville, TN.  I thought I wasn't going to be able to attend, but as it is, I'm on work travel not too far away just before the conference.  So I have the opportunity to pop on over and spend the weekend steeped in quilling.  I really hope it's as fun as it sounds, and that I get to spend time meeting new people who enjoy quilling as much as I do!

Still, it was difficult for me to figure out what I had to do to prepare for this conference, and even now I think I might not really be ready.  Not everything one needs to know as a first timer is in one place.  So many people are repeat attendees they probably assume everyone knows how long the con is, when you can register, if there are group events, if there are public events or demos, etc.  Now that the agenda is out, that information is all available, but I didn't know a lot of it when I was making my travel plans many months ago.

I realized rather late in the game that I needed to make my own thematic name tag.  I eventually managed to find a bit of time this afternoon to put one together, a little banjo with some musical notes.  It's pretty basic, but it will do.  The next time I can go to this conference I hope to be able to spend more time on the name tag.  It is a fun idea, and will make a nice keepsake. 

I registered for the contest, but was unable to complete the piece I'd hoped to bring.  So I'm bringing another one.  My fault entirely, I have no idea if I can change pieces at this late date.  But I'll bring a project and see.  Annnnnd then I realized I did not have new business cards for the blog, here!  My cards still have the old blog name.  So I quickly mocked up some cards and printed them at home on card stock.  Not as nice and spiffy as they could be, but hopefully they will serve the purpose.

I didn't even know I had to sign up for classes until it was almost too late to do so.  I blithely assumed I'd just show up and go to whatever classes floated my boat.  But it makes a lot of sense to assign people a priori.  That way there is a good balance, no one instructor is left alone or overwhelmed, and people can plan for how much and what materials to bring with them.  Oh yeah, the materials.  That's another interesting situation for me, since I never check bags when I fly.  But I'm going to have to check for this flight, what with all the quilling tools, scissors, pliers, and other odd devices I'm bringing with me.  Technically, they are all small enough to get through security, but I don't feel like trying to deal with that if someone is weirded out by my odd little paper craft.

Another last minute item that worked in my favor was that they were still looking for volunteers for Saturday afternoon to do demos and take-aways with the general public.  I love stuff like that, and am looking forward showing a few folks how great quilling is, and maybe making someone a quiller-for-life!

Image credit:  All my own stuff, and all my own pictures of that stuff.

Herb Sampler, Selling Your Work, and More

Lovage - My favorite herb in the kit so far!

So as I mentioned in my first Herb Sampler post, I've finally gotten down to doing serious work on this project I've been meaning to get done for more than two decades.  It's a pretty good kit, this Herb Sampler, similar to the Berry Sampler in many ways.  But there are a few differences that make the Berry Sampler superior, I think. 

First of all, the berries are more three dimensional.  The leaves and such in the berry kit are more tilted, giving the whole piece more of a living feeling.  And the second issue is that this is the first time I have run out of green paper in a kit!  I'm very surprised.  I've never had this happen before, and certainly not with the old Quill Art kits.  Fortunately I had one of those old kits around to raid, and found enough similar paper to continue.  It isn't perfect.  The color is just a smidge off, and the width isn't quite as narrow by half a millimeter, but given one thing and another, I think it will suffice.  I'm pretty picky.  I think all quillers are detail oriented by nature, so good enough is probably, well, good enough.

Kit is coming along - just three more to go - assuming
I now have enough paper ...

I was about half way through the herb kit when a friend visited and saw my completed berry sampler up on the wall in the kitchen.  She liked it, but it was when I showed her my still-in-progress herb sampler that her eyes really lit up.  She asked me to make her one, and said she'd pay for it.  I was (an am) a bit baffled as how to handle it.  I'm more than happy to make her one, although it may be a while before I manage to get through another entire sampler after 23 years of waiting :)  But more, it is the idea of selling this kind of work.  It is impossible to actually get the work value out of quilling, assuming you pay yourself an hourly rate that reflects your expertise at the craft.  Even say $20 an hour, which seems very low for such work, means I'd be charging hundreds of dollars for this piece.  I'm not going to ask a friend to pay that.  So what is the answer?  Ask for less?  Ask for nothing and give it away?  That last is certainly how I've dealt with this issue in the past.  It has always seemed strange to get paid for quilling.  How do you deal with this issue?

Form with filled quills for petals.

So I've placed a picture of the "Lovage" herb front and center on this post.  The Lovage is my favorite so far.  I really love the way the flowers look, with the graceful curls all the same size.  I did not use a mold or form to make these.  I simply eyeball the size, and get very consistent results.  I rarely use the forms and molds, since I find them sort of distracting.  Still, I did use them recently to create my "Pantone" flower, ensuring all the petals would have the same size, in spite of the different weights of the paper.  How about you, do you use forms, and when?

Image Credits:  My pictures of my own stuff, and my own work.  Herb Sampler kit is 1993 Malinda Johnston.

Contests or Collaborations in Quilling

The NAQG Winter
Newsletter with Quilling
covered tree!

