Paper Quilling Bugs

With our 4-H year revolving around bug study and temps in the -32 degrees due to a windchill factor we were probably not going to have many bugs available to study at our January meeting so I focused on the crafting factor of projects.  These Paper Quilling bugs are just the best indoor bug project and each member can choose their favorite bug too.

What is Paper Quilling you ask?
Paper quilling or paper filigree is an art from that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped and glued together to create decorative designs - thanks Wikipedia.

I know they look they may be "hard" to make as my Big Guy told me but that is not the case at all.  To make the bugs I pretty much just used circles.  The circles were strips of paper that were twilled around a tooth pick and glued in place.  Not anything I would consider too hard for our younger members to do.  The "hard" part was cutting all those thin strips of paper the same size.   Thankfully someone mentioned using the left overs from paper shredding and WhaLa we had a solution to getting enough strips of paper for all 14 club members with out aching hands.  Simply choose  your colors and let the shredder do the work for you and you have Paper Shredder Quilling strips and your done.

Now the bugs above are the samples I made to show the members but I must say I am intrigued to see the final results.  With members ranging from Kindergarten to 11th grade it should be quiet the variety of bugs on display.....I'm sure we may even invent some new species of bugs.

Now obviously you can make more then just bugs with this technique as the sky is really the limit.  Below you will see me trying to get fancy and learn a few new patterns with my new found skill.

"B" for Burr

"B" was supposed to be for the Bull family but since it was so cold when I took up the new skill the "B" could stand for Burr!!!!