Quilling or paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled tightly and then loosened a little and shaped to form an image, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The technique has been masterfully applied to straw.
Though few artists accomplish this in straw, the below collection of images will illustrate the use of straw quilling:
To assist you, our Straw Shop Splitter Set will provide you with a variety of widths of straw to quill when using whole stalks of wheat or rye, not flattened wheat. The use of the various sizes of split straw will add dimension to your work. The tools used to quill paper are interchangeable with using straw.
American artist, Kathy Dailey, has shared the following two images:
This example appears to be on a woven heart of wheat straw, the artist unknown unfortunately. The use of straw quilling on this piece is so varied in shapes.
Serbian artists Mirjana & Edvard Kirbus have included straw quilled eggs to their portfolio of works. Thin splits of straw have been softened and wound in traditional quilling method. Here are some examples of their work:
Returning to the USA, artist Carol Thompson created her Tree of Life.
The possibilities with flattened straw and quilling are endless but where to begin? Do you begin with ironed wheat and begin to wind it? It would be the easiest way to start. The Straw Shop offers flattened wheat in a variety of choices such as multi-colored, bleached, and natural.
Quilling is easily adapted to straw. In fact, many paper quilling artists already use straw methods in their work. Below are examples of Swiss straw patterns executed in paper rather than straw:
Straw quilling is a beautiful, unique ,and almost unknown art form. The Straw Shop wanted to show this style of straw work in as many examples as possible to see. Although paper is the expected medium when the word quilling is used, in fact straw quilling has quite a history of its own.