Lesson Plan: Arts of the Regency Period

In our history coop, we do an art for each area and period we study.  We've been studying Regency England, and it was my turn to do the art.  So the art that I selected--one that is mentioned in books by Jane Austen and other writing during that time--was quilling (also known as paper filigree).

Quilling is a design out of rolls of paper, created by rolling thin strips of paper around a feather quill.  It was used to decorate cards, scrapbook pages, or picture frames.  It was traditional made up of either simply decorative scrolls, or to depicts items from nature, such as flowers or animals or insects.

I created the following picture as a quasi-traditional picture of Regency quilling:

But the students took it in new and creative directions.  We had two abstracts/ornamentals:

(This looks rather Fibonacci-like to me, which reminds me of my beloved book, Blockhead)

One flora:

Several birds, each beautiful and unique:

And then, one squid:

It is a fun, pretty easy, and less familiar craft, and I think it is a great addition to a unit on Regency England.