 Kim has to make a hundred and eighty bows a week for our signs and she does it quickly affordably and efficiently and I'll show you how I make them right now What is up a welcome bag you like to do a builder to make it so do we and we have a new video each week this week Give me a bow if you got your funky bus fare because we're going uptown downtown and we're right over to bowtown Pretty good. Yes, we are going to bowtown this week. So I've been promising for days weeks months Years years I'm gonna go years on how to make a bow tutorial and because I'm having to make right now Month of November is like crash shows season. So I am making About 180 bows a week And so I thought I would this is the perfect time to show you how I do it Give you some tips on what kinds of ribbons. I use the materials I use and how we make them so quick and efficiently and we'll show you right now Step one we're gonna gather all of our supplies. We needed some bus fare for the double Dutch bus That's to get us to bowtown that's to get us to bowtown our joke with bowtown if you've watched any of our Tuesday lives or Pretty much most of our videos if we talk about those We're talking about the bowtown bowtown Yeah, I'm the mayor of bowtown so my little corner of the workshop room is all ribbons And that's my little bow station restricted area and we call it bowtown now I'd love to show you a bowtown looks like but it's not really a bowtown right now We're like a bowtown town. Oh shanty. It's a bow shanty. Yes, it's a bow shanty And so I have big dreams for that space and I'd love to do a video coming up here You know when it's in the winter, maybe late December early January where we can fix that Yeah, so I can really show you what a good bow station looks like we do have our rolling ribbon cart We made that video so go back and look at that and I'm totally using that still it holds Approximately, what did we say? 240 rolls of ribbon on that cart now Yeah, it holds a lot and I can switch it by the season The front side of its one season the back sides another season. It's great So but I will show you some of the things that I use and the types of ribbon I use and the materials I use so let's go ahead and get started on what supplies we're using So we're gonna need four types of ribbon each bow takes four coordinating ribbons as Garrett is demonstrating and Some burlap ribbon this ribbon is six inches wide or six inches tall and 24 inches wide I cut a full roll of ribbon this burlap this the links to everything that I'm talking about will be down below So I'll take that full roll and I'll cut them at 24 inches and I'll just have a stack of burlap sitting there We also use these scissors. Yep. He's a ribbon scissors not to be used on anything else. That is correct That is correct even though I find them everywhere and Out in the warehouse and everything we we purchased these on Amazon. I get them in this little three-pack. They're super affordable I'll leave the link for these Down below. We also use these zip ties I use an eight inch eight inch zip tie and a four inch zip tie eggs and smalls Begs and smalls and we get these at Lowe's you can buy this these are a thousand and this is 1200 for the small in these bags and this is great and it's super super affordable. I got these on clearance for was it maybe less than ten dollars or something for this bag of a thousand and Something like that. It was super super affordable. So definitely go check out the bulk quantities because You'll find them on sale as a matter of fact I was just in Lowe's and they were back there in the clearance section again, so I'll go look for them I guess scope out your Lowe's the other thing about the ribbon I want to share is that you always want to use wired ribbon. These are all wired. They're different kinds But they still have wire. So this is a kind of a Loosely weaved wired ribbon. This one has some stitching on it. This one is a satin ribbon And then this one is the glitter mesh ribbon But they all have wire if you don't use the wire then your ribbon is gonna get a little bit floppy Like this. He's slapping around your sign. This is a grosgrain ribbon And you know if this one gets a little bit wet well first of all when you put it together Yes, it will look like it will look like a lazy bow and if it gets a little wet sitting on your door It's gonna flop even more and that's not that's not the look it will look very sad Sad little ribbon. You also don't really want to use the see-through ribbon this organza This one does have a wire in it and I will in a pinch Maybe use it, but it just doesn't have enough color and it doesn't really add any additional Sparkle to your project. That's a close kind of sexy. Yeah, it's a close sexy I don't want anybody that close to my front door to be but we're gonna. Yes You're gonna be looking at your door rounds from a distance And so you want a little more color to it then what an organza really has something I'll catch your eye from a distance But we sometimes use this burlap ribbon too If I want to do a nice neutral one, I can get this burlap in this zigzag I get it in a polka dot and then there's another Like a French shaped pattern and I can give a real this burlap in white is a real neutral looking ribbon It goes with any kind of greens or burgundies where you can't find a matching color. Blue jeans Yeah, yeah, it is like the blue jeans of ribbon. It goes with everything. That is so true. Very good The other thing Let's talk about how we put these ribbons together Well, it's not assembly yet, but a little bit about the types of patterns that I use So like I said, I always put a glitter in my ribbon I typically put this on the bottom and then I put maybe two solids in the middle Basically your basics. Yeah, these are my it's called an everyday basic ribbon And then this is the kind of ribbon you can buy in bulk. So I Will buy them in 50 yard rolls So you can see the greens here the reds. This is also the kind of ribbon you'll use for your hanger You don't typically use a satin ribbon for a hanger because it gets real thin and skinny looking and it doesn't have It just