Quilled Rose

Ah !! The classic, beautiful rose. When anyone would ask me when I was a kid what my favorite flower was, I’d always say rose. I don’t know why, exactly. Perhaps because my favorite color was red, and the classic rose was red. Anyway, I still love roses! Thankfully it’s fairly simple to re-create my favorite flower with a strip of paper, a quilling tool, and some glue. And today I’m going to share a tutorial showing how I make them !

One thing you can do with your roses is turn them into gorgeous earrings!

To make a rose you need a strip of paper, a slotted quilling tool, and glue. The wider your paper is the larger your rose will be. For this example (and for the roses in the earrings shown above) I am using paper that is 3/8″ wide (9mm). I use a strip that is 6″ long. I can do up to 12″ long with this width of paper. With paper that is more narrow you will use a shorter length.

Start by inserting your strip of paper into your slotted quilling tool and roll it just a bit.

Fold the strip of paper backwards at a 90 degree angle, pressing the fold firmly. Continue rolling the paper, but at an angle so that it flares on the top and the bottom corner of the folded triangle portion stays touching the quilling tool.

When you have rolled so that the folded triangle portion cannot be seen anymore it is time to fold your strip backwards again. Continue rolling.

Continue folding your paper and rolling, making sure the top flares out while the bottom always stays close to the quilling tool. When you have finished, take it off of the tool. It will unfold a bit as shown in the middle photo above. That is fine. Now it’s time to glue together your rose! Put a drop of glue on the bottom tab of the rose.

Put more dabs all the way up the rose. Then gently push the layers back together into a rose shape. The third photo above shows me turning the layers counter-clockwise to get it to look the best. Play around with it, adjusting it so that not all the corners are on top of each other.

Once you have the rose looking how you want it, add a bit more glue to the top layers. For this size rose I can just use this fine tip glue bottle. For a tiny rose using more narrow paper I add an extra fine metal tip to my glue bottle to get the glue into the tiny crevices. The finished glued rose is shown in the center photo above. Don’t worry if it seems like a lot of glue, it will soak into the crevices. The last photo shows the same rose when it has dried. It’s ready to be used in a variety of craft/art projects!

Some things you can use your paper quilled roses for:

1. Earrings
2. Gift tags
3. Greeting cards
4. Name place cards
5. Notebooks
6. Magnet
7. Wedding table decorations
8. Anything that needs a little decorating!

About Paper Quilling

Paper quilling or paper filigree is an art that involves the use of narrow strips of paper which are carefully rolled, shaped and glued in order to create intricate designs. The process is time consuming and requires a lot of patience and imagination, but with amazing end results: framed artwork, three-dimensional miniatures, greeting cards, jewellery, decorated boxes or other items.



The craft has gone through many transformations and changes throughout the years, with new techniques and styles always being invented, especially now in the Internet era and with a large and ever-growing, active paper quilling community.

Water-proofing Paper Jewellery

For quillers in India specially, things like Diamond Glaze are not easy to come by. So, here goes the process (specific to materials available in India, I'm sure quillers in other countries will be able to find analogues easily).

Step 1: Making the jewellery itself. It is an important step for making jewellery sturdy. You'll need to use your judgement in gauging whether the piece is sturdy. I am hopelessly obsessed with the jewellery being able to withstand stress (like my son pulling at my earrings). Make the piece "sturdy" before you think of water-proofing.

Step 2: Give a coating of a "water-soluble glue". It should at least be water soluble when wet. You can use Fevi-Gum (available for Rs. 5 in ANY stationery shop). Make sure you coat all crevices etc properly. Synthetic bristle brush works best, camel hair brush is a little difficult to handle due to variable length of the hair. Allow this to dry properly. I am biased towards Fevicryl Hobby Ideas Fabric Glue. It's more expensive but I prefer its consistency compared to Fevi-Gum (which I find more runny). But it's purely a personal preference.

Only glue coating is not likely to make the jewellery water-resistant as PVA (poly vinyl acetate) glue "swells" when in contact with water. It looks ugly to say the least, and the jewellery will be disfigured forever. Fevicryl Hobby Idea Fabric Glue however, is OK by itself. It still remains "sticky", so I won't recommend glue layer alone (unless you want all your paper jewellery to become ONE single lump, all earrings mating with each other! :D

Step 3: This is a crucial step and takes most time (not for coating, but for drying). Use a good lacquer varnish. My recommendation is Asian Paints Touch Wood. But practically any varnish should do. Again, use a synthetic brush to coat the jewellery. You WILL see some discolouration but don't worry, if you've done the glue coating properly, this discolouration usually vanishes after drying. Varnish needs overnight drying, so plan properly. If you are enthusiastic about a glossy finish, you can put 3-4 layers (which means coating them for 3-4 days). It lends a pretty (not my personal favourite still) glossy finish that is harder as well.

Please prepare properly for handling varnish (gloves if you are particular about not getting your hands smelly, I personally don't care). Work in a well ventilated (preferably with an exhaust fan) fan place. Use some organic solvent to clean the brush (kerosene works fine for me). Keep a scented hand-cream handy, you'll need it to get rid of the strong smell varnish will give to your hands. Try tying a wet cloth over your nose, organic solvents, when inhaled, are BAD for women of reproductive age (Be cautious).

I hope this is comprehensive enough. So, if you know someone who wants to how to make the jewellery water-resistant, please share this link. It is very difficult for me to write individually to people who ask. I end up feeling bad not replying.

Happy jewellery Making !!

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