I found the winter edition of Quill America (the newsletter of the North American Quilling Guild) in my mailbox yesterday.  I was happy to see that the highlighted project on the front cover was "Festival of Trees:  Quilling Around the World."  This was the project that I had contributed to in October last year.  On the cover you can see the fully decorated tree, decked out with quilling.  And you can see close-ups of the tree-topper, a lacy angel in white.  I'm very proud to have contributed to such a beautiful tree.

And more fun was to be had upon opening up the newsletter.  Turns out the organizer took the time to photograph and catalog everyone's contributions!  I was surprised to find my own quilling right there in the newsletter :)  Warm fuzzies!  I felt my work was very appreciated.  I hope the tree raised a nice sum for the charity.  This was a very fun project, and I certainly enjoyed being a part of a larger creation like this, and for a good cause.

There are my ornaments in the circle!
It was so nice that the organizer took this
time to highlight all of our contributions!

This makes me think a great deal about contests versus collaborations.  None of us has infinite time to spend on quilling and so has to strategize what they will do with that time, and what they won't.  I much, much prefer to get involved with collaborative projects like this one.  I enjoy the feeling of all working together to a common cause, and the sense of community that engenders. 

Now, I have certainly entered quilling contests, and will no doubt do so again in the future.  But I do it mostly because that seems to be the go-to way for us to share our quilling with one another.  But I don't prefer it - quilling is already such a solo endeavor, it seems to be more enjoyable to me when more people are involved.  I also think it makes for a stronger sense of community.  I like seeing other people's quilling, but it does not have to be a contest for me to want to do that.

I'd really love to see more emphasis placed on community/collaborative work, and less on contests.  I'd like to see us move towards a model where we focus on these group projects and build strong community connections.  Winning a contest can be fun, no doubt.  But it just seems like there is too much importance placed on the contests.  What do you think?

Image Credits:  My pix of my own NAQG Newsletter

Valentines and Maybe a Quilling Conference

Oh dear, I'm two days late posting my valentine, but no matter, here it is!  I hope you had a happy day and a chance to spend at least a few moments with a friend or family member.

I was lucky - I got chocolates, flowers, AND that framed commemorative stamp I've been going on about.  You know exactly the one I mean, of course ...

Now in addition to these pleasant ruminations, my mind has been taken up with a few other matters.  Such as pushing forward with my current WIP, the herb sampler, as I mentioned before.

But the big thing is trying to decide if I will take some precious time and funds and go to my first ever quilling conference.  The North American Quilling Guild is having its conference in Tennessee this year, not too far from where I will be at another meeting, right beforehand.  So it would be pretty straightforward to just hop over there and see what it's like.  I'd really like to go, meet other quillers, maybe pick up some new techniques, and see what the vendors have for sale.  But I don't have many free weekends as it is these days, so I just don't know.  Are you going?  What is it like, and what draws you there?  Are there any younger quillers?  I'm always interested in meeting the next generation!  I'm also considering offering a class about sharing your quilling online.  A lot of the quillers I know are not computer-savvy, and haven't really started connecting with the online community at all.  I think it might be useful and fun to show these folks what is out there, other than Facebook, like Twitter, say, as well as DeviantArt, Craftsy, and of course blogs!  What do you think?  Would you check out such a class?

Image credits:  My pix of my quilling, also my chocolates and my own new framed commemorative quilling stamp!

Ideas for Quilled Flowers and Plants

I've blogged before about how much I love books with different kinds of design motifs.  Well now I've found a wonderful resource for ideas on plants and flowers.  This is "5000 Flower and Plant Motifs" by Graham Leslie McCallum.  I'm surprised I missed this one; it was published in 2011, and I only spotted it late last year.  Yet this is exactly the sort of book I have my eye out for when seeking ideas for new designs for quilling, and more.

I had been originally looking at a number of possible other books, but read many comments suggesting that this was the real source book to buy.  So even though it was a bit pricey for me at about $24 I gave it a chance.  I was pretty impressed when it showed up, the book is an absolute brick, heavy, and filled with pages and pages of densely depicted designs of all types, drawn from a variety of cultures.

There are a number of versatile types of borders, for example, that could be adapted for use with cards, or used around the edges of matting for other designs, pictures, and invitations. 

Other pages show flower after flower, from the view of directly above the bloom.  Many of these are adaptable for quilling, and give a new way to look at centers and petals of flowers, rather than many of the typical quilled flowers we are used to seeing. 

The pages go on to show flowers in a variety of perspectives, including potted.  If you enjoy making floral miniatures, these would be excellent for new ideas.

One feature of the book is that it goes into incredible detail of some plants.  For example, there are two pages that just deal with the strawberry, showing the exterior, interior, leaves, flowers, and all the rest.  If you are planning to quill strawberries, this would be a fantastic resource to help consider all the different perspectives that these berries might be viewed from, and how they might be represented with paper.

A last feature of the book, is that all the designs also come on a CD, so you can get them into your computer for adjustment, color, or whatever.  I haven't tried the CD yet, since I'm still browsing this volume manually, but I look forward to trying it out.

Image Credits:  All images are my own, from my own copy of 5000 Plant and Flower Motifs by McCallum.