Just a Worm: Quilled Ferns

No matter how many times I quill, I always feel like the final step when all of the pieces are assembled is magic. A stack of paper becomes a book.

Paper becomes a fern.

Of course, it's not really magic as I spend hours--sometimes days--making the parts for a quilled piece, but I still love it when the piece finally comes together.

Here are a few pictures showing how I made the ferns for Just a Worm:

My quilling usually starts with a walk around my garden or neighborhood. There are several lovely gardens in Columbia, SC, where I live. I look for interesting textures, colors, and shapes. If I see something I like, I try to take a picture on my phone. If the plant is in my yard, I'll often pick a few pieces, which I will then dissect and photograph or press. I supplement the flowers I grow and find with flowers from a local flower farm, Boone Fox Farm.

For the ferns in Worm, I was inspired by these ferns I saw on a walk:

Isn't the color and texture gorgeous?

I then looked for paper in a similar color and selected this green, which I thought captured some of the vibrancy of the ferns.

I cut the paper into strips, shaped it, and used it to create fern fronds.

Finally, I glued the fronds to paper stems and added some paper roots.

Here is a final quilled paper fern:

Can you spot a quilled fern on the cover of Just a Worm?

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