Friday, September 21, 2012

TKO (Total Knotty Original): Ducky Hair Bow

What you will need for this project:  a glue gun, a straight pin, lighter, bone folder or pen/pencil, scrap thread, 1 barrette or alligator clip, 3' of 2" grosgrain ribbon, 3' of 7/8" grosgrain ribbon, 30" (or 2 1/2') of 3/8" grosgrain ribbon, and 1 flat back duck bow center.




I bought my ribbon from Hobby Lobby.  They have a great selection and often have ribbon on sale for half price, but any grosgrain ribbon should do.  I prefer grosgrain because it is easy to work with and very affordable.  Make standard "boutique" bow out of 2" ribbon. "I don't know how to make a standard bow" you say...There are lots of tutorials on YouTube.  I use a technique similar to this one.  You really don't need any fancy tools, just ribbon, some scrap thread, one finger and one thumb (preferably on the same hand).  Squeeze in center and wrap string around several times, until it stays put!

Make second bow with 7/8" ribbon. Start from one end and wrap around, back and forth, until you have six loops, three on each side, and two tails on the bottom (see below).


Pin.  Pinch in the middle and wrap thread around it.



Trim and heat seal the ends (run a flame over them).  Stack bows to amuse yourself ;)  Personally, I thought I was pretty much done at this point.  Then, I convinced myself that it needed something more...something to tie in the ducky bow centers that were in the mail at this point.  Lo, in my stash, I found yellow 3/8" ribbon. Fold ribbon to form 4 lengths and mark with a pen or bone folder.  This will help you create even loops.


Overlap creases/lines and ends and pin in the center to form a four leaf clover shaped bow. If your loops are even, hot glue together.  Here is a video of the same type of bow.

Here are your three bows.  All beautiful and special in their very own ways :)  Now let's get down to business!  Stack them:  large bow on the bottom, then the clover-shaped bow, then the six-loop bow.  If you are happy with them, hot glue those bad boys together!



Now we're finally ready for our duck.  I found these baby duck flat-back bow centers on eBay.  They are so cute! Not to mention really easy to work with.  They came in a pack of 10, so you can craft some other duck-themed items, or make a couple more bows...?  I digress.  Glue your ducky in the center.  Then, glue your preferred hardware to the back.  I used a 2" barrette.

Tip: Be sure to position your hardware so that the weight of the bow is balanced. (It took me a couple of tries to get it right!)


Bask in your awesomeness.


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