North American Quilling Guild

THE HISTORY OF QUILLING:
FROM PRE-HISTORY TO THE DIGITAL AGE

By the Archival Committee
Lynn Paarmann, Lora Smith, and Donna Del Giudice

Quilling books, articles, and websites often include a history, generally short, of this art/craft. Indeed, many of the histories are nearly identical, leading one to believe that various accounts have been heavily borrowed. Inevitably, this summary of the history of quilling will include much information already available. It will also include additional points and take some detours generally not found. As we are all ambassadors for this art, the NAQG Archival Committee believes it is important to be knowledgeable on the origins and evolution of quilling.

We encourage you to revisit (or visit for the first time!) the histories provided on the NAQG website, brochure, and newsletters. In particular, there is the entertaining and informative article “Birth of a NATIONal Organization” (Yanoshek, Quill America, Summer 2002) with a slant based on the American Revolution. This article, among other information found on the NAQG website, documents the history of The North American Quilling Guild. The Quilling Guild (UK) likewise includes a nice historical account of quilling (http://quilling-guild.weebly.com/the-history-of-quilling.html). Because of the delicateness of paper, the number of quilled creations of long ago is very sparse, and perhaps this is the reason that the written history of quilling is sparse as well. We begin, though, with a short history of what quilling strips are made – paper.

This article will discuss the historical precursors of quilling, also known as paper filigree. These precursors are paper and metal filigree. Then, we will move on to the marriage of paper and the filigree style, the history of paper quilling, and a contemporary update.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PAPER

According to Durant (The Story of Civilization, Book 1, Our Oriental Heritage), paper was one of the main items of Egyptian trade and one of the permanent gifts of Egypt to the world. What the Egyptians made was actually a papyrus sheet, made from a plant of the same name. Other early materials used as a base for art or print included bamboo, silk, parchment (animal skin), and vellum (calf skin). The earliest archaeological paper fragment found is dated about 100 B.C. from China.

Paper as we know it, made from trees, was invented in about 105 A.D. by Ts’ai Lun, an official in Chinese Emperor Ho-di’s Imperial Han Court. Ts’ai Lun removed the bark of the mulberry tree, broke up the fibers, and pounded it into sheets. This was a great improvement from the expensive silk and the heavy bamboo that had been used in China for writing surfaces. The addition of rags, hemp, and old fish nets to the pulp improved the paper. This invention of paper is credited with helping China develop into an important civilization.

The paper trade eventually spread to Korea, and then Japan, Tibet, and India via the Silk Road. China attempted to guard the secret of paper making, but as a result of a Chinese defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 751 A.D., some Chinese paper makers were captured. Thus, the Arabs learned the paper making secrets and built the first paper industry in Baghdad. Eventually, the knowledge spread to Egypt; then to Spain and Sicily around 1150 as a result of trade and of the Crusades. Soon, paper was being produced across Europe. In 1453 A.D. Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, which revolutionized the production of books as they no longer had to be copied solely by hand.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the first paper mill was established in Mexico City in 1575. In 1690, America built its first paper mill in Philadelphia – The Rittenhouse Paper Mill. It was not until the 19th century that paper production became industrialized. Today, paper is made from trees mostly grown on working forests and from recycled paper. In fact, more than 36% of paper in the United States comes from recycled sources. International Paper is the largest pulp paper producer in the U.S. and 42% of forests are used for paper production.

METAL FILIGREE

Quilling’s past is closely tied to decorative metal work, commonly known as filigree. Indeed, quilling was and is often called “paper filigree” (in addition to being referred to as paper scrollwork, paper rolling or roll work, paper lace, and paper mosaic). According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, filigree is “an ornamental work especially of fine wire of gold, silver, or copper applied chiefly to gold and silver surfaces.” The word filigree combines the Latin filum, meaning thread, with granum, meaning grain. Filigree originally seems to be jewelry or other decorations made up beads and/or twisted threads and then soldered to the surface of an object for embellishment. At first glance, filigree often looks as if the embellishment was engraved but in fact, it is the opposite. Instead of materials being removed as in engravings, material is added to the base. The jeweler stretches a piece of metal until a fine string or thread is created. The thread is then bent or wrapped into the desired shape. Small beads are often added as well (called granulations). These additions are melded or soldered together with a blow torch.

