The quilling technique
_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5c The term quill identifies the longest feathers of birds that in the past were used to obtain writing feathers, and in particular the central part which corresponds to a hollow straw. By extension the term also indicates the quills, for example of the porcupine or porcupine.
Starting from this context, the regular verb to quill was born which means to tightly wrap a material (usually a yarn) around a central element and here we are in quilling , also called 'paper filigree', a decorative technique based on the winding of strips of paper on a stick.
It is a very versatile technique, i.e. adaptable and flexible, with which beautiful works can be created.
_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb58d_ 136bad5cf the origin is very technical in the era it goes back even to the ancient Egyptians who, rolling gold and silver threads, used it to create beautiful jewels.
Here is an example. It is a bracelet from the tomb of a queen of Upper Egypt who lived in the 1st century AD. C., discovered by an Italian treasure hunter in 1834 ( Giuseppe Ferlini ).
This art continued to be practiced by different civilizations for many centuries. In the Middle Ages this technique was used by monks to embellish the covers of sacred books. The term quilling is precisely linked to this particular experience because the monks used the goose quills with which they also wrote to roll up the metal threads to create the decorations.
Bracelet in gold filigree and precious stones , found in Meroe, a city of the Kingdom of Kush (Upper Egypt) currently corresponding to Sudan. The bracelet is part of a rich treasure found in the tomb of Queen Amanishakheto and now kept in the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich (Germany)
creative commons license: By Einsamer Schütze - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13686594
After the Middle Ages, due to the rarity and the increasing cost of materials, gold and silver were replaced with paper_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_
This decorative art, never completely forgotten, came back into fashion in the seventeenth century and later in the Victorian era, when it became a recreational pastime for upper-class ladies.
Lindau Gospel (8th century)
image licensed under creative commons license from The Morgan Library and Museum , New York
Il primo link rimanda ad una associazione mondiale che si occupa di questa tecnica decorativa (Quilling Guild). Il secondo link permette di accedere ad una pubblicazione della Quilling Guild con la documentazione di antichi manufatti realizzati con questa tecnica. Il testo è in inglese, ma è ricco di immagini che ti possono essere utili se vuoi approfondire questo argomento