Paper Quilling Chinese Style

By Paper Arts Zhu Liqun

Sure to delight the myriad and diverse group of crafters who have fallen in love with quilling, this lovely book uses traditional Chinese arts to create an array of paper quilling projects with a distinctly Chinese design. A flexible and limitless art form, paper quilling allows so much individual expression that it has attracted fans around the world. By showcasing the bold and inventive use of color, composition and traditional symbols, this book is sure to bring a new level of depth and beauty to your work. With simple tools and materials easily found at most craft stores, you will be able to explore the boundaries of Western handicraft and traditional Chinese culture and your own creativity!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shanghai Press
• Release date: Dec 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781602200449

Book preview

PREFACE

Learning Quilling Is Like a Child Learning How to Speak

Quilling is very interesting. It is an art using multicolor paper strips with different tightness of shapes to form the basic components. Then creatively assemble all these components to produce a vivid art form or an exquisite work. Quilling is very popular nowadays.

To learning quilling, there are two methods or attitudes. One is to simply copy from the instructors or relative books, seriously follow the instructions, step by step, to produce a similar form to the samples. This is fun but not to the full extent, more like copying someone’s speech but not able to express your own ideas. The other method or attitude is to quickly learn and master all the basic techniques, and then try to modify to create your own designs. Learning the basic techniques is similar to learning the basic words when a child first learns how to speak. He has to go through the process of imitating. In order to fully express his idea, he cannot simply repeat the basics. He has to develop the skills of elaborating with what he has learned. This is the nature of learning sciences.

In 2010, my team and I called more than three thousand people into an activity in Shanghai, China. We used the quilling technique to create more than ten thousand colorful fishes. Fish is commonly known as a symbol of peace and wealth in Chinese culture. It is one of the most pleasing dishes in Chinese New Year. People usually keep half of the fish for the sake of luck because the remainder of fish sounds like surplus and wealth in Chinese. During the two years of preparation, there was a message that we gave to the participants: Learning the basic techniques of quilling is not difficult. They are all about scrolling or curling the paper stripes into different tightness and sizes. You can shape them into different components. But what you need is a valiant attempt to create the elements that you like.

Among the three thousand participants, most of them were seniors and teenagers. They were like children learning how to speak and created a lot of components. Then they assembled them into different compositions and designed their own lucky colorful fishes. These charming artistic fishes led us to a very sensational quilling exhibition. This was only the beginning. More and more outstanding artworks were born since then.

Carp

Carps are one of the most popular auspicious symbols. The leaping of the carp generates the waves that are outlined in mint cyan, producing a lot of movement.

Nurturing

A mother crane is nurturing her clamoring baby on the grass under a tree. They share their life together, creating a very warm scene.

Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate

This is a Chinese idiom meaning the rapid advances in career as a symbol of success. When carps leap over the Dragon Gate (at Yumenkou, Hejin City, Shanxi Province), they transform into dragons as told by the legend. The abstract style with the pastel colors presents a free and fresh scene.

You can also create your own unique artworks if you are willing to try. The Chinese auspicious culture has a very long history and provides plenty of ideas. Chapter 1 of this book introduces how quilling and Chinese culture influenced and integrated with each other. Chapter 2 recommends the basic materials and tools. After reviewing the basic techniques in Chapter 2, you should have learned all the fundamental elements, such as line and scroll, loop, coil, and crescent shapes. Chapters 3 and 4 present a lot of artworks with composition techniques that drives you to create a more complicated design.

The secret of success is: learning the techniques is not difficult but the greatest fun is from applications and transformations. We shall learn from children since limited vocabularies and grammatical errors do not hinder them from learning how to speak. Their simple language skill gives us fun moments. Therefore, please learn like a child, be bold and flexible, learn the basic techniques, and create your own quilling pieces as soon as possible.

Zhu Liqun

INTRODUCTION

The Beginning and Development of Quilling

Quilling, also known as paper-scrolling, is a form of paper art. It is to use multicolor paper strips as the basic materials with the techniques of scrolling, shaping, and pasting to produce various components. Then group and assemble them together to create an art piece. The simple techniques and beautiful presentations have gained the popularity of quilling.

