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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Five Days Down.....And Counting...

This morning I got out my bow maker(s).  My oldest and favorite is the homemade one that I did a LONG time ago. 

If you would like to make one, here's the instructions. http://caseymini.blogspot.com/search?q=bow+maker

While I am at it, I thought you might like to see a fancier version.
This is one that I got as a present from a former Wednesday Witch.  She gave us each one before she left town.  Her husband was a machinist and made them himself.  It is great, but I dislike taking the pins out every time to release the bow. 

It makes three different sizes of bows.  The pins store inside a compartment under the little knob at the corner and the handy dandy little tool is attached too. 

I do use it, because it is great for small bows and big bows.  I still use my hand held one for mediums.
I made several this morning because I wanted to see what other materials would do.

Tessie and Zar volunteered(as usual)  when it came to the photo opp. 

The orange one that Tessie is holding is the smallest one off of the machine. It is regular self stick holiday ribbon from years ago.

The green one that Zar is holding is the largest, made of silk ribbon with only two rows. Tessie couldn't force him to wear his in his hair...The other two bows were made medium size on my little board.

Sooner or later I will run out of the supply of the self stick ribbon. I am already out of red and green. So....I tried, on Tessie's head, #5 Perle cotton.  It works and makes a bow rather like the soft rope bows that you see pre made in the card section of stores sometimes.


As for the one that Spike is wearing for a wig, it is regular embroidery floss.  All six strands held together.  The last two don't look like ribbon, but I can see them used for this purpose. 

OK.  If you want to make the tool or do the ribbons, both are explained in greater detail on the above post.

See you tomorrow.  Happy bow making!

2 comments:

Lucille said...

Beautiful bows, Casey. That is a nice piece of machinery your friend gifted you with. As for our little Spike, he looks adorable wearing that big bow. He always looks so docile, doesn't he?!! LOL!

Marilyn D. said...

Thanks so much for this Casey. Your timing couldn't be better for me. I just wrapped a dozen tiny packages last night for my Christmas scene and wondered how people got those lovely little bows. Now I can make my own! - Marilyn