How to Make Full and Lacy Quilled Teardrops with the Same Outer Size

A basic quilled teardrop starts as a loose coil: roll the strip, let it expand, secure its outer end and pinch one side. Anchorage Museum documents this sequence in its COLAB Paper Quilling guide. Both versions in this tutorial use that construction.

Here, full means a teardrop with more paper lines and less visible open space; lacy means one with fewer lines and more open space. These are working descriptions for comparing your samples.

The reasoning is straightforward: when paper thickness and the finished footprint stay comparable, a longer strip places more paper inside that footprint. A shorter strip leaves more room between turns. This is a practical inference from the construction, rather than a published formula for predicting the exact appearance.

Keep the paper stock consistent during the comparison. PaperZen explains that different paper weights can produce different-looking coils even when strip lengths match. Changing paper and length together would make your trial harder to interpret. See its circle-template tutorial and troubleshooting guide.

Prepare a small comparison set using:

• Quilling strips from the same paper stock, preferably the same color for the first trial.
• One strip width; 3 mm is a convenient choice.
• One quilling tool.
• A circle-sizing template or board.
• A ruler, scissors, craft glue and a toothpick for applying it.
• Tweezers and a sheet of paper for recording finished outlines.

Quilled Creations identifies approximately 3 mm paper as a commonly used width and recommends a circle sizer or template board for consistent coils. Its Quilling FAQs also explains that equal strip lengths can produce unequal coils when rolling pressure varies.

Distinguish three measurements in your notes: strip length, loose-coil diameter and finished teardrop dimensions. The strip is your fullness adjustment; the circle opening controls the starting footprint; the final outline tells you whether the pieces actually match.

Measure a template opening directly rather than assuming its printed number means millimeters. PaperZen notes that the numbered sizes on the board it discusses are not measurement units. Record the actual diameter so you can reproduce the starting size with another template. PaperZen: Quilling Circle Templates Boards

First make a reference teardrop whose proportions suit your project. Inna’s original beginner tutorial provides a useful starting example: an approximately 30 cm strip released into a circle about 1.5–2 cm in diameter, then glued and pinched. Treat that as a starting combination, not a required recipe for every paper. See Tutorial: An introduction to paper quilling.

Roll with steady tension, release the coil into your chosen opening and let it expand. Secure only the outer end with a small amount of glue. Once the join holds, pinch one side to form the point while preserving a rounded opposite end. The roll–release–glue–pinch order follows the Anchorage Museum teardrop instructions.

Place the finished reference on your recording sheet. Mark its tip, rounded base and widest points, then sketch its contour. Record the tip-to-base length and maximum width. Keep the reference beside the sketch: it is easier to compare curves against a real piece than against measurements alone.

This adds a second check beyond the circle template. Two pieces may begin with equal circular boundaries yet finish with different proportions if you pinch or compress them differently. Your acceptance test is the finished contour, including the shoulders beside the point.

Use a small controlled trial before cutting all the strips for your project. The following lengths are illustrative test inputs, not measured results or a universal pattern. If your reference used a 30 cm strip, try one shorter and one longer sample in the same circle opening.

Trial	Illustrative strip length	Purpose
A	20 cm	Test a more open interior
B	30 cm	Compare against the reference
C	40 cm	Test a fuller interior

For each sample, use the same paper, tool, winding direction and circle opening. Inspect the coil before gluing: its outer turn should reach the template boundary without your having to stretch it into place. If a sample does not reach the boundary, it has not passed the size comparison.

After shaping, place each sample against the reference outline. Judge the interior only after checking the exterior. A smaller teardrop may look fuller simply because its turns occupy less space; a larger one may look lacier because they have spread farther apart.

Choose the shortest trial that gives the open appearance you want while retaining a usable contour, and a longer trial that gives the desired fullness while remaining shapeable. If the difference is too subtle, make another sample farther from the reference length. If the longer sample is crowded, test an intermediate length.

The useful result is a pair of recipes for your materials. Record the successful lengths, circle diameter and finished dimensions instead of assigning a fixed meaning to “one full strip.”

Pinch both pieces at the same relative location. The original instructions on Quilling, Art and Expression recommend forming the point at the glued end, leaving the opposite end rounded. This also gives you a repeatable orientation for the pair. See Free Quilling Instructions Coil Shapes.

Use this comparison sequence for each piece:

1. Align the tip with the reference tip mark.
2. Check whether the rounded base reaches the base mark.
3. Compare maximum width and the curves on both sides.
4. Make small shaping adjustments and check again after releasing your fingers.
5. Compare the interior spacing only when the outline fits.

Avoid correcting width alone. Squeezing the sides may change the length, so recheck both dimensions after each adjustment. Also compare the rounded base: matching length and width can still leave visibly different contours.

If one version repeatedly needs extensive reshaping, make another sample using a nearby circle diameter while retaining its selected strip length. The same opening is a controlled starting point; the finished outline is the final criterion. Record separate starting diameters if those produce the closer match.

For especially demanding matching, keep one accepted full sample and one accepted lacy sample as physical references. Compare new pieces with both the outline and the appropriate interior reference before assembling them.

Change one variable at a time. Start by deciding whether the problem is expansion, exterior shape or interior appearance; each calls for a different adjustment.

What you observe	Next adjustment
The coil stays smaller than the template opening	Repeat with less rolling tension before changing strip length.
Outer turns bunch together	Rewind and check the spacing before gluing.
The outline matches, but the interior looks too dense	Test a shorter strip in the same opening.
The outline matches, but the interior looks too sparse	Test a longer strip in the same opening.
Circle sizes match, but teardrop dimensions differ	Compare point placement and shaping against the reference.

Quilled Creations specifically identifies excessive rolling tension as a possible reason a coil will not spread open. PaperZen also describes rewinding as a correction for coils that fail to expand or develop doubled outer rings. These are documented troubleshooting steps in the Quilled Creations FAQ and PaperZen template guide.

An extremely short strip may not give the interior arrangement you want at your chosen size. An overly long strip may leave too little space for easy shaping. In either case, move back toward the middle of your tested lengths rather than forcing the sample to work.

Before preparing a batch, make a second copy of each successful version. This checks whether your recorded recipe is repeatable with your usual handling. Compare all four pieces after releasing them, using the same outline and viewing them on the same background.

Label the accepted samples with paper stock, strip width, strip length, starting circle diameter and finished length and width. Note any deliberate shaping detail, such as a narrow point or a broad rounded base. These notes make the next session much easier to continue.

Once both recipes repeat satisfactorily, cut the remaining strips to their recorded lengths and check finished pieces as you go. Matching full and lacy teardrops comes from controlling two things separately: how much paper fills the shape and the contour that contains it. A circle template establishes the starting size; your reference outline completes the match.

• Quilling Circle Templates Boards - How to Use and Common Problems — PaperZen
• Quilling FAQs — Quilled Creations
• Tutorial: An introduction to paper quilling — Inna’s Creations
• COLAB: Paper Quilling — Anchorage Museum
• Free Quilling Instructions Coil Shapes — Quilling, Art and Expression