Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Illuminated Letters


Lettering by hand with serifs and flourishes embellishes your message with beauty, creativity, and thoughtfulness. But you do not have to be an accomplished calligrapher to put together a monogram or a mini missive in a quilled alphabet as illustrated above and below.

The art of quilling or paper filigree is versatile and forgiving for the beginner. For starters, quilling is easy to learn and doesn't require a large investment in tools. Click here for more details on basic quilling instructions.

Shaping letters works best if you curl your paper strips first to condition them. Enlarge your alphabet pattern to the desired size and cut your strips to the approximate length needed for each part of the letter. Shape your strips over the pattern to match the curves of the letters. Glue together the strips as needed to form a single letter. When dry, glue the edges onto your card stock to finish.

For many more great ideas on this paper craft I recommend checking out The New Paper Quilling by Molly Smith Christensen.

Images courtesy of Molly Smith Christensen and Lark Books

4 comments:

  1. I like it, but it looks hard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice! Congrats on being featured on One Pretty Thing.

    Dudes - it's paper! What's hard about curling paper? Give it a whirl!

    ReplyDelete

We welcome your comments or suggestions for 973 Third Avenue