BOW MAKER
Using a comb
by: Wanna in El Paso
One way to make bows is to use one of those cheapie combs with the big teeth.
Remove one tooth, leave a couple, remove two, leave a couple, remove three, etc. The skips allow you to make different widths of bow. Loop your ribbon over the space between the two teeth as many times as you want, then tie the ribbon in the middle.
Difficult to explain, but picture somebody standing in front of you holding up two fingers, over which you loop, then tie the ribbon.
With this arrangement, you can make a single loop or many-loop bow. Depending on what you use for the bow, you can sometimes just fluff it up and it's okay; otherwise, you can arrange it in the configuration you want on a small pinning board by inserting pins inside the loops, then spray with hairspray to fix the shape.
One reason so many miniature bows look unrealistic is that the tails often stick out straight at the sides. To avoid this and duplicate the effects of gravity, stretch the tails so that they look as if they are hanging down naturally and pin, then spray. Cut the tails above the pin marks so they won't show.
Of course, you need some way to hold the comb while you are working. I clip mine in one of those third-hand gadgets, but you could probably come up with alternate means of holding your home-made bowmaker.
Wanna in El Paso
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