
For those of us who are addicted to earrings, have similar tales of ear lobes that hurt. And why not when those fancy jhumkas you wore last night had all the metal and semi precious or other colored stones to weight them down and of course your poor tender ear lobes bore the brunt. So how about looking at the option of fancy earrings that match your outfit and yet paper-light in weight? Literally light as paper! Yes, we are indeed talking of paper quilling earrings!
In recent years, the need to diversify our search for materials for unique jewellery has led to paper, amongst others. Those ‘crazy crafters’ who have always created magic with any odd material at hand hit the mother lode in terms of affordability and relative durability with paper quilling earrings.
What are Paper Quilling Earrings?
A quick glance at Wikipedia tells us that Paper Quilling or the art of Paper Filigree is the latest trend in indigenous materials for lightweight jewellery ‘that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. Quilling, as an art form apparently developed during the European Renaissance period when the French and Italian nuns and monks used quilling to decorate book covers and religious items. The paper most commonly used was strips of paper trimmed from the gilded edges of books. These gilded paper strips were then rolled to create the quilled shapes. Quilling often imitate the original ironwork of the day.’
So it is but natural that the filigree effect would drift onto the magical world of earrings too!
Customize your Earrings
Those of us who love our earrings would give anything to have at hand that perfectly customized pair to go with our outfits! Each colour matched and sometimes shapes can be replicated too, to match our moods! That is the joy of building up your collection of paper quilling earrings. Definitely being cheaper than most other materials, it has quickly become the go-to choice for many, since you can never have too many.
Simple shapes in petals to match whatever your outfit of the day…
Or, fancy filigree work in whorls of dull antique gold

You are bound merely within the realms of your imagination of what can be created in paper quilling for your earrings collection.
The art of quilling makes the variety in paper quilling earrings designs limited only by your imagination :



Best yet, your little girl can have her own fancy collection of witch’s hats for Halloween, first rose danglers to her first pair of fancy paper quilling jhumkas to go with her ghagra choli for that special family event!



Beauty of the Fancy Jhumkas of Indian Jewellery
Given the perceived simplicity of these paper quilling earrings, my favourite trend in this art form is probably the jhumka! Those half globes of sheer beauty have captured the imagination of many a jewellery designer and collector. So, yes, a separate discussion on paper quilling jhumkas definitely has merit!
This is the traditional jhumkas as we know it, in gold

and this my dearies is your paper quilling jhumka!

Agreed, in terms of value they do not compare, but how many of us go around wearing our fancy gold jhumkas during our daily outings? Probably none of us! Yes, it goes beyond the need for variety, there is that price value attached to the gold ones! They cost a bomb!
And given their prohibitive prices, one lands up rarely bringing them out of the bank lockers… but what happens to that craving to wear those dangling half globes of sheer beauty with your traditional Indian attires?? Well, that is where the paper quilling jhumkas come to the rescue!
Frankly the traditional jhumkas in gold or silver can only do so much in terms of customizing the look with your sari or salwar suit… but imagine if you could take elements of your sari and have perfectly customized paper quilling jhumkas designed? And why not?


Somehow, these amazing creations make you want to have a separate collection devoted to paper quilling earrings in itself, doesn’t it? And arguably so! What is best, the more fastidious of these designers actually make these quilled jhumkas
water-proof to save these paper beauties from absorbing ambient moisture and losing their shape and unique designs. Of course the lacquer used to water-proof them has the added benefit of giving these lovely paper quilling earring designs their much aspired to gloss and hardness to hold shape.
Have a look at what you can possibly design for yourself with a little help and practice

Turn into a DIY-er
For some of you who are unfamiliar with the term DIY, in simple terms it is ‘do-it-yourself’… so yes, about that! Pick up your supplies and get going….
Indulgences in earrings can go up many fold as the sky is the limit, especially if you are inclined to learn how to make these fancy yet simple beauties yourself!
What are the supplies you will require to get started :
- Paper quilling strips in various colours
- Fevicol tube or hot glue gun (if you can get your hands on one)
- Tweezers
- Quilling tool kit – quilling needle, shape board, shape border tower etc.
- Earrings hoops and fixtures
- Variety of beads and other accessories to suit our imagination
- And for the fancy jhumkas, 3D outliner in acrylic (available from Fevicryl)
- Varnish and a brush to apply it with
- Your imagination!
There are many tutorials available online to help you get started, but while you are with us, here are a few simple tutorials for getting started on your paper quilling designs.
There are basic shapes one must master in paper quilling before you can venture into creating your own designs:

Once you have figured out how to twirl and twist those coloured strips of quilling paper on your quilling needle, you are good to go. Practice, practice..
Paper Quilling Earrings Tutorials
Let’s say this is the paper quilling earring design you have chosen to work on
Step 1:
The coil is what you start with –
Start from one end of the paper strip, holding your quilling needle in your working hand and the other end of the strip stretched tight on the other

Twirl the needle as you allow the paper strip to coil around the point, like this

You effectively create either a tight coil

or a loose coil

Once you have the exact tightness you are looking for, glue the end of the strip to the body of the coil and you are good to go. Remember, a lot of the other shapes are achieved easily by pinching a loose coil into the shape you are looking for. Other shapes are achieved by winding tightly around the border buddy tower at the desired size
Step 2:
Now that you have mastered the two coil types, you can see that you will need
6 tight coils in red
2 tear drop shapes in yellow
2 circular hoops in red
4 eye shapes in yellow
Making the tear drop:
Make a loose coil
Pinch one end together
And voilà !! You have your teardrop shaped paper quilled design.
Making the hoop:
Wind the quilling strip around the border buddy tower, at the desired size level, glueing at intervals as you go so the shape holds up.

Making the Eye Shape
Wind around the border buddy tower with the quilling strip to create the hoops or rings
Pinch the opposing ends to create the desired eye shape
Step 4:
Now that your shapes are all done, assemble the earring as per the design using glue to stick each piece onto the other.
The hook to hang from is easily fitted into the tight coil with the help of an additional jump ring that is fitted into the tight red coil on top. Make sure you tighten your jump rings and hooks ever so often while fixing with tweezers.

Apply varnish on the finished paper quilling earring to give it the finishing touch. Remember, varnish not only adds the gloss to the finished piece, but also stiffens the paper so as to make it hold shape.
Now that you know how to make paper quilling earrings, go ahead and try your hand at other shapes and designs in paper quilling earrings patterns.
The biggest joy of these fancy yet light on your ear lobes as also your purse strings, is that you can make as many as you wish, once you have mastered the technique. And hey! You can gift galore too!
I leave you with these gems….


