Handmade bamboo stick quilling tool

I've been receiving a lot of inquiries regarding quilling tools ever since I started experimenting with the quilling technique. Many of my readers inquired from me about where they can buy them, how much they cost and etc etc etc.  For those living in Malaysia, it is pretty difficult for us to get these quilling tools as most  of these quilling tools are sold in Kuala Lumpur. A lot of people are not able to travel and go to craft stores  in Kuala Lumpur to purchase these tools themselves. Sometimes the quilling tools itself is out of stock. 

So, one day I decided to try and make my own handmade slotted quilling tool. For those who are not aware of the different types of quilling tools, there are two types that I know of. One is the slotted type and the other is the needle type quilling tool. So I'm gonna be teaching you how to make the slotted type because I think this one is a much easier quilling tool to use whenever I do my quilling.  

I made this simple tutorial for a paper article. I hope it gets accepted. :) The article is in Malay language.....so I won't be publishing it here, but I'm sharing with you some of the photos I submitted for the article. The article is about a simple tutorial on how to decorate your paper bookmark with quilling flowers and leaves. I also showed how to make the quilling tool using a bamboo skewer that we all use to make Satay with. :)

As you can see from the photo above, I start making the quilling tool by cutting off the sharp end of the bamboo skewer using a sharp razor blade. Then I  carefully made a straight cut at the center of it to make a space for the slot.

Do be careful when cutting it as you can break it if you are not careful and gentle with it. The cut made by the razor blade is quite narrow and perhaps too narrow to slide a paper strip between it. So take a metal ruler and try to widen the slot by forcing it between the center of the slot as per photo above. You will get the result as the photo you see above if you put the ruler in between it like so.

Now you can start quilling the paper strips using the bamboo quilling tool. I personally love using this bamboo quilling tool to make my quilled creations. This is because the length of the tool is very comfortable for me to handle compared to the small sized quilling tool I bought at the craft store. It is so small and short in length which makes it difficult for me to hold it when I start to quill the paper. So this bamboo quilling tool is my favourite quilling tool to use these days! :)

As you can see from the photo above, these are the quilled flowers and leaves I made using the bamboo quilling tool. The result you get from using a cheap bamboo skewer is the same as you'll get when you use an expensive quilling tool. I wish I had figured out how to make this earlier.....could have saved my money from buying the quilling tool! hehehe!

Here is the simple quilled bookmark I made for the paper article. It's meant to teach school kids how to make a simple decoration on a paper bookmark. School teachers can really benefit from this article......so I hope that it gets accepted! For those out there who are teachers....you can teach your students how to make their own quilling tool and start quilling! All the best!! :)