Histories of quilling often mention evidence of paper filigree work as early as ancient Egypt. It is likely, however, that such decorations found in tombs and on some jewelry were more akin to metal filigree work rather than paper filigree. Jewelry similar to filigree, called telkari after a village in Turkey, was unearthed in the ancient Mesopotamia area and dated approximately 5000 years old. Asia, India, Greece, the Etruscan civilization, and Constantinople (6th-12th centuries) also created filigree jewelry and other objects.

In particular, as we will see is relevant for paper quilling, Medieval Europe made good use of metal filigree technique in religious objects. Reliquaries (containers that hold relics) and Bibles were embellished by filigree work. These artists studied and imitated the Byzantine filigree work of Constantinople.
While in the past, filigree work was part of what every jeweler did in creating pieces, today filigree is a special branch of jewelry making.

THE MARRIAGE OF PAPER AND FILIGREE

Paper filigree, or quilling, dates back to at least the 15th century and flourished in France and Italy during the 17th and 18th centuries. Very little early quillwork has survived, and it is not known who first rolled thin strips of paper into different shapes to mimic, in a less expensive way, decorative metal filigree work. What is known is that monks and nuns from less well-endowed religious houses rolled paper strips to decorate Bible covers, reliquaries, and other objects of religious significance. There is speculation that gilded edges of books were trimmed from books to make the paper strips to imitate gold filigree. This is in debate, as books and gold were both very expensive and dear during those times, and some have doubted that nuns/monks would be allowed to destroy books for that purpose.
In the 1700’s-1800’s, upper class females and “ladies of leisure” discovered quilling as a hobby to occupy their time. Paper itself was less expensive by then, particularly during the 1800’s when paper production became industrialized. Quilled creations included panels, coats of arms, tea-caddies, workboxes, screens, and cabinets. Techniques such as crimping and husking were incorporated as well. A popular British woman’s journal, “The New Ladies’ Magazine,” (1786) supplied articles and patterns for quilling.

Perhaps most notable, Princess Elizabeth, the 7th child of King George III (British king during the American Revolution) created a paper filigree fire screen sometime between 1770-1840. According to the description of the screen, which is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (https://collections.vam.ac.uk), “Charles Elliott, purveyor of artists’ materials to key, lined inside the royal family, supplied Princess Elizabeth with ‘fifteen ounces of different filigree papers, one ounce gold paper, and a box made for filigree work with ebony moulding, lock and out’.” Most of the quilling found in other museums date from the 18th and 19th centuries as well.

The first published book of quilling seems to be Mosaicon, written in England in 1875 by William Benrose. Benrose stated, “We know of no light employment, less costly, yet at the same time possessing such pretty, and to the eye, such valuable results, for it possesses to a surprising degree the appearance of jewels.” One of Benrose’s quilling kits can be found in The Victoria and Albert Museum, in addition to other quilled artwork, including a tea cannister, tea caddy, a shield panel, a box, and a mirror. A search of their website (https://www.vam.ac.uk) will reveal photos of these objects. Quillers may also be interested in accessing the full text of Mosaicon. Simply go to https://play.google.com, and enter “mosaicon” in the search engine. You will be able to read (and quill, following his directions!) this fascinating instruction book as it was originally written.
As with other things British, quilling spread to the American colonies, particularly to New England. Most quillers are aware that the Bronte sisters were quillers, and that quilling is mentioned in Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. Chapter 23 describes a scene in which a basket is being created through use of paper filigree, the term used in the book: “Lucy directly drew her work table near her and reseated herself with an alacrity and cheerfulness which seemed to infer that she could taste no greater delight than in making a filigree basket for a spoilt child.”

Most of the American quilling examples are found in museums in New England, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Essex Institute in Salem, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. A few pieces can also be found the Colonial Williamsburg Collections, including two cribbage boards, a tea caddy, and a three-dimensional picture of a castle, with a dire warning: “To the person who destroys this paper-filagree castle built at Nottingham. This castle built in the year of our Lord 1789 by Susanna wife of Will III Streetton during the imprisonment of the Royal Family of France in the Thuilleries, and in the memorable year in which the Bastille was destroyed.” The warning must have worked, and perhaps our members should include such a warning for posterity on their prized quilled creations!

