Beginning butterfly jewelry with RIBBONS
Great! Let's take this first step of creating ribbon butterfly jewelry, starting with this loopy butterfly shape ribbon bow.
This is an important skill of ribbon art, please do take your time to make this bow with perfection.
Then, you are ready to move on for these ribbon bouquets, which you'll eventually find your answers for making many ribbon butterfly jewelry, wedding favors, hair bows, etc.
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Things you need to make this loopy ribbon bow:
- Ribbon, how much?
- Tying wire 26 gauges, 100mm (4 inches) length, make a bent at center with your thumb,
- An alligator hair clip,
- Scissors, and
- Wire snap.
Get ready for the loopy wings
Trim your ribbon ends. Not sure which side to trim? Look at the picture below. You are looking at the wrong side of ribbon and have your ribbon ends cut in that slope.
Remember! We must always seal ribbon ends! Do it now.
Then, mark A-E accordingly. Once you get the whole picture, you can just do without the markings.
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The Four Butterfly Loops
With the wrong side (alphabets side) facing you, hold the center (point C) of the ribbon with your right hand, and the left tail (point A) in your left hand.
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Place point C on point A, with the right side of the ribbon facing you. Form a thin and tall "X" shape where these two points meet, and secure them together with an alligator clip. |
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Hold the clip in your right hand, and the center of the loop form by the clip (point B) in your left hand. Place the clip on point B, and hold them (point ACB) together in your left hand. So, here are your bottom two loops. |
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Now, let’s go for the top two loops.
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Make a left loop and place point D between the clip and point B. Get it? Make sure ribbon at point D is tugged in properly; you should only see one ribbon (point B) from the back view. |
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As for the right loop, bring the ribbon behind the clip, i.e. Place point E between the clip and point D. Adjust both ends so that they are parallel. |
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I took away my hand... Is your loopy ribbon bow anywhere close to these pictures?
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Are you satisfied with your butterfly loops?
No? You can adjust the ribbon center so that all four loops of your butterfly ribbon bow look about the same size and look good.
Now, take a second look at your bow!
Does it still have a thin and tall “X”? This is a must have feature to achieve the forever loopy shape. The cute look of your finished butterfly jewelry depends very much on this “X”. If you are holding a flat and fat “X”, I’d suggest you repeat the process from the beginning.
The Center Accordion Fold
We need to make minimum three accordion folds. Look at the overall length of center, divide them into three imaginary parts.
What you need to achieve here is, both top and bottom edges of bow must be down fold. Then you are good. You are even better if you can make the edges of the back ribbon tug inside the up fold.
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Fastening the Center
Once you got hold of your fold, place the bended tying wire over the bow center.
Grasp the two ends of the wire with your right hand, grasp them as close as possible to the bow. Make a twist and hold on to it. Then, turn the bow with your left hand to twist the wire. This is easier than twisting the wire alone. Just five turns, five is good.
Snap off the long wire to leave behind about 5mm (1/4 inches) length tail, and just bend it down with your hand.
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"Oh no! This cannot be made into butterfly jewelry - the butterfly loops look yucky!" This is exactly how the bow looks before touching up. |
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Butterfly Loopy Ribbon Bow: A Final Gentle Touch
Right, you're now one step closer towards making butterfly jewelry. Gently fluff the loopy wings... your butterfly ribbon bow will look good.
There should NOT be any twisting and pulling required! Just a gentle lift, your butterfly wings will stay loopy.
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We've got the Butterfly Loopy Ribbon Bow. What's next?
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Attach Bow on Hair Clip |
More ideas for Ribbon Butterfly Jewelry |
Quick Butterfly Jewelry Ideas
To make butterfly necklace, you can use smaller width ribbon and make a couples of tiny butterfly bows and string them together.
Alternatively, you can use it as a beautiful corsage, or even friendship charm.
