Quilled Designs - Michelle Jamieson

The quilling of Michelle Jamieson caught my eye... she doesn't often use traditional coil shapes or techniques, so I thought it would be interesting to learn a bit about her and hear her thoughts on the appealing designs she creates.

When do you find time to be creative?

By day I'm a prop builder for theatre companies across Ontario, Canada, so I get to make crafts all day and all night! Quilling is very different from prop design though, as it's more zen-like and calming... thus, the added bonus of relaxing while I create. 

Also, there is an off-season to my work. During that time I like to stay busy by crafting as a way of keeping my brain in a creative mode. 

Michelle was inspired by Mexican woven blankets in bright colors to create this geometric fiesta letter. She cuts 1/4 inch strips from cardstock (rather than typical 1/8 inch, lighter weight quilling paper) as she finds the extra width adds depth and strength.

Quilled trees were inspired by a summer trip to Falcon Lake where she spotted an extremely rocky island covered in trees. Somehow they had taken root and were surviving, and the image stayed with her.

How did you happen to start quilling?

For the past two and a half years I've participated in craft swaps on craftster.org. (It's like pen pals, but you send crafts instead of letters.) My partner admired some quilling that she had seen... it looked interesting, so I created two monograms for her. They got a nice reaction on my blog and led to custom monogram orders. The more quilling I did, the more I loved it and wanted to experiment with different techniques. 

I don't tend to follow the rules of traditional quilling, as that is not really why I was drawn to create with paper. Instead, the clean line style and the play of shadow that quilling creates appeal to me. I use a lot of scrunching techniques that allow for organic shapes to give a slightly more realistic result. I've also started to add watercolour to some of my pieces. 

Why the name aCoCC for your Etsy shop?

It's an acronym for my blog's name "a can of crafty curiosities." I wasn't sure where the shop was going to lead, so I wanted something that wouldn't tie me down to one thing. I also wanted continuity with my blog, however, the name is too long for an Etsy site, ha!

Michelle recently created these two love pieces as custom orders.  

One was a first year anniversary present, appropriate because the traditional gift is paper. Everything in it has meaning for the client and it was one of the most interesting pieces I've worked on.

 

See more at Michelle's blog and Etsy shop.