Quilling Paper at the Night Market

While visiting the Richmond Night Market this year, I was shocked in my tracks to see a package of quilling strips.

After surprise, my next reaction was dismay at seeing the image on the front - a blatant copy of Usokei's (formerly Iron Maiden) original and inspiring beauty. You'd think anyone who was selling product could at least make something original.

The set of 100 strips in 10 mm width is obviously made in China, and for $3, I figured it was worth satisfying my curiosity about the quality – and it did not disappoint in disappointing me. Immediately upon opening it, the ends split apart because the adhesive was so poor.

It's an easy enough fix to gather the ends and align them using a plastic card.

Dab some glue along the edge and keep the edges together using a hair clip. Once it's dry, it behaves like a proper set of strips.

The colors seem typical enough, and if you can look closely, you'll see one of the reds has an unusual texture.

My testing strip seemed to quill appropriately enough. Although this width is not what I usually use, I figured my niece or other newbies might enjoy having a better grasp on a wider strip. Well, at least you know what you're getting!