Several years ago I read one of those meme lists/posts about artists or crafters (of course I can’t find it now) and one thing on the list was to share your craft, tips, etc.  After that one was a post telling not to share *everything*. Obviously, I’m in the business of sharing. I share a lot of free info (tutorials and tips) and I also sell some premium tutorials. When I read that list I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.  I knew I loved sharing info, but I also wasn’t ready to give away all of my super secret tips yet. There is one tip in particular that I have not shared.  It may seem like a very small tip, but it has been essential for me in creating a LOT of my quilled jewelry. A few weeks ago as I was taking photos for a tutorial for a pair of earrings (coming up in a few days on the blog!) I felt as though it was finally time to share this special tip!  I hope it helps some of you out there. You do have to have a specific tool for it, but some of you may already have it on hand and not know that it can do this! When I make quilled jewelry I like to make designs that have a lot of very solid shapes.  This creates a smooth looking design and you don’t have to be too careful about applying sealant as there are no coils to come undone!  However, I like the look of clean smooth inner centers for tight coils. Today I am sharing with you three ways to get that smooth inner center for tight coils. As you can see I make a lot of jewelry with these tight rolls:

Here are the three ways to get that look:

1. The first way is if you are using a regular slotted quilling tool.  Normally if you are using a slotted tool, then you end up with a little piece of paper sticking in the middle of your roll.  You can then use a needle tool or toothpick and stick it in there to smooth out the center like this picture below shows.  But honestly I find that to be a bit of a pain.  I don’t have time to do that for every tight roll I make!  But if you don’t have the practice or tools for the next two options, you can resort to this option!
2. The second way is to simply use a needle tool or other skinny object like a toothpick to wrap the paper around.  This can take some practice to get a nice tight roll without something to grip the paper with.  The nice thing about this method is that it gives a very tiny center if you use a needle tool.  Sometimes I need a roll with a very tiny center, so I use this method for that.  After rolling and gluing the tight roll I like to hold it in the tweezers and press to get it flat, as sometimes when you are rolling it can be a little uneven.  
3. The third way that I am sharing today is the method that I have not shared and is my secret to most of the tight rolls that I make.  I don’t even remember when I first discovered this trick.  My guess is it was sometime in high school or college when I was making designs that had more tight rolls and I wanted the smooth centers. So there are two keys to this secret.  One is that you have to have the right tool.  The tool I use for this trick is the first quilling tool that I ever got.  Honestly I thought that I could only do this trick on this old tool, that it was unique and worn down just enough to do this trick. Luckily I found another tool that was very similar and I tried it, and it works! That’s one of the reasons I finally decided to share it!  You can find this tool here or here on Amazon, and here at Custom Quilling.

What is special about this tool is that the slotted part of it has a slightly bigger diameter and slightly smoother edges.  So for this trick, do NOT put your paper strip all the way through the slit as you can see in the first photo below here.  Instead, put your paper strip in the slit about halfway to almost all the way in the slit.  Far enough for it to hold, but not sticking out the other side at all.  You can see this in the second photo below.  Then start rolling as usual.  Once you’ve rolled it all the way up you’re going to hold it tightly with your fingers and keep turning the whole roll in the same direction (counter clockwise in my case) as you rolled it. The whole roll will tighten up and the end that was in the slit will slide out (or occasionally just break off). Then remove the roll from your tool, glue it, and again put it in tweezers to make it nice and flat.    So why do I bother with this trick when I can just use a needle tool to get a smooth middle?  Because honestly I like the larger hole that I get with the tool.  Well, usually I do.  Sometimes I want the tiny center, especially if my roll is very tiny and I want to fit it into a tiny space in my design.  Here you can see the two different sized centers you can get with these two tools:

Looking for some more tips for making paper quilled jewelry? Check out the ones below that I have already posts, and check out all my general quilling tips here and free tutorials here.

Stick around, there is lots to see around the blog!  Here are some places to start:

• Click here to view free paper quilling tutorials!
• Click here to view paper quilling tips and tricks!
• 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.  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!