In its simplest form quilling is the art that sees the use of little strips of paper rolled, pinched into shape and then glued together to create designs.
But when looking at Sylvie Robitaille’s work there’s nothing simple about it.
Instead, her use of unique colour combinations, and the whimsy in the details of Robitaille’s work is stunning.
Robitaille has always liked to stay busy and she started quilling just two years ago when her son sent her a card that had some quilling on the front.
“So that’s what inspired me to do the research on quilling and I went to the library to get some books, studied them and then ordered a bunch of stuff and then it was practice, practice, practice,” Robitaille said.
“And it’s still very basic. There are 35 basic shapes and I have mastered four.”
Her first attempt sees her filling in the foreground of an image of a tree beside a stream.
The next of her bigger projects is from a colouring book her other son gifted her.
So she took a page into a second dimension with quilling.
Her colour combinations are vibrant and full of energy, reflecting the artist herself.
“And this one is full of flaws,” Robitaille said, pointing out microscopic points of exposed glue that nobody else would notice in a million years.
“You’re always most critical of your own work.”
And anybody can do it, Robitaille added.
“It just takes practice and time and patience. And it’s trial and error.”
Robitaille has always been a crafter and she enjoys trying new things and venturing off into quilting, her next project, is something she comes back to often.
“I feel I am a jack of all trades, master of none,” Robitaille said, with a smile and a shrug.
Her first foray was into crafting was tole painting, which is the folk art of decorative painting on tins, wooden utensils, objects and furniture.
“So that’s what I started with,” Robitaille said. “I did them and sold most of them. I took many, many classes. And it was a big thing back in the late 90s. Then because I lived in the country and there were many wild flowers, I started drying them and making flower arrangements and wreaths and took classes and did markets and it was fun.”
She did decoupage and sold Christmas wreaths.
“Then I started quilting and I would sell those as well and now I quill and quilt and make mini albums,” Robitaille.
Mini albums are handmade creations suited for photos, keepsakes, journaling, and a wealth of memories and are made with chipboard, cardstock paper and decorative adhesives.
“And those take a loooonng time,” Robitaille said.
Right now she’s moving from quilling to quilting and that finds her with about a dozen quilts at different levels of completion.
“I am moving on to the quilts now,” Robitaille said. “I get bored easily and this is why I always have two or three different projects on the go. Cause I can’t just sit and quilt days on end. I get tired, I get sore. I get bored.”
And after that?
“You know, I will be somewhere one day and see something and think ‘hmmmm, I wanna try that,’” Robitaille said with a sheepish grin.
“And then I do.”
