Quilling, Anthropologie Style

I've written before about the consistently wonderful window and in-store displays you'll find at Anthropologie, the popular clothing and accessory stores for women, where paper is frequently used as a construction material.
Excuse the glass reflections...


Hold on a minute... everything isn't as it seems - that's not paper!
A few weeks ago I received an email from a reader who had happened upon a new display being installed in Anthropologie's windows at a mall here in Delaware. She was excited to tell me how much the decorations looked like large-scale quilling. Yes-yes, they do!

She stopped to chat with the young woman who was doing the installation and asked what she had used to make the rolls. You'll never guess...

Roofing strips from Lowe's!
Originally black, (I'm guessing tar paper) she had spray painted each strip white, and then over-coated with summery shades of blue and green to create an ombré effect. After hot gluing the long lengths together, she rolled them to create graceful filigree designs.

Of course I couldn't wait to go see for myself and snap some pictures. Happily there was a bonus inside the store too... gorgeous, bright poppies made from large sheets of colored tissue paper.

Enormous attention grabbers!