My daughter has been playing with a cheap ribbon wand I had given her for her birthday (it originally had a star with Happy Birthday on it and a couple of ribbons just tied underneath), but it was beaten up pretty bad. I thought it would be fun to make her a colorful, sturdy ribbon wand. This is really easy to put together and it takes barely any time at all. Look through your craft supplies and see what supplies you have on hand and make your own.

Instructable 310

Step 1: Supplies

The second picture above shows what's left of the wand she has been using. The star is long gone, the ribbons were just tied on, and the plastic stick has been getting bent and damaged.

Supplies:

Stick - I had a pack of a variety of dowels and used one that is 3/16" in diameter and 12" long
Ribbon -
I used every color I had of looped ribbon I got at Joann but use whatever you like, there are great variety packs on Amazon
You will also need another ribbon to cover the stick. I used a white 1/4" ribbon.
Hot Glue - you can use another glue such as E6000 but you'll need time for it to dry
Fray Check - don't want the ends of the ribbon to fray
Scissors

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Step 2: Cut Ribbon

The first thing you need to do is decide how long you want the ribbons to be and how many you want. Since I had 10 different colored ribbons in the style I wanted to use, I used 1 piece of each color about 10" long.

Step 3: Gluing Ribbons

You can glue this any way you want, but I glued each ribbon one at a time going straight out from the end of the wand. I tried to overlap the stick enough to make sure they would stay, about half an inch.

I could fit about 3 going around the dowel, so I glued down in opposite rainbow order so the beginning of the rainbow would be on the outside.

Since 3 fit well going around, as I said, I glued those down, then I glued the next row so the ribbons alternated, meaning I didn't want the ribbons stacked on top of each other. Instead, think of them as bricks. This will make the ribbons fall nicer when you are done.

Step 4: Glue Wrapped Ribbon

Now, to make the wand look more finished, we are going to wrap a final ribbon around the whole stick starting with overlapping where the colored ribbons are glued down, all the way to the end.

Start by carefully wrapping those ribbons to not only hide the ends but also hold them down. Make sure as you wrap you either slightly overlap it with itself or get it lined up. You don't want the stick showing through.

I found it easiest to put down a line of glue about an inch or two long, then quickly wrap the ribbon before the glue dried.

The end was kind of messy, but I essentially tried to fold the ribbon over the end and really glue it down. Then I trimmed any excess ribbon. Like before, you don't want any stick to show.

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Alternatively, before gluing any ribbon down on the stick, you could paint the stick. This takes more time to dry and this won't cover up the colored ribbons where they are glued down. So, I don't recommend this, but it's an option.

Step 5: Fray Check

The only thing you have left is fray check. Depending on your ribbon, it will probably want to fray. Put a little fray check on the end of each one and let it dry.

Now you are done!