A Quilling Reprise

I've been quilling again!

When my lovely mother in law suggested I crack out the old quilling stuff and join her in a table at a Christmas craft market, I happily accepted.

 

my top seller: snowflake ornaments

But, I am a slow quiller. I don't know how long it takes other quillers, but to make a really nice card it can take me about three hours in total, and I imagine that would be slow. Maybe I just need more practice.

Which brings me to the point of this post: after weeks of scrambling to make as much as I could for the market, I ended up with 23 cards, 24 snowflakes, and a bowl full of gift tags, and that's it. Some of the cards were lovely, but several were definitely not up to my standard as I had rushed through making them. While the amount was plenty to fill my little space, if I was ever to take part in one where I had more space, I would be horrified to have had that little stock of such varying degrees of quality. As I thought about this a marvellous idea came to me: what if I had made just one card a week for a whole year before I do a market again?

I'd end up with at least 52 cards to sell, of a good quality, and I wouldn't have to panic or rush myself. Snowflakes are easy, quick, and fun, so I could handle making lots of them in the weeks leading up to a market, and not needing to spend nearly as much of that time on card making would mean I would end up with more of the snowflakes made too!

So that's what I'm going to do, starting this week: one good quality card a week, and I'll share them here on my blog.

I'm compiling a list of themes/subjects for these cards as a sort of 'inspiration bank', so that during the semesters next year I don't end up in a busy school week with no idea of what to quill, I can just make a withdrawal from my inspiration bank and get going. Is there anything you'd like to see me create?

 

I've already decided that one week I'll do a framed piece instead of a card, as one of my ideas is just a bit too complicated for a card, but framed items can go up for sale in a market too.

I hope you're all looking forward to watching this challenge unfold!

One customer suggested that she'd like to see an orchid, so I've popped that at the top of my list. Need to do a bit of research on that one. Please let me know, either here in the comments or on my facebook page, what you'd like to see in quilled form. When I've got all 52 card ideas I'll share it.

Stay tuned also to my Facebook page for a Christmas give away!

xnata