Finding ways to boost wellbeing and feel good at home are imperative towards maintaining healthy bodies and minds.

Getting creative at home is a great way to keep yourselves and your families entertained for hours, whilst stimulating those minds and taking a moment to relax and feel good. Enjoy our quick and easy-to-follow guides for fun, feel-good crafts using bits and pieces from around the house.

"Create at Home" crafts are generally aimed at and adaptable for all ages or to participate in as a family, but some crafts may be more age-appropriate than others.

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Quilling is an art form that uses strips of paper that are rolled, shaped and glued together to create wonderful, decorative designs. This blog post will show you some of the basic quilling techniques, which you can then use to create other artworks in the future. If you enjoy quilling take a look at our Quilling brooch post for more ideas.

 

You will need:

• Paper – magazine paper or coloured paper
• Scissors or a craft knife and cutting mat
• Glue
• Ruler
• Pen or pencil

Got everything? Let’s get started!

 

First, if you are using magazine paper, cut your paper into strips about 1cm wide. You will need about 8 strips of paper, but cut a couple more just in case! Choose a page from your magazine which is the colour you want for the body of your bird.

(If you are using coloured paper, cut your paper into strips 0.5cm wide and skip the next step. Again, you will need about 8 strips of paper, but cut a few more just in case.)

 

Fold your 1cm wide strips of paper in half lengthways. Make sure the side you want visible is on the outside. (Remember to skip this step if you are using coloured paper and have cut your strips to 0.5cm wide)

 

Glue 4 of your strips of paper together to create a long strip of paper. This will be the body of the bird. Then glue another 2 strips of paper to form a shorter piece of paper. This will be the head of the bird.

 

Start with the head of the bird. Roll your strip of paper made up of two lengths of paper into a tight spiral. Wind it tight all the way to the end.

 

Once you get to the end, hold it flat on your work surface and let go of the spiral. It will unravel a little bit like this.

 

Add a dab of glue to the end of the paper and glue it down to stop it from unravelling any further.

 

Repeat this with the long strip of paper made up of 4 lengths of paper to make the body of the bird. You will now have two circles, one roughly twice as large as the other.

  

To shape the larger circle into a bird’s body shape pinch one side of the circle with your fingers to create a teardrop shape.

 

To make the tail of the bird, take another of your strips of paper and wind the end a little way. Let it unravel and cut the paper a little way from the spiral. Do this three times to make 3 different sized furls.

 

Glue your quilling shapes to a sheet of backing paper or card. Add a dab of glue to the paper and place your shapes on top. Glue the tail feathers to the back of your bird’s body as shown. Your glue should dry clear, but be careful when you pick up your body and head spirals as they may unravel. Try sliding them rather than picking them right up.

 

Next, cut some more strips. You’ll need one in orange or yellow for the beak, and at least 4 in a green colour for the branch and leaves. If you are using coloured paper cut them 0.5cm wide and don’t fold them in half. If you are using more magazine paper do like before and cut them 1cm wide and fold them in half lengthways.

 

For the branch curl the end of one of your green strips and let it unfurl as you did for the tail feathers. Glue this to your paper and add a dab of glue to stick it to the bottom of the bird to make it look like it is sitting on the branch.

 

For the leaves and the beak roll one orange and two green strips into circles, same as you did for the head. For the beak don’t let it unravel too much when you let it go, keep it as a tighter spiral when you glue the end. The leaves can be slightly looser.

 

To shape the leaves pinch the spirals between your fingers on both sides to make an 'eye' shape.

 

To shape the beak push your fingernail into one side and pinch the other side to make an open beak shape.

 

Glue your leaves to your paper and branch, and your beak to the backing paper and head. Then you are finished!

Now you know how to make some of the basic quilling shapes you can get creative and see what other images and artworks you can make. They look very effective on greetings cards or as framed artworks.