Large bows can be very costly, so why not make your own?
To make this bow you will need two people.
Materials Needed:
- 3" or wider wired ribbon (approx. four yards plus)
- One eight inch piece of wire
- Scissors
One person will be the holder and one person will be the winder. Have the holder hold their hands about twelve inches apart. They will need to extend their pointer fingers upward. Before winding the ribbon have them grasp one end of the ribbon by pinching the end between their thumb and middle finger.
When they have a secure hold on the end, the winder will proceed to wind the remainder of the ribbon back and forth between the holders two fingers looping the ribbon around them as you go. In between each wind of the ribbon is the key. As you get ready to add a loop to the holders finger, flip the loop over so there will be a twist between the fingers. Repeat this twist for each loop until you run out of ribbon. If you have excess ribbon that does not end off evenly, trim the remainder away.
With the holder still holding the ribbon loops, grasp the center and release the holder. Now the holder will take the piece of wire. As the winder squeezes the center of the ribbon bundle, the holder wraps the wire around the middle and twists it securely tightening even more as you go.
The next step is to fluff the ribbon loops into a bow. You don't have to be too gentle. The more you depth you get to each loop, the better it will look. You can make a bow without the twist but it is much harder to shape and fluff it into something resembling an expensive store bought bow.
You will notice under 'Materials Needed' it states four yards of ribbon plus. The plus is because some of you may want to only add a bow while others prefer to wrap a ribbon around the object and attach the bow to the ribbon. The amount of your 'plus' ribbon will be based on how large your object is.
Attaching the bow to the ribbon is done by simply using the remainder of the wire extending out behind the bow. Just open up the two pieces without undoing all of the twist that hold the bow in place. Place the length of ribbon between the two pieces and twist. You will want to take care that there are not rough wire ends sticking out to scratch up the gift.
