October 2016 Meeting Demo

Sheryl Scott was our Artist of the Month for October 2016. Sheryl gave a demo of her special artwork, quilling. Quilling is an age old art using strips of paper to design shapes and patterns. It was used to decorate baskets, tea caddies, trays, fire screens, and furniture in days gone by. Now it is used as an artform in frames, to decorate book covers, greeting cards, and for anything you can use raised or 3-dimensional objects on. It can be combined with paper or plastic flowers or leaves, or other objects. Sheryl started her demo by showing several books and articles on the subject of quilling. Then she gave a short history of quilling, which started out as metal filigree work in Egyptian times. By the 13th Century, artists mimicked this look with strips of paper, rolled loosely, placed on edge, and gilded to resemble precious metal. Quilling was very popular during Georgian and Victorian times among ladies, who could buy their paper strips with or without gilt edges, or cut their own from the pages of books. In the 18th Century, paper filigree was taught along with needlework as a proper pastime for ladies. It was also combined with shells, wax flowers, twisted wire, mica, and human hair. In Europe quilling was called paper filigree. It is believed the name quilling is derived from the feather quills said to have been used to roll the paper strips. Quilling spread from England to the American colonies. Its popularity faded during the late 1800s and not until the middle of this Century did quilling re-emerge, due in great part to the Quilling Guild of England (www.quilling-guild.co.uk). The North American Quilling Guild website is www.naqg.org.