Back in the 80’s, before I joined the SCA, a friend of mine introduced me to quilling. She taught me the basics. I expanded my skills the rest of the way. When I joined the SCA, I realized that quilling was period. I tried quilling period and SCA images and symbols. When I started researching quilling as a period art form, and discovered that it was used to decorate reliquary boxes and other religious items, I started to create reliquary boxes with quilling in earnest. I have tried to use period embellishments to add to the boxes, such as gemstones, pearls, gilt edging, and painting it to look as if a piece was made of bone or metal. I continue to research quilling, especially to find an extant piece from SCA period. So far, the closest I have come is a scene in the 2018 movie, “Mary Queen of Scots” depicting the process of quilling and finished pieces.

Recently I watched the movie “Mary Queen of Scots,” and I saw several scenes involving quilling, which I have included below. I have made attempts to contact the director and both historical consultants to ask about their sources. One of them, Dr. John Guy, replied to me. He said that he did not provide information on the quilling scenes, but he did not object to them because quilling with paper or fabric dates to at least the Renaissance era (I cannot find the original email Dr. Guy sent me, but the movie was based on his book, “My Heart Is My Own).

16th Century Quilling in “Mary Queen of Scots Film

Pictures from “Mary Queen of Scots” 2018 Directed by Josie Rourke (@josierourke)

Historical Consultants: Dr. John Guy (John Guy can be contacted

c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd.

20 Powis Mews

London

W11 1JN

+44-207-221-3717

matthewm@rcwlitagency.com)

Dr. Emma Smith (@OldFortunatus): https://twitter.com/victoriawank/status/1183828670131195904?s=21

Historical Researcher: Harry Davies

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2328900/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

From Wikipedia:

[Dr. John] Guy specializes in the history of Tudor England and has written extensively on the subject including juvenile books. His books have been critically acclaimed, with My Heart is My Own: the Life of Mary Queen of Scots, being awarded the 2004 Whitbread Biography Award. This book and Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart served as inspiration for the 2018 film Mary Queen of Scots.[1]

He is the author of A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and his daughter Meg, 2009, and Elizabeth: the forgotten years, 2016.

Guy's style is one of re-assessment and evaluation; his works often involve him re-telling and re-evaluating history from a novel viewpoint.