Make a Wedding Ribbon Wand
Some wedding locations do not allow guests to throw rice, petals, bubbles, or release anything of any sort. When that happens, people usually ring bells. Ribbon wands have gained popularity but are somewhat costly if ordering them instead of making it yourself. This is an inexpensive but elegant method that is easily adaptable to your budget.
Steps
- Calculate your budget for the wand. How much money are you willing to spend on a wand per guest? This will help you to choose your materials wisely.
- Choose the size of the rod. Choosing the length of the rod will affect everything from dowel size to ribbon length.
- Hardware stores carry unfinished wood dowels in 36" or 48" lengths. (In 2014, one 48" poplar wood dowel at 1/4" thickness cost $0.78 at a nationwide hardware store. This equates to six 8" wands, four 12" wands, or three 16" wands.)
- The thickness of the rod is also important. Since long and thin equates to delicate (aka, easily breakable) but too thick does nothing for appearance or cost.
- Type of wood/material. The type of wood affects strength/durability but also cost.
- If you are using a finishing nail (much cheaper than eye hook), you'll want a softer wood dowel so you do not chance splitting the wood.
- If you are using a screw eye, you may want a thicker dowel or be sure to have a drill with the appropriate sized drill bit to pre-drill the holes to prevent splitting the wood.
- Hold a pencil or roll up a sheet of paper. A normal, unsharpened pencil is a little over 7" in length. A standard sheet of paper is 8.5 x 11".
- Assess how many dowels will be needed in order to have one for each guest. (You may want to add 10% in case you get more guests or you make a few errors.)
- Choose your ribbons.
- Scout craft stores, online, wherever you can get your wedding colors at the best price.
- Think of ordering (or making) personalized ribbon for your wands.
- If using a finishing nail or hot glue gun, the ribbon length needed will be twice the length of the dowel. (Though you can alter that as you see fit.)
- If using a screw eye, you will need approximately {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} longer than the wand length).
- Doing either 3 colors, or 3 types of ribbon seems to be the general rule/appeal. You, however, can do whatever you choose. Some people opt for different thicknesses, textures, let your creativity go wild... within your budget.
- Choose the type of bells to attach.
- Jingle bells or traditional shaped bells? Jingle bells are cheaper but traditional more attractive.
- The size of your ribbon will also determine the size of the bells you can use, unless you have an eye screw and will attach the bell onto there. (See step 12.)
- What about color? Gold, silver, glittered, frosted, colored... more choices to make.
- Decide if you want a painted/finished dowel. If so, buy paint supplies. Spray paint is much faster and leaves a smoother finish but if you have paint already then you may choose another route.
- Measure dowel and mark the appropriate length with a pencil.
- Cut your dowel. Wear appropriate safety gear no matter how you choose to cut your dowels.
- If doing it by hand, it is easier if you use a miter box to ensure a straight, even cut.
- Sand your cut ends. Use fine grade sandpaper (~ 80 grit) to sand from the outside, in toward the center to ensure a smooth, splinter free end.
- Paint or alter your new wands.
- If you want to save money, and appreciate the unfinished look, leave it as is.
- Some people like to age the wands more so you can soak it in tea/coffee for discoloration or use another method to distress it.
- Use one wand as a test wand to test the different finishes and get creative.
- Once your wands are completely painted, move on to the next step.
- Cut your ribbon. Where you cut depends on the look you want.
- Lots of ribbon streamers or a few? Staggered or even streamer lengths? Ribbon to the end of the wand or stopping at the middle?
- For finished nails, you want to hammer in the middle of unadorned ribbon (i.e. no bells), so you would measure accordingly (add approximately an extra inch to one side of ribbons receiving a bell.
- For a hot glue gun, you will lose a little material in your main tie and a little more for each bell tied on, so plan accordingly.
- For a screw eye, you will use the end of the ribbon to loop through and tie off.
- If it's too much thinking for now, you can always guesstimate, using longer ribbon amounts and cut off what you don't want.
- Attach ribbon to wand. Use your selected method to tie ribbon onto wand.
- Add embellishments.
- If attaching a bell to the screw eye, then you may need a jump ring or similar clip unless you can unbend eye to place bell directly in ring before you close it again.
- Attach bells (and/or other decorations) to ribbon.
- After each bell is attached, tie the ribbon off
- Once you are satisfied, you can add glue to secure the knot and tie it tighter.
- You may also want to add other embellishments.
- Shake your wand!
Tips
- If you are handy with engraving or decoupage, you can put an inscription on the wand.
- If you want to use thicker ribbon, go with the screw eye. If you want thin (less expensive ribbon) use a finishing nail.
- If working alone on a bulk of wands, consider doing everything in stages. Set one block of time to measure everything, another to cut, another to sand, etc. Taking breaks between each stage to prevent repetitive injury, especially if you are not used to this type of labor.
Things You'll Need
- Dowels
- Tape measure
- Saw
- Ribbon
- Bells and/or other embellishments
- Fine grit sandpaper
- Safety gear (gloves, glasses, etc)
- Nails, glue, and or screw eye
- Hammer (optional)
- Hot glue gun (optional)
- Drill (optional)
- Jump ring (if attaching bells to screw eye)
- Paint supplies (optional)
