By Darren Lum
During the coronavirus pandemic life has existed closer to home for many people.
Olivia Humphries 13 has used her time at home to resume quilling also referred to as paper filigree.
Thin strips of paper are rolled and shaped to form designs that can be used to create a charm earrings decoration or images.
This form of paper art has its origins in ancient Egypt but was widelypracticed by French and Italian nuns in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The home-schooled student who has seen the cancellation of some of herscheduled programming loves the feeling of satisfaction she gets whenseeing the progress of a form and then again upon completion.
It’s been a year since she first learned how to quill with a friend.
At the lesson she received her own kit which included a quilling toolwith a slotted tip for rolling the paper a plastic template with varied sizes of circles to help with forming and a needle-tipped bottle ofglue for application. Other tools for quilling include scissors andtweezers.
When she resumed quilling in May she realized she hadinitially been doing it backwards and she also suffered a memorablepapercut. A recent growth spurt also means she’s had to adapt to nolonger having the small hands that made the craft a little easier.
The challenges of taking something up after a long time have been worth it she said since she has lots of free time.
One owl charm the size of a loonie takes Olivia about 30 minutes.
She has a small collection of forms she has created and given to family and friends like her owl charms but the calibre of work is only limited by imagination. Well-known contemporary quilling artist Yulia Brodskaya of Russia has sold her work to celebrities and has it hanging ingalleries.
Olivia’s advice for anyone looking to take up anything for the first time or again after a long time is to stick with it.
“Don’t just leave it [and say] ‘Ahhh this is too hard.’ Don’t do that. Itgets easier and you feel great once it’s finished” she said.
Thisstory is one of a series on residents taking advantage of this period of self-isolation to take up a new art or hobby or revisit one from theirpast. Contact Darren Lum at darren@haliburtonpress.com or call him at 705-457-1037 ext. 38 if you have an art or craft you’d like to share.