Today I’m sharing another one from the vaults – some paper quilled name magnets that I used to make!  I started making these for my own family and friends, and then made a few custom orders through my Etsy shop as well.  Today I’m going to share the technique so you can make your own! They are fun to make for your own kids and can be used on the fridge for fun, to hold up their drawings, for charts, etc.  So many uses!

Making the Base

To start I used a whole strip (they were 24″ strips, but 17″ strips would work just as well) and let it expand into the third largest hole of my circle guide board.  This is the exact one I use, but others will work just as well:

I wanted a nice solid shape!  I made one circle for each letter in the name.  After sizing them, I pinched them into squares.  I cut a strip of cardboard that was as long and wide as all of the squares in a name and glued the squares to the cardboard.  On the back I placed a piece of strip magnet (also called magnet tape).  Some strip magnets are pretty weak, so make sure you cover the entire back with the strip magnet, or use a couple stronger circle ceramic or neodymium magnets if you want your name magnet to be very strong!

Feel free to use longer or shorter strips of paper and different sizes of the base circle to vary the size of your design!

Sealant

Once you have all of your base squares glued onto the cardboard, paint on a layer of sealant.  If you have a light colored background color (white squares for example) and use a dark or bright color for the letters (orange or black for example), and you wait until the end to add sealant, the color of the letters can bleed into the squares color.  Not all papers bleed, but some do, so I play it safe and add one layer of sealant to the background squares before continuing!  What sealant to use?  Most sealants or topcoats would be fine.  Some of my favorites are:

• Ceramcoat all purpose sealer (click here for my review and tips)
• Decoart Americana multi purpose sealer (click here for my review and tips)
• Perfect Paper Adhesive in gloss or matte (this is also my favorite quilling glue! Click here for my tips on using it as a sealant)
• Diamond Glaze (click here for my review and tips)
• Many others work great! Click here for all of my sealant reviews and tips

Making the Letters

To make the letters I used strips of paper that were 1″ or 3/4″ or 1/2″ or 1/4″ long, depending on how big I needed that part of the letter.  For example a capital S would be made out of two 3/4″ strips that have been curved into C shapes.  The letter V would be two 3/4″ strips that were pressed flat and glued together.  The A was two strips of 3/4″ length and one tiny 1/4″ length. Be flexible and see what works for the paper you are using and fiddle with the letters until they are right before gluing them onto the bases.

You might find it necessary to pin some of the pieces to a cork board while they dry so they stay shaped  correctly.  For example, when making the curved piece of the letter R it needs to be quite tight!  I curve it around the handle of a metal quilling tool to get the right shape.

Finish Up!

Once you have glued the letters to the squares you can give another layer of sealant.  Let it dry and you are finished!  Now make one for every kid you know and you’ll be their favorite!  Svara loved having a magnet with her name on it.  I made it at least 5 years ago, but it is still on our fridge, so I can tell you that they are long lasting!

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make paper quilled name magnets! Let me know if you have any questions. Stick around, there is lots to see on the blog!

• To see more magnets, click here.
• Click here to see all posts that are about sealants, topcoats, and glazes.
• Click here to view free paper quilling tutorials!
• For paper quilling tips and tricks, Click here!
• Click here to view a list of places to buy quilling supplies around the world!
• Click here to view some of my own quilling projects, with tips so you can make your own if you’d like!

*All products and supplies mentioned in this post I purchased and/or made on my own.

*This post contains some affiliate links, and some non affiliate links.  If you purchase products through the affiliate links I get a small percentage (at no extra cost to you!).  I only link to products that I believe in and/or love to use myself.  Thank you for supporting my blog!

Here is another tutorial from Let’s Quill On for another style of quilled letter magnets and other fun birthday magnets!  Click here (affiliate link) to go to their free project tutorial page and scroll down to find this particular one.