Finger Quilled Paper Angel

This colorful paper Angel looks beautiful as a holiday ornament or decorating your home at any time of the year! No fancy tools needed - and it is a great way to recycle old watercolor paintings.

• A couple of sheets of colorfully painted watercolor paper, 18" long and a total of 13" wide.
• Thread, about 60 inches long.
• A needle.
• A cutting mat.
• A utility knife.
• A pair of scissors.
• A hot glue gun (and hot glue sticks).

Using the utility knife and the cutting mat, cut thirteen 1" strips of a variety of colors. Next, score a line along the center of the non-colored side of each strip. Now, fold each strip longways along the scored line, so that only the colored side shows.

Head: Tightly wrap one strip into a spiral, hot gluing it as you go. (1 strip total)

Body: Start wrapping the body like the head, but once you do about two wraps, pinch it into a triangle. Continue wrapping and gluing keeping the triangular shape. (1 strip total)

Bottom of the Skirt: Wrap twice, then extend your third wrap out about 1/2" to form a point. Then wrap back around and extend your next wrap another 1/2". Extend a total of three times, and then wrap any remaining paper around the third point. Glue the end and repeat on two more strips. (3 strips total)

Top of the Skirt: Wrap twice, then extend a little over one 1/4". Extend again, about one 1/4". On your third extension, make it a little bigger. Wrap once around your last extension and then cut off the remaining paper. Repeat on one more strip. The top of the skirt should be smaller than the bottom. (2 strips total)

Top Wing: Before you start wrapping this piece, cut it in half so you now have two 9" strips. Wrap twice, then extend three times, each about 1/4". Repeat on the other half. (1 strip cut in half)

Middle and Bottom Wing: Wrap three times, then extend the next wrap about 3/8". Don't extend the next, but instead wrap up against the previous one. Extend three times, wrapping twice on every extension. Cut off any remaining paper and repeat on three more strips. The middle and bottom wings should be much larger than the top wings. (4 strips total)

The next step is to glue everything together. Start by hot gluing the individual paper spirals into sections:

• Hot glue the head to the body.
• Glue the wings together, the small piece on top of the two larger pieces.
• Glue the skirt together, the three larger pieces on the bottom and the two smaller ones in between them on top.

Now glue all the sections into one.

Once the whole thing is glued together, you will need to add a strip of paper around the edge to give it a neat look. Cut your last strip longways down the middle, so that you have two 1/2"x18" strips. Take one of the two halves and glue it around the edge of the Angel. I like to start from the bottom corner of the skirt and work my way up and around. The 18" strip is not long enough to wrap around the whole Angel, so when I get to the dents on the wings, I tuck the end in and start a new piece.

Cut a length of thread about 60" long. Now fold the thread in half and have someone hold one end (I just hooked the folded end around a nail). Twist the thread until it starts to curl up on itself, then grab the middle and fold the two ends together. Now let it twist up by itself and you should have a shorter and thicker thread. Using the needle, pull the thread through one of the top two gaps in the head. Tie the ends together and then pull the knot back into the gap so you can not see it.

Your angel is now ready to decorate your home or be given as a gift! If you enjoyed this instructable, please consider voting for it in the Paper Contest :D