Adventures in Paper Quilling — Janina & Josefina

I had never heard of paper quilling until I received a card from my godmother when I finished graduate school. It was a simple design of cherry blossom flowers and a branch, but intricate in the details created with coiled, folded, and bent strips of paper.

Over the years, I started to see more posts on Facebook and Instagram of artists creating masterpieces out of simple strips of paper. The artist inside me just needed to learn more about it.

Fast forward 5 years, and I finally gave myself the opportunity to sign up for a Zoom Quill and Chill experiential (right during the pandemic) where I got to learn paper quilling techniques from a quilling artist and embrace a new means to be creative. I was hooked!

I started to come up with ideas of art pieces that I could create that utilized paper quilling techniques and embraced my love for all things Lithuanian. Large format art, greetings cards, magnets, there are so many possibilities.

Just so that I didn’t get ahead of myself, I started small with creating something that helped me to explore new quilling techniques that I learned from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and explored how I could incorporate Lithuanian motifs and designs. I created a geltona, žalia, raudona mandala-inspired image featuring a yellow sunburst, green forest, and river of blood, signifying the colors and meanings of the Lithuanian flag.

I am by no means an expert at paper quilling, but I am eager to learn more and share what I create. If you have any interest in learning more, or purchasing a piece of my art, please don’t hesitate to reach out at janina.and.josefina@gmail.com