The Making of a Quilling Card
From the initial idea of a quilled design to holding it in your hands, there is much thought, love, and care that go into the creation and crafting of each quilled greeting card. Let's take a look at how a Quilling Card is created.
Designing a Quilled Greeting Card
The inspiration for each quilled card design can come from nature, wildlife, symbols, holidays and occasions, trends, and even customer suggestions! Designs can originate in many different forms, sometimes a digital illustration, a sketch, or watercolor painting. The designs that start with watercolor are scanned and edited with the Adobe programs Illustrator and Photoshop. Once the design is completed, it is sent to our team in Vietnam to test and create the initial quilled design. There are, quite often, several drafts of graphic and quilled design to ensure the finished card meets our standards and results in a stunning final design.
Training
Each Quilling Card design is handmade by a master artisan at our workshop located in Vietnam. Quilling is a fine art that, to do well, requires much practice and dedication. We train each of our artisans to quill at an extraordinarily high level. Prospective quillers complete 6 months of intensive training in order to develop the level of skill necessary to craft each quilled card. During this time, they learn the "alphabet" of quilled shapes used to make a Quilling Card. Overall, it takes half a year to develop the level of ability necessary to craft the quilled cards you give to your friends and loved ones!
After successfully graduating from our training program, the artisan can expertly quill each design at the highest level of craftsmanship, faithfully and consistently.
The Quilling Card Method
Every handmade card begins with a printed artwork of what the card will be. Using a quilling pen, the artisan will thread strips of kishu paper (a high-quality, Japanese paper) through the tool and coil it around to create a tight coil. Each shape that makes up a card begins as a tight coil.
From there, the coil is relaxed and molded with fingers or tweezers until the desired shape is attained.
The quilled shape is then glued down onto the card.
This process is repeated shape by shape, until the artisan has layered on the entirety of the final design. In total, each card takes one hour to be brought to life!
From the initial design to the quilled card that you purchase in store or on our website, it takes 10 months to create a Quilling Card. Each design is carefully created and crafted with love and care by our extraordinary team of graphic designers and master artisans. When you give a Quilling Card, you are not just giving a greeting card, you are gifting a handmade work of art.
