How to Make Looped Quilled Leaves with a Comb

Gather quilling paper, a quilling comb, craft glue, scissors, tweezers, and a work board. These are the basic supplies listed in Quilling Galaxy’s combing tutorial. Add a needle quilling tool if you use the small starting coil described below.

Choose 3 mm paper strips for your first attempt. Christine’s original comb-quilled leaf tutorial uses that width. Set aside one strip for the loops and another of the same width for the outside border. Using matching paper is a useful starting choice because it lets you concentrate on the loop arrangement.

A regular hair comb or plastic hair pick can substitute for a quilling comb, according to Meredith Amand’s original comb-quilling instructions. Use the same comb throughout your practice leaf so you have one consistent spacing reference.

For this practice version, use a comb with at least eleven teeth. Choose a central tooth with five available on either side. If the comb has no printed numbers, count eleven consecutive teeth from left to right and treat tooth 6 as the center. Numbered pins are a feature of some dedicated tools, including the Quilled Creations Quilling Comb.

Use this illustrative sequence to keep track of the alternating movement:

Stage	Tooth to wrap around
Starting anchor	6
First pair	7, then 5
Second pair	8, then 4
Third pair	9, then 3
Fourth pair	10, then 2
Fifth pair	11, then 1

The sequence translates the outward, alternating movement described by The Papery Craftery into a counting aid. Quilling Galaxy’s example builds five loops on each side of the center. You can stop after fewer complete pairs for a practice piece, provided both sides finish with the same count. Quilling Galaxy’s loop-count instructions

Before you start, decide where you will stop. This gives you a clear checkpoint: after each pair, the paper should have reached equally far from the center on both sides.

Roll one end of the working strip a couple of turns around a needle tool. Slip this small coil onto the central tooth, leaving the working tail behind the comb. Hold the anchor in place while you begin wrapping. This starting method comes from The Papery Craftery’s comb tutorial.

Follow the first three pairs slowly:

1. Bring the tail from behind the comb to the front just beyond tooth 7.
2. Carry it across the front and around tooth 5 to the back.
3. Bring it forward beyond tooth 8, then across and around tooth 4 to the back.
4. Repeat around tooth 9 and tooth 3.
5. Continue with the remaining pairs in your planned sequence.

Each pass reaches one tooth farther from the center on the opposite side. The paper forms progressively longer loops rather than repeatedly circling the same two teeth. This alternating progression is demonstrated in The Papery Craftery’s original instructions.

Pause after each complete pair. As a practical check, look for an accidentally skipped tooth, a twisted strip, or one side extending farther than the other. Correct the last pass before adding another: it is easier to follow the route while that section remains visible.

Secure the finished loop arrangement with a little glue before removing it. Then use tweezers to help slide the loops off together. Quilling Galaxy places the securing step before removal in both of its demonstrated combing methods. See the securing and removal sequence.

Fold the looped piece at its center so the loops face inward toward one another. Apply a small amount of glue where the two end loops meet, bring them together, and hold the join while it catches. The intended result is a folded leaf with its internal loops enclosed by the outer shape. Quilling Galaxy’s inward-folding method

Wrap the second strip around the perimeter and glue its end down. Matching or contrasting paper can be used for this border. Quilling Galaxy demonstrates both an enclosing wrap and an alternative outward-facing fold; use the inward-facing version consistently for this first leaf. Quilling Galaxy’s finishing variations

Before fixing the wrapper’s final end, check the silhouette from above. A useful finishing goal is a clear tip, a balanced outline, and open spaces you can still see between the loops. Adjust the wrapper gently rather than repeatedly squeezing the whole leaf.

Comb spacing and loop count both affect the result. Christine specifically notes that wider gaps produce larger leaves and that the number of loops depends on the comb. Her two-tone leaf tutorial uses approximately five or six loops for each separately made half.

For a repeatable set, keep a small process note: paper width, comb used, center tooth, final outer teeth, and folding direction. This is a practical recording method, not a published size formula. Copy those choices for the next leaf before experimenting with changes.

Change one variable at a time. For example, compare a leaf ending at teeth 9 and 3 with one ending at teeth 11 and 1 on the same comb. Label these as your own samples; their finished dimensions will depend on your materials and shaping.

Use the following checks as a diagnostic sequence derived from the wrapping and folding steps:

• One side looks longer: Recount the outer teeth before removal. Undo an unmatched final pass or complete its partner.
• The strip twists: Trace the last pass and straighten it before continuing.
• The loops separate during removal: Check whether the securing join is holding, then support the group together as you slide it off.
• The interior looks crowded: Ease the wrapper before attaching its final end and inspect whether you have compressed the loops.
• Two leaves differ: Compare their tooth sequences and folding directions before changing paper or combs.

These checks are practical inferences rather than reported test results. The underlying finishing principle is also explicit in Christine’s instructions: hold the loops gently during assembly and avoid squashing them. Christine’s leaf assembly guidance

For a leaf with a different color on each side, use two separately combed halves. Christine’s method starts near the end of a comb, builds progressively longer loops returning to a common base, and repeats the half in another color with the same loop count. The halves are joined and enclosed with a border strip. Original two-tone comb-quilled leaf tutorial

Finish your first folded leaf before trying that variation. Keep it beside the comb as a reference, record the wrapping sequence, and make a second leaf using the same choices. Comparing the two gives you a concrete basis for adjusting the next leaf’s size, outline, or color.

• Quilling Petals using Combing Technique — Quilling Galaxy
• Quilling Paper Poinsettia Flowers — The Papery Craftery
• New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Comb Quilled Two Tone Leaf / Petal — A Journey into Quilling & Paper Crafting
• Quilling Comb — Quilled Creations