Quilling is an art with a very long history that can be traced back to Ancient Egyptian times. It was further developed in the medieval Italy and France. In the 15th century around the Mediterranean region, the poor nuns used the strips of paper trimmed from the gilded edges of the Bibles and missals, rolling with quill pens to form scrolls. Those scrolls were assembled in different forms to decorate paintings and reliquaries in the convents. Their craftsmanship was then broadly used to design reliquaries and picture frames. Sometimes mica flakes, feathers, and pearls were added to make them look more valuable. In the 17th century, quilling became part of the interior design to decorate walls to replace expensive paintings. The concept was also applied to shield designs of that time.

In the 18th century, the elegant style and religious significance of quilling attracted the British royal family and nobles. The ladies used it for card making, wrapping, picture, and other decorations. In the late 19th century, wood pieces were added to tea tins and many other housewares so that the ladies had more means to elaborate their creativities. It also became part of hat designs. Later on, this European art was brought to the North America by the missionaries and further developed. It was used to decorate candelabras, chests, and pictures.

Nowadays, quilling is disassociated from religious formality and becomes a unique form of art. The attractiveness of presentation makes it no less significant of other forms of paper art although some think it is on the fringe. Incorporating the ideas of drawing and sculpture, quilling is expressed in the form of paper. Its flexibility, softness, and unforeseeable potential provide unlimited forms of presentation, more magnificent designs and practices, and escalate the design spirit.

Since China has opened to foreign countries, more and more quilling knowledge has been brought into China from the western world. Chinese learn it from books and Internet, engage in it and start creating. Some enjoy it on their own; some organize groups to promote this classical art throughout China. Among all, Zhu Liqun Paper Arts Museum is publicly known as the lead. The members have integrated the traditional western quilling techniques with the traditional Chinese culture and arts, and established a new school of quilling. They came up with new theories and systems. It is fun to work with both western and Chinese arts.

Mountainous Landscape

This art follows the traditional ink-washing painting style, using numerous crescent components to illustrate the mountains.

Human Figure

This female figure is outlined in monochrome and simple strips. The tattoo on her back, using complicated compositions of curves and scrolls, produces a fascinating contrast. You could see the details of the body and the flow of the gesture. This is a great example of line and scroll variations.

The Lotus Pond

The pastel plump lotus and the bluish purple seed pod are floating freely on the light blue undulating pond. This piece of art is very refined. It has the rhythm of light and shadow that takes you to the misty moonlight.

More and more people have joined the journey of quilling craft. Children make cards and decorations after they have learned from their workshops. Women use their free time to decorate their homes to provide a more pleasant environment. Artists use quilling as a mean of expressing their desire of creating and push it to a more advanced level. No matter who you are, where you are, nothing can limit you from creating. To design your own beautiful quilling art, foundation is not as critical as your patience and creativity. Be engaged in this boundless charm.

CHAPTER 1

Chinese Quilling

Chinese quilling integrates with western quilling techniques and Chinese traditional auspicious culture and arts. It emphasizes on freedom, dynamics, and transformation.

1. Chinese Art Inspiration

Traditional Chinese woodcarving, jade carving, and paper-cutting have a very profound history. They reflect the distinctive wisdom and skillful techniques of people in the past. The author has learned from their experiences and applied them to Chinese quilling. For example, using the skills of woodcarving to produce a three dimensional effect and provide an advanced level of layering and spacing. Jade carving emphasizes on curves and fullness which makes Chinese quilling to be more smooth and rich. The yin-yang principle of paper-cutting brings up another skill of Chinese quilling.

Chinese quilling also benefits from special Chinese painting styles, such as the brushstrokes, techniques, themes, and concepts. For instance, the white space concept emphasizes

Reviews for Paper Quilling Chinese Style

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read this in depth, but the quilling work in this is exquisite. It's amazing what an artist can do with a few loops of paper. The English is a little stilted and shows idiom translation issues but overall it's an interesting look into a fascinating craft.