Bow Making for Barettes or Salon Clips

[CathMac]

I would like to try making a couple of "korker" type bows for my daughters and if it goes well I would start making them as accessories for clothes I consign at an upcoming one-day consignment event ... not so much to raise the price of the items but more to increase the chances of them selling.

I don't want to invest a lot of money up front but I do want a high quality finished product because if the consignments go well I might try selling them separately at future sales. I would be "competing" with the typical medium size metal barettes --the hinged kind-- decorated with heat sealed grosgrain which I've seen displayed at these consignment sales.

I like the idea of salon clips which would work better for little girls without a lot of hair, but I don't know where to get a small number of them for short money. I do know you can get about 500 online for $25.00 but that's too much of an upfront investment.

Also, is there an alternative to grosgrain or perhaps a dressier grosgrain? I like the look of wire ribbon with holiday dresses but I'm guessing you can't heat seal it and that it doesn't hold up as well to wear.

Regarding heat sealing, should I try experimenting with that on the ribbon itself first, rather than a "finished" barette? In other words, how much practice does it take to get that down. I would probably be using a lighter since I don't want to invest too much in equipment, at least initially.

And do I have to invest in a hot glue gun or is there a really good craft glue that I can use? Is the heat gun easier to control?

Finally, does anyone have any actual experience or at least an educated guess on whether a crocheted or knitted flower or other embellisment could be glued onto a barette and stay put? Not that I've knitted any yet but I thought that might be a nice way to distinguish my clips from the garden variety ribbon barette.

It just occurred to me, maybe it would be less expensive and more unusual if I simply tried embellishing hair elastics with corker ribbon. From what I've read you curl the ribbon by wetting it, winding it around a dowel, and then heating at at 275 degrees or so for about 20 minutes.

I wouldn't want to glue the ribbon onto the elastic since that doesn't hold well on the commercial ones I've seen. How hard would it be to tie it on after "curling" it? Would the ribbon be to bulky?

Thanks in advance for any input.
~Cath

[moonlover2017]

Check out your local beauty shops for the alligator clips. I also get the baretts at Hobby Lobby.

I don't even wet my ribbon before I bake it. I just wrap it around and bake. How long and how hot depend on your oven. I've never had a korker unravel and I have some that are two years old.

I heat seal my ribbon before I make the bow. You can also buy some fray check at the craft store and use that instead.

I stack it and then tie some dental floss around it to make it in a ball then I sew through the middle. After that I put it on the clip with hot glue but you could also tie it. Then I put a peice of ribbon in the center and wrap it around to the underside of the clip where I hot glue it.

If you want center pieces on it then I would use E6000 on it which you can get at the craft store.

You can use any ribbon as long as it's polyester. I like a variety of textures and colors in my bows.

[CathMac]

Originally Posted by moonlover2017

...
If you want center pieces on it then I would use E6000 on it which you can get at the craft store.

You can use any ribbon as long as it's polyester. I like a variety of textures and colors in my bows.

When is E6000 better than hot glue?

Also, is grosgrain ribbon always clearly marked as grosgrain ribbon? I thought it was the "ribbing" that helped it keep its hold, not the type of material (e.g. polyester).

I had no idea ribbon was so expensive. The less expensive stuff --American Crafts premium ribbon for example (on sale for $1.00 at A.C. Moore)-- looks and feels pretty much the same as grosgrain. Will it hold a curl the way a more expensive "official" grosgrain should?

Oooh, one or two more questions, can you use a square dowel? Will grosgrain hold a squared curl? I bet that would look interesting.

Thanks again,
DSM

[workjw]

Grosgrain is often not marked as such, but if it is ribbed, it is probably grosgrain and will generally work the same for you even if it's not. I've used American Crafts Ribbon before and it worked fine.

I order most of my ribbon online. You can sometimes find good deals on ebay and some sellers will let you order smaller amounts.

Heat sealing is super easy with a lighter. You probably want to practice on a scrap first b/c you can leave a black mark, but it's not hard to do.

I personally prefer hot glue b/c it's much faster and easier, but I do sometimes use the E600 when I have something that I want to glue in the middle of the bow. I do a lot of polymer clay centers (which is a lot of fun!) and for those you can just scratch the back up with a stick pin and the hot glue works fine. If you have a smooth surfaced piece for the middle (like plastic) the glue can peel from the piece, so you want to use something like E600.

I haven't done crochet flowers, but have used things like felt flowers/designs and have glued them on to the barrets with success.

As for using the elastic, I have done it a few different ways (although with regular ribbon, not curled). You can group your ribbon together, loop it around the elastic and sew a stitch through it which works well, or you can tie each one on individually. This makes an interesting effect with little bulk. I actually sell quite a few of these especially around football season. They are great for the "tween" years.

I used to sell online and at crafts fairs, but I've scaled down quite a bit to do other things. I now sell at 2 consignment sales, and while I don't make as much as I did before, it's still well worth my time.

I don't know about the square dowels, but it would be an interesting project! I know some people use spray starch to help hold the shape, you might look into that if you try the squares.

Good luck!

[CathMac]

workjw,
Thanks for the feedback.
~Cath