How to Make a Quilled Flowerpot

Quilling art features long strips of paper, coiled and pinched in certain ways to create different shapes. Quilled paper may be coiled tightly to create solid shapes or loosely to create shapes with small details inside a larger shape. Children and adults can both make simple and complicated quilling projects, like quilled flowerpots. These tightly-coiled pots cannot hold soil and real flowers, but make charming containers for quilled flowers, Christmas baubles or seasonal fruits.

18 to 40 quilling paper strips of any colors
Slotted curling tool
Plastic curling guide
Paper glue
Plastic Easter egg or small bowl

Instructions

- 1
  Get the number of strips you want to use and choose the colors. Pick 18 strips for a very small pot, 25 for a medium pot and 40 for a pot about 6 inches in diameter. You may choose one color for your paper strips or up to three colors. More than three may make your pot look "busy."
- 2
  Tear about ½ inch from both ends of your quilling strips. This helps them coil together more smoothly.
- 3
  Slip the narrow tip of your slotted curling tool through the center of your plastic curling guide. The curling tool looks like a stylus with a thin metal tip and a cushioned rubber handle. The tip has a split in the center for your paper. Your plastic curling guide looks like a plastic circle with a wide handle and a tiny hole in the center.
- 4
  Slip the end of one of your quilling strips into the slot of your curling tool. Twist the curling tool with one hand and press the thumb and forefinger of the other hand against the coiling paper. The paper should coil snugly, so the paper touches itself, though not tightly. If the coils are too tight, you won't be able to form them later.
- 5
  Stop coiling when you reach the last 2 inches of your first quilling strip. Tuck the next quilling strip under the end of the first quilling strip and continue coiling. Keep adding strips this way until you run out of strips. Glue the last 2 inches of the last strip to the outside of the finished coil. Let it dry for 10 minutes.
- 6
  Gently remove the coil from the slotted tool and coil guide. If making a small pot, pull apart a plastic Easter egg and turn the bowl-shaped end upside down. If making a larger pot, flip over a bowl. Place your coil on top of either item and press down gently on the edges. This forms your coil into a small dome.
- 7
  Hold the top edges of the dome between the thumb and finger of one hand and place the forefinger of your other hand inside the dome. Roll the dome back and forth between your fingers, gently pressing the finger inside the dome against the bottom of the dome. This should create a cone with a blunt point.
- 8
  Tap the blunt point of your cone against your work surface to flatten the bottom. Tap gently until the bottom of the pot is totally flat.

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