Queen of quilling: the secrets of creating masterpieces from stripes of paper

Designer Julia Brodskaya combined her two hobbies - working with paper and graphics, transferring quilling techniques to a new dimension.

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Julia Brodskaya
LONDON | ARTYULIA.COM

"How long is that! I will never finish!" Such thoughts accompany Julia when she sits at work, consisting of countless thin strips of paper. But time passes, and unrealistic 3D pictures appear, changing depending on the incidence of light and perspective. This made the 29-year-old native of Moscow the quilling queen, whom she became interested in by chance.
In 2004, Julia came to study graphic design in London. Once on the cover of a book with her illustrations, she wanted to portray the name Yulia in a special way and remembered the paper plastic she used before. Julia began to experiment with various grades of paper, the arrangement of elements and effects to get real picturesque canvases.


Quilling - creation of compositions from twisted strips of paper. For her works, Julia first draws sketches, defines colors, makes hundreds of spirals and other shapes, and then sticks them. Thin paper curls better, but Julia prefers a thicker one. One order may require a month of labor, and among its customers brands like Hermès or Starbucks.How it's done
In fact, quilling is not so complicated and mysterious form of art as it might seem at first glance.In this master class, we will show how to roll strips of paper for the basic forms that make up absolutely fantastic compositions.
Tip: To fix curled paper strips, take quick-setting paper glue. But keep in mind that bonding is fast enough.
STEP 1

From a sheet of paper (this does not have to be special paper for quilling), using a special roller knife and a ruler, cut even strips 1 cm wide.

STEP 2

Pull a strip of paper (without cutting) through the scissor blades so that they (like gift ribbons) twist slightly.

STEP 3

For most forms, strips of paper are curled into rollers around a toothpick.
A CIRCLE

After twisting the strips, remove the toothpick. With the tip of a toothpick, glue on the edge of the strip and fix the roller.
SEMICIRCLE

Press the paper roller against the round object until two pointed peaks form.
DROP

Lay a strip of paper in loops and fold each time in the same place. The fold itself retains its shape.
Photo: Julia Brodskaya