Custom Quilling Tools

I love quilling tools.

I just got a new one... from Japan! I love my new quilling tool! It's pretty and tiny and helps me to create beautiful work, but I am hesitant to let go of my previous fine tip slotted tool. Why? Because I'm crazy. I honestly have no good reason. :/

So, I decided that if I was going to keep it, I was at least going to give it an update. I have a pretty Tiffany pen that my grandparents gave me for my college graduation. I like the pen a lot; it's comfortable to hold and write with, but I have used up the ink. Since I haven't gotten a refill for it and don't want to get rid of the pen itself, I decided that that would be the new housing for my old quilling tool!


I actually came across an Instructables tutorial for creating a quilling tool from a ballpoint pen. I also saw a picture on a blog of a silver pen converted to a quilling needle. So, I was able to gather some ideas for putting this together.


Removing the needle/slotted tip was surprisingly easy. I just grabbed a hold of it with some jewelry pliers and pulled. Of the two sites I found, one mentioned wrapping the needle point with tape to create a tight seal at the tip of the pen, and the other mentioned doing essentially the same thing, but with glue. I opted for the tape.


It looks beautiful!



During my searching, I found a new quilling tool called the Border Buddy. They didn't have it in the store, but I found a tutorial to make something like it. Erin of Little Circles, the author of this tutorial, is amazing! Her work is incredible.



I followed Erin's directions for the stacked quilling form, but modified the design slightly to suit my needs and available supplies.


As a bonus, when I explained to Justin what I was making and showed him the Border Buddy, he offered to make forms for me in other shapes or sizes on his 3D printer! I haven't really had a need for a form like this in any shape other than circle but thought that I might be able to use some squares, so I asked for a stack of three!