Quilled Tree of Life

Back in January I received an email from Madeleine Lapke, who asked for quilling advice about a project she was planning to do with the sixth grade class at Holy Family School in the state of Washington. Each year with the help of parent volunteers, the school hosts a series of fundraising events that culminates with an impressive silent auction. Madeleine had it in mind that the class of thirty students could learn to quill and use their new found skill to embellish a piece of artwork as their contribution to the auction. The evening was a big success and the students' quillwork brought in a high bid of over three thousand dollars!Madeleine said, "There were ohhhhhss and ahhhhhhhs all night long! It turned out to be a perfect project to do with sixth graders and was something that all of them felt successful at (and some even got addicted to!) The best part was the meaning behind it... each individual coil was not so special, but when they were all put together the magic happened. Pictures really do not do it justice - it was stunning."Madeleine explained the process... she selected a picture that she thought would serve well as inspiration. (It happened to be by an unknown artist, so she was careful not to copy it directly.) Then she and other parents showed the students how to roll colorful coils which they made in abundance - nearly 1000! - during rainy day recesses. Madeleine outlined the design on a large piece of archival paper and supervised while the children glued the coils onto the outline as if it was a puzzle.
The auction website described the project this way: "The Tree of Life symbolizes our students. They continue to grow, rooted in their beliefs, branching out and blossoming with wisdom and beauty. The canopy of leaves symbolizes God as Creator, Provider, and Protector over our children. The sixth grade’s artistic expression of all these themes is a work of art to treasure."

And speaking of trees... Yulia Brodskaya, with her endless quilling creativity and craftsmanship, has done it again. This time it's a festival poster that's sweeping the internet by storm, a paper-on-edge tree loaded with musical instruments. Yulia gives all of us quillers, young and old-er, something to aspire to. An interesting tidbit... Madeleine had emailed Yulia also, and she wrote back to wish the students well!

Thanks to Krissy of PaperSchmaper for sending this link with its lovely closeups of the poster.

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