Patricia Caputo, a self taught quiller,
has been rolling paper strips for more than 30 years. Caputo, who quills full
time, is totally dedicated to this lovely old art form. Her designs have
appeared in books and magazines, and numerous articles have been written about
her work. Two of her pieces are currently on tour with Paper Cuts, a
traveling museum exhibit organized by Exhibits USA. She recently coordinated a
Quilling Calendar for Accord Publishing Company and is designing a line of
quilling kits for Paplin Products.
Ms Caputo is a member of both The Quilling Guild of England
and a charter member of the North
American Quilling Guild (NAQG). She currently serves as President of NAQG.
She has taught and demonstrated in many venues including The Big E (an annual
New England six state fair), a two day workshop in Hawaii, at the request of the
Hawaii Fiber Arts and Stitchery Guild, and most recently on television for the
Do it Yourself (DIY) network.
Caputo's business, Whimsiquills, is located in
Enfield
,
CT
where she resides with her husband, Ross. She markets her work primarily
through the Internet, www.Whimsiquills.com,
and “word of mouth”, and carries an extensive line of quilling supplies
which she ships to quillers all around the globe. Her studio, located in her
home, is always open to other quillers. She also visits with quillers from all
over the world on the Internet. She says quillers are able to converse, share
their ideas and techniques, and even see each other's work on the Internet.
"It's rather ironic that such an old art form should be helped by today's
modern technology."
Quilling is a very old art form believed to date back
to the 13th Century, when nuns cut the gilded edges from old
manuscripts and cut and curled them in order to decorate religious artifacts.
Today's quilling is usually done with papers cut specifically for quilling.
Caputo uses American, English papers to give her work the best possible color
range. Her work includes dimensional pieces (like the tea cup and flower basket
pictured on the web site) as well as framed decorative pieces. One of her
specialties is quilling around photographs, verses and announcements creating
wonderful keepsakes to pass on from generation to generation.