The Quilling Guild (UK) previously published a list of museums that hold antique quilled pieces. Their current list is out of publication. However, they are in the process of updating it, and are asking for information on any antique quilled samples that members come upon in museums or elsewhere. Members of the Quilling Guild may submit any findings directly to the Guild (Quilling Guild members can view instructions posted in “Quillers Today”, Autumn 2017) or let NAQG Archives Committee member Lynn Paarmann (Lpaar@yahoo.com) know and she will be glad to submit your finding to the Quilling Guild. In particular, as any of our NAQG members visit old churches in Italy or France, it would be wonderful to inquire with a church docent or guide, if the churches contain any antique paper filigree adornments. The 2012 Pulitzer prize winning book for non-fiction, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (Greenblatt) relates the story of Poggio Bracciolini. Bracciolini was an Italian scholar who roamed the world in the 1400’s looking for classical Latin manuscripts forgotten in German, Swiss, and French monastic libraries. It is pleasant to imagine a modern day quiller doing the same, except looking for forgotten quilled treasures in French and Italian churches, monasteries, and convents.

MODERN QUILLING – 20th Century

During the late 1800’s, interest in quilling seemed to decline, while in the mid 1900’s, quilling experienced a revival. There was a major quilling exhibition in London in 1927. But the true revival probably occurred in the 1950’s when Margaret Carlson became interested in quilling and taught many others in her state of Missouri. Gini Antonie, also of Missouri, is credited with giving many of the shapes names. A number of books on quilling were published in the 1970’s (see the bibliography of quilling documents on NAQG’s website in the Member’s Corner); most notable is Betty Christy’s book, Quilling: Paper Art for Everyone (1974). Her book provided the names of 29 companies that specialized in quilling. Most of these eventually went out of business. One, Lake City Craft Company (not mentioned in Christy’s book), was started in Missouri in 1974 by Malinda Johnston (who recently passed) and in 1983, the Quilling Guild was born in England.

In 1988, the Florian-Papp Gallery sponsored an exhibition with numerous antique museum quality quilled pieces. A catalogue of the works on display was created, entitled “Rolled, Scrolled, Crimped, and Folded: The Lost art of Filigree Paperwork”. While the catalogue is now out of print, the gallery graciously allowed the NAQG to share this catalogue with members (https://naqg.org/Members/PDFdocs/FlorianPapp_Rolled_Scrolled.pdf). If you have not taken a look, it is well worth your time!

Quilling continued into the 1990’s, with the Quilling Guild (UK) providing guidance, conventions, and exhibitions. In 1993, a group of ladies, who attended the first “International Convention” held in England in 1992, gathered together to reminisce and talk about quilling; this was the start of what would become the North American Quilling Guild. Each year, an event that was called the Annual General Meeting or AGM, took place in a different location in the USA. In 2000, the event was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada), and a vote was taken and passed to officially form the North American Quilling Guild. There is a fascinating history of the NAQG on their website (https://naqg.org/Members/archive.html), and we encourage all members to read and/or revisit the history of NAQG, including letters from the founding members.

EVOLUTION: QUILLING IN THE 21st CENTURY

Quilling continues strong into the 21st century: it is also continuing to evolve. The internet has played a vital part in the spread of quilling all over the world. There are now many websites, online quilling stores, quilling pieces being sold through online sites, and online groups (Facebook, Yahoo) with quillers communicating with each other. The North American Quilling Guild has members only Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/NAQGPaidMembersOnly/.) A search on Facebook will yield other groups not specifically associated with NAQG (ex: https://www.facebook.com/groups/contemporaryquilling/). Exhibitions and conferences continue strong, and quilling guilds have been established in other countries, including Japan, the Netherlands, and Australia.

In today’s world, there are a number of artists who are using paper quilling and adapting techniques to create very unique pieces. The Mütter Museum, a medical museum in Philadelphia, had an exhibit, which ran from July 13, 2017 through January 4, 2018, by Lisa Nilsson, who created quilled paper art to explore human anatomy (http://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/lisa-nilsson-connective-tissue). Nilsson has also created a Tapis series (http://lisanilssonart.com/section/406303-Tapis-Series.html) of quilled rugs. Yulia Brodskaya (https://www.artyulia.co.uk/) is a very well-known paper artist and graphic designer. She has created many artistic and commercial works for various companies. While her art is not traditional quilling, and she is known more as a paper artist than a quiller, she has inspired many who do practice quilling.

In Asia, quilling has been eagerly practiced, with adaptations to the eastern world. For example, in China, traditional Chinese arts have been combined with quilling techniques to form a new style (Zhu Liquan Paper Arts Museum, 2014). “The main characteristics of Chinese quilling are free of constraints, flexible, and diversifiable (Paper Quilling Chinese Style: Create Unique Paper Quilling Projects that Bridge Western Crafts and Traditional Chinese Arts, pg. 21).