gets a little not get small. Yeah, this one has a little more if you like like cheap hotel sheets Yeah, maybe it's feels like a cheap hotel sheet. This is the kind of ribbon that you're gonna want To use for your hangers and what I do is for for the hanger I try to have the hanger ribbon coordinate with one of the ribbons in the bow So for this one that I'm showing you right now I would use maybe the green or the red as a hanger and then I would put the green or the red in the bow Also always add a pattern. So a sparkle two planes in some sort of pattern. This is the kind of ribbon I might get at Michaels or any of the craft stores Joanne's hobby lobby that kind of goes with the season and you can always get these on sale These will come typically come in this 30-foot roll or maybe even this one has 18 feet on it I will buy a polka dot in bulk. I just happen to have a small Thank you So I'll typically put these are the these are the basics of building a ribbon step to We're gonna make all of our cuts With finger yet in there like caught up with it That's how I hold the scissors now so one of the things that I use before I go to cut my ribbon is a little like Dowel holder here because this will hold up to six rolls of ribbon. I usually I'll put my bases on the bottom Sure Whatever and these kind of stay here So if I'm working on Christmas this red on the screen will stay here pretty much for the month while I'm working or two months However long it takes me to get on Christmas signs done and then I'll put these smaller rolls on top. So like here's that Christmas pattern It's gonna go right here. There you go Have ribbon will travel Ready to go All right, and I already shared that we cut our burlap I usually buy this in a huge roll cut it down to 24 inches and have a whole stack in front of me And if I'm doing a large stack of signs that are all the same Let's say 12 dog paws or 12 merry Christmases I'll go ahead and cut my whole stack of ribbon I'll lay out all four of the ones that I'm going to use and go ahead and cut 12 of each and These are actually cut at nine inches So I'll put a little mark on my table, which I already have here There the great thing about this everyday linen ribbon that I'm using right here actually has lines so I can keep a nice straight line I'll pull these and I'll go ahead and just keep cutting until I have a stack of 12 Super efficient and then when I go to dub The next thing would be to dovetail the ends so we don't want to leave these square ends and We're gonna do each end, but you can do multiples at a time. So here you can see I've got a stack of What do I have here six of them Can maybe even do more than that How far can you go Kim? If you have a nice sharp pair of scissors, which I'm not confident about these right now They're nice and sharp. You can cut all six of them at one time This is another way to speed things up a little bit. There you go Or if you're doing one like I just happened to have one of these you can fold a ribbon fold it in half again and The dovetail you always want to cut inside the outside I don't know the dovetails I'm gonna show you that again. So here's your ribbon. We're gonna fold it in half We're gonna cut inside to outside Do the other end inside to outside Does it need to come to a point? Yes, do you see that this one didn't quite come to a point. Yeah, did your OCD kick in? Yeah They're good. Is that close enough? It's close enough close enough Kim. It's not it's not quite still it's close enough Now that we have our stacks of ribbon cut you want to look at the ends because they may fray sometimes These even though they're bound they may fray a little bit. Yeah, they kind of look like that Yeah, Bobcat ears and you got two options. I don't I don't seal every single ribbon that I use But sometimes like this one's just been sitting there and it started fraying and I haven't even used it yet So you can see that this ribbon is definitely gonna fray if you put it away in your spray. Yeah, it's seriously It's spontaneous frayed. Yes, this one too. Look at it. Well, no one got in a fight So to see the other guy if you know that you have ribbons that easily fray Then you definitely want to seal their ends so you can cut it off like that looks good This is a really loose weave. So if you see a loose weave like this, you know, it's going to fray So like I said, you can do one of two things you can use this clear washable Elmer's glue and put just a tiny little bit on your finger Like this and then just touch the edges lightly And you can put a little glue and that'll help seal your edges You don't want to put too much glue on there because it will leave Like a clear plastic. Well, it'll look like it'll look wet It'll leave it'll dry and look like it's wet and that's not necessarily what you want The other thing you can do is you can of course burn the edges I've seen this done a million times since I was a kid and then some this is really quick and easy too Get yourself a little lighter and just hit each edge edge very lightly very quickly Can you see how that melts? Of course you do Here hold it yourself because you can guide it Yes See it melts a little but you don't want to spend too much time because you'll you know Yeah, that was quick that was easy and then you can feel the seal. Yeah, it's got a little ridge on it Yeah, and again, I don't do it to everyone like this one right here I can see is about to Start to fray a little bit so I might hit these Can you hit them as a pack? No, I don't think so. I think if you did that they might melt together. You can try I haven't really done that before Alright, so maybe if you know if you have a stack of this one and you know, it's going to fray go ahead and hit the whole stack together. I Like the way of that. Yeah, I'm certain that you do Step three time to assemble them All right, we have our stacks. I've got a Christmas bow I've got a typical black and white bow and we have our burlap now I just informed Garrett that he was going to make one with me. I thought I was just an innocent He's very disappointed. He had to do something. All right get your burlap