how to make a fairy princess ribbon wand

We're sure lots of you out there already know how to make those curled ribbon hair bows, but we thought we'd put a princess spin on it. Perfect for a fairy party or dress up.


Fairy Princess Ribbon Wand Tutorial

What you'll need:

*5 or 6 Dowels (we used 12" dowels)
*Hand-held drill
*Wood clothespins
*Cookie sheet and oven
*Assorted ribbons
*Wire
*Extreme Glitter Paint from Plaid

Step One: Drill a small hole in one end of a 12" dowel. With the remaining dowels, use a clothespin to clip one end of ribbon to the end. Tightly wrap the ribbon around the dowel and use another clothespin pin it in place. Wrap all of your dowels with your ribbon.



Step Two: Place on a cookie sheet and bake in your oven for 20 minutes at 275 degrees.


Step Three: While your ribbons are baking, paint the dowel with the hole in it with glitter paint. We like Plaid's Folk Art Extreme Glitter. It's a transparent paint full of fine glitter that gives your project a little sugar. We painted it directly on the wood, but you could also paint your dowel with an acrylic paint and then finish it off with a layer or two of Extreme Glitter on top.


Step Four: Slowly unwrap the ribbon and cut to your desired length. Apply Fray Check or similar product to ribbon ends to prevent fraying. You can also heat set them with a heat gun or a flame (be careful not to burn yourself or start your ribbon on fire though!).



Step Five: Lay the ribbons out evenly and use a clip (I used a large salon clip from the beauty supply store) to hold them all in place. Take another thin piece of ribbon or string and tie all the pieces together. Double knot it.





Step Six: Run a piece of wire through the hole in your painted dowel. Then run the wire under and around the thin ribbon you used to hold the spirals together. Wrap the ends of the wire around the dowel so it will not move. If you want, you can also use glitter spray to spray the ribbons to make it even more dazzling.


That's it! Magical, isn't it?