Quilling has even gone back to its roots of metal filigree, with the development of silver clay, manufactured in Japan by Aida Chemical Industries. While the techniques are different from those used in ancient metal quilling, the look is similar. Art Clay World offers classes, and certification, in silver clay quilling. In recent years, the NAQG Convention has offered a day long class as an introduction to silver clay quilling.

There has been debate as to how some of the new quilling art, particularly that commonly referred to as “on edge” fits into traditional quilling. This was addressed at the 2017 NAQG Convention and in the summer 2017 Quill America newsletter (page 9), with input from members. Hopefully members will recall that the decision made is that this nontraditional quilling not actually be called quilling, but is a technique that may be used in quilling. The terms “linear paper art” (mentioned in the newsletter) and “tracery” (mentioned at the convention) are now used to refer to these new techniques.

It is highly likely that, with the assistance of quilling guilds and organizations throughout the world, quilling with continue to flourish and evolve throughout the 21st century. We have confidence that members of the North American Quilling Guild will do their part to keep quilling alive!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
Benrose, William. Mosaicon: Or Paper Mosaic, and How to Make it. London: Benrose and Sons, 1875.
Christy, Betty, and Doris Tracy. Quilling: paper art for everyone. Pennsylvania: Regnery, 1974.
Durant, Will. The Story of Civilization, Book 1, Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1935.
Greenblatt, Stephen. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. New York: W.H. Norton and Co., 2011
Johnston, Malinda. The Book of Paper Quilling: Techniques & Projects for Paper Filigree. Asheville, NC: Altamont Press, 1994.
Papp, Melinda Florian and William James Papp. Rolled, Scrolled, Crimped, and Folded: The Lost art of Filigree Paperwork. New York: Florian Papp, 1988.
Zhu Liqun Paper Arts Museum. Paper Quilling Chinese Style: Create Unique Paper Quilling Projects that Bridge Western Crafts and Traditional Chinese Arts. Shanghai: Shanghai Press, 2014

Web Sources Used
http://www.artisticquills.com/html/quilling-history.html
http://www.conservatree.org/paperlisteningstudy/Forests/question64.html
https://www.etymonline.com/word/filigree
www.estatediamondjewelry.com
https://www.merriam-webster.com
‘https://naqg.org
http://www.paperage.com/issues/nov_dec2009/11_2009of_interest_rittenhouse.pdf
http://www.paperonline.org/history-of-paper
http://www.paperrecycles.org/about/the-history-of-paper
http://quilling-guild.weebly.com/the-history-of-quilling.html
http://www.silk-road.com/artl/papermaking.shtml
https://www.vam.ac.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filigree
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Filigree

More info on other sources of information click here.

https://issuu.com/olgacee/docs/quilling

TIMELINE OF QUILLING AND PRECURSORS

• 3000 B.C. – Metal filigree work (telkari) created in Turkey
• 2450 B.C. – Oldest surviving record of animal skins being processed into parchment.
• 2200 B.C. – Oldest surviving record of Egyptian papyrus.
• 500 B.C. – 1200 A.D. Metal filigree work created in Asia, India, Greece, the Etruscan civilization, and Constantinople
• 105 A.D. – First written record about process of paper manufacture created by Ts’ai Lun in China.
• 400 – 1400 A.D. – Use of metal filigree by churches in Europe
• 610 A.D.– Paper manufactured in Japan.
• 751 A.D. – Arabs produced paper after learning the recipe from Chinese prisoners
• 1151 – Manufacture of paper in Europe
• 1400’s – First known use of paper filigree work by religious orders
• 1450-55 – Gutenberg printed first Bible with moveable type printing machine
• 1495 – First paper mill established in England
• 1690 – First papermill established in USA
• 1600 – 1800 – Paper filigree flourished in French and Italian churches, monasteries, and convents
• 1700-1800’s – Upper class females discovered quilling as a hobby
• 1786 – British New Ladies Magazine includes quilling articles and patterns
• 1811 – Sense and Sensibility published (with a quilling scene)
• 1875 – Mosaicon written by William Benrose
• 1950’s – Revival of quilling in U.S. with interest of Margaret Carlson
• 1970’s – Quilling books published
• 1983 – The Quilling Guild (UK) founded
• 1988 – Florian Papp Gallery’s exhibition
• 1992 – North American Quilling Guild founded
• 2018 – Quilling is going strong, has spread all over the world, with encouragement of guilds, new books coming out regularly, and the internet