Fig. 9 An Autumn Day

Dimensions: 39 by 54 centimeters

Maple leaves turn red when autumn comes. This work focuses on likeness in spirit. It uses red and purple curved lines to imitate the maple trunk and red loose coils to represent falling maple leaves, creating a sense of autumn with maple leaves gradually becoming red and then falling. The whole picture shows the theme that all things on Earth will decline when they pass their zeniths.

 

INTRODUCTION

Paper quilling is a form of art that uses long, colorful paper slips as the basic materials for creating basic elements of diversified forms with the help of hands and some simple tools. These elements are then put together or superimposed to produce works of art. Due to the simple materials it uses and the diverse forms and beautiful shapes it takes, paper quilling has become popular with an increasing number of people, both old and young.

The art of paper quilling has a long history. It developed into a relatively mature handwork in Europe as early as the Middle Ages. Today, it has become an independent art form. Although paper quilling is still less known today, it integrates the artistic characteristics of painting and sculpture perfectly, rendering the works more forms of representation and more artistic styles with various techniques based on the elasticity, flexibility and plasticity of paper. With paper quilling, you are capable of unlimited expression, either realistic or abstract, wild or aesthetic, rough or refined.

Along with the more and more in-depth Sino-Western exchanges, paper quilling, an art form originated in the West, has also entered China, attracting many followers with its elegance and antiquity. Among them, Zhu Liqun took the lead to establish the first paper-quilling workshop in China, which has now developed into a paper-quilling museum. With his guidance, lovers of this art form have integrated traditional Chinese culture and artistic expressions into traditional Western paper quilling, producing works with unique Chinese characteristics. In his museum, paper quilling is taught as a rudimentary form of art that can enable learners, young and old, to learn by analogy. Gradually, they will form their own understanding of this artistic form through hands-on practice.

Fig. 10 Flowers and Leaves

Dimensions: 27 by 27 centimeters

This work uses different elements to present various kinds of flowers and leaves. It offers reference to flower and leaf presentation in paper quilling.

Paper quilling is very easy to learn in the beginning, requiring nothing more than a roll of paper, a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue. Compared with traditional Western paper quilling, the Chinese-style paper quilling is even more user-friendly to beginners. We use the simplest and most fundamental techniques to produce infinite patterns and shapes, which can be mastered even by those who know nothing about this art. All they need to understand the charm of this artistic form is patience and creativity.

This book is a follow-up to Paper Quilling: Chinese Style, the first work on paper quilling produced by Zhu Liqun and other members of the museum. Based on sceneries in the four seasons, it displays the making of each item with full-color pictures in three tutorials, elementary, intermediate and advanced. The elementary tutorial focuses on exhibiting the content of the 24 Chinese solar terms with simple elements in concise composition. The intermediate tutorial is richer in elements and theme, with diversified colors showing the characteristics and changes of the four seasons to the fullest. The advanced tutorial is characterized by bigger pictures with more complicated and fuller compositions. You can choose to start from the easiest to the most difficult or directly challenge the advanced tutorial to gain a higher sense of achievement.