New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Looped Compound Leaf

This quilling tutorial is on how to make 3D compound leaves by hand. The leaf is versatile and can be shaped into any of the above leaves and requires no special tools.

I have used these leaves on  Orange Blossoms and Sweet William. I have used the pine leaf for christmas decor.

METHOD

The technique consists of making a tapering fan fold like the one in the pic and gluing it to form the leaf lets. I am going to use a toothpick to standardize the size of each leaf let.
 

Take a toothpick and break it at about 3mm longer than the length of the leaf let you require. (I have used the notched side of the toothpick for measure). Make a notch at about 3mm from one end. We will call this the guide.

Take a green strip and measure from the longer end of the guide up to the 3mm notch and fold.down, then measure the full length of the guide and fold up. Glue the folded end to make a loop. ( please note that you should measure the short side first and then the long side. I have made a mistake in the pic). When folding, do not flatten the fold if you want to have rounded leaflets.

The loop you made will be glued at the 3mm mark and the up fold  you made in the previous step will be at the end of the guide.(the fold is not shown in pic)

Now keep the 3mm notch at the fold below the loop, as shown above, and make a down fold at the end of the guide as shown above. Measuring and scoring a mark with your finger nail and then folding is the easiest way.

Now keep the end of the guide at the fold , as shown above, and make an up fold at the end of the guide as shown above.Repeat these two steps till you reach the end of the strip and you will end up with a tapering fan .

Now use the folded strip for measure and fold as many strips as you require. 2 folded strips will be required for  each compound leaf.

Take a folded strip and apply a tad of glue to the end of each long fold as shown above and glue it to a new strip as shown. The strip will make the center vein.

Once glued it will look like the above which I have used as a leaf in Sweet William.

Now take another folded strip and glue it to the other side of the same strip as shown above. Make sure you glue it to match the other side so the leaves are glued at the same point on either side of the vein strip.

When gluing the second side hold each glued point as shown above to ensure it is stuck properly.

If you want the leaf let tips to be rounded, rub a rounded surface against the inside of each tip . Turn the blunt tool in a clockwise direction while rubbing.

If you want the above appearance, pinch each tip and push it down slightly while holding each leaf let at the place where you glued it to the vein with your other hand.

If you want the leaf like a palm, pinch the leaflets together and lightly glue each leaf let shut.

Good Luck!! Hope you find this compound leaf useful.