Quilling Technique Tips & Tricks - Moulded Quilled Bell / Shapes

Here it is!! Quilling Technique Tip & Tricks for mold quilled christmas bell decoration. These tips can be used for any quilled item created using a mold. I gathered these tips when I was quilling the bell for Bells & Holly and have posted it here as I did not find any tutorials covering these points.

 

The Basic Steps

1. Take  the mold and cover it with cling film or plastic or take a plastic mold.
2. Quill basic shapes.
3. Glue the basic shapes one to the other and create the shape.
4. Paste the pieces together and complete the shape.

Tips & Tricks of Quilling Using a Mold (Christmas Bell)

1. If you are quilling for the first time use a rather large bell/ mold.
2. Start form the narrowest part and quill down, leaving the argent space empty so that you can glue a loop to hang the bell.
3. If you are quilling a sphere, do it in halves, from the top to the mid line and then glue the two halves together.
4. Make sure the coils used for the basic shapes are not too loose ( unwound too much) and are well formed with small centers that are closely (not tightly) coiled and equally spaced.
5. The size  of the basic shapes is important and depends on the size of your mold.  The smaller the basic shape the smoother the curvature.
6. Use basic shapes that fit into each other and ensure that every single basic shape touches the adjacent shape comfortably at some point  so that the side of each shape can be glued firmly to the adjacent shape or the part thereof that is touching it.
7. You can quill molds with spaces as part of the design but make sure the shapes around the space are glued firmly to each other.
8. The best results will be achieved with same size shapes within each row even if different shapes are used.
9. Glue a  few of the basic shapes together, place it on the top section of the mold and apply a bit of glue to the underside,where it will not be visible once removed, and paste it to the mold but avoid getting the glue on to the bottom or top of the basic shapes  in any of the other areas.
10. Always start at the flatter part when molding on a curved surface so that you can glue a few shapes together and stick them to the mold.
11. When molding curved areas, hold the shapes down on the mold till dry. Where possible use a rubber band to tighten the shape against the mold. If you find gaps fill them and glue any loose areas before proceeding.
12. Always plan ahead about how you are going to remove your shape from the mould before you begin molding as you may have to do it in two halves or smaller pieces and then glue them together. For a bell however, you start from the narrow and end at the broad end in one go.
13. You can quill all the basic shapes and then start moulding but be prepared to quill a few while you are moulding as the sizes required may change and you will have to quill to fit the space sometimes. I usually quill a few at a time and glue.
14. If you want designs (you will need experience to do this), make the design, then glue the design on the mold and put a rubber band around it, then glue basic shape around it to embed it into your quilled shape.
15. Press the shape on to the mould at every step and glue loose basic shapes. If possible, put a rubber band on the last glued area and keep moving it down as you complete gluing so that it dries into shape.
16. Once completed, allow to dry well before removing from the mould.
17. Any parts that protrude will have to be quilled last and separately, and then glued into place.
18. Always start with easy shapes and them proceed to the more difficult ones.  
19. Allow to dry hard before you remove off the mold or it can loose shape.
20. Make all corrections before the piece dries as it will become quite hard once it does.