Roger now watch me first and then we'll have you try so with your 24 inches of burlap You're going to What is this fold fold kind of fold pamphlet fold? I think that's a good one You're gonna pamphlet fold these so you're gonna bring your left side in and your right side in and then you'll shake them all About and you're gonna overlap them. This is probably like five inches the length once you have them folded over is about nine inches That's that's what looks good to me and you can just eyeball it You know once you kind of do a few of them. You'll get the gist of what nine inches looks like and Then you're gonna put your little Cut piece in the back Roger and then this is where the bow starts. This is where the magic happens right here. It's where the alchemy comes in Yes So you're gonna pinch the the middle of it pinching you're gonna pinch it so that you have one hump in the middle That's right And then you're gonna take and you're gonna make a hump on either side so you're gonna No, so I hope in the middle shouldn't be too big. That's right. That's too big You're gonna gather that on the top and gather it on the bottom Inside So you have three humps almost I will Okay That's right, and you're gonna hold it with your first finger in your thumb. We each have a bow tie and Now this is the other little kind of trick part of it My fingers are shorter your fingers are longer. This should be easier for you than it is for me I'm gonna hold the bottom of it with my thumb and then I'm gonna use maybe this first knuckle of my first finger I'll put it in like the crook of my thumb. No, no, that's nope. That's not what I said You're gonna use the knuckle of your thumb to hold it Okay, and then the first knuckle of your first finger to hold it Perfect. Yeah. Okay. So then I said it right first knuckle of your thumb first knuckle knuckle of your first finger And that's because you're gonna use this first finger to hold your ribbons when you stack them My clamp It's my clamping finger. Yes, it's gonna be your clamping finger. So let's start with your glitter on the bottom and We're going to This one's going to have two humps so the way to easily do that is to put your Index finger right in the middle use your middle finger and your thumb and pinch the top and bottom towards the middle Okay, so did you do that? Yeah. Yeah, that's perfect. Now. You're just gonna lay that right there And use my clamping finger. Yes, it's gonna be horizontal Now you're gonna get your everyday ribbons and you're gonna do those You're gonna bring it together Now you have this is horizontal now you're gonna make it X so Put your little gather in there tuck it under your finger Get my clamping under your clamping finger. That's perfect. You're doing great. You're like really listening this time There's part of your X. I'm gonna do the next one And I'm gonna make the X on the other finish the X. I'm gonna cross cross at the other direction Is there an easier way to pinch these things? Like my guy doesn't want to come up in the middle It doesn't come up in the middle. You're gonna leave your finger. Yeah, yeah, got it Perfect. Okay. Perfect. And now you're gonna take your accent ribbon Pinching this guy too pinching it the same way and now you're gonna place this one horizontal across the front Like you did the bottom one Okay, yeah, yeah, that's great Halfway to bowtown halfway now you can make those All right, now we're gonna use our large zip tie This is where it gets a this one takes a little practice You can get it. It's gonna take a little practice So here's what we're gonna do with this So we're gonna take the end of the zip tie make sure it's facing down because you're gonna need to attach it here in a Moment and then you don't want to just wrap this around right in the middle You're gonna have too much zip tie on either end. You're gonna push the end of the zip tie towards your What would you say the side of the bow by your thumb put the end of the zip tie down by your thumb Okay, and then you're gonna use your other thumb to push it around I Use my middle finger and then I wrap it around with my middle finger and my left hand Now I'm gonna flip it over It's gonna be in the other hand, that's right You can try it again, this is where I mean I got it you got it we've done a shift No, I just Yes, I'm gonna use the little bit wrap it around my middle finger And now I should have just the knot or the end of the zip tie a little I don't know what you zip tie slot end close by and then all this up at the top and I'm gonna tuck this in And pull it now Before I pull this super tight, so I hope you haven't pulled it too super tight yet. Nope This is when you add so I right now before you kind of clamp everything down That's how you straighten out your bow again Make sure your X is still there your center piece is still there It's kind of still centered on your back or yeah Now you're gonna go ahead and add your little zip tie in the back Again, this is kind of right between the two humps in the back should be easy to add because you don't have it real tight Now you're gonna put your thumb. I'll show you how you want to tighten it You're gonna put your thumb on the top piece here. Yeah You're gonna put two fingers on the back And then You're gonna twist this so this is something I had to learn over time if you just pull that zip tie tight It's gonna twist your whole bow So I usually will take the large zip tie and pull it to the side Then I pull a little tighter and it starts to Wrap around and now I've kept all my ribbons in the center Did you do it? Yeah. Yeah, I got it. That's it That's it. There you go Now we'll go ahead and cut The remaining piece of the big zip tie. Just cut it close to the little You need it on like it's a clip tie. You can yeah make it a clip tie. Yeah Look my my Ribbon is freeing. I didn't I got you didn't do this one. Yeah. Let me let you do it. Yeah Took care of that didn't it? Yeah But what is this what happened here? I don't know. He's cutting fish tails. That's a terrible don't take them. All right Now I fixed it Okay, so now I'm gonna do it again Just me and I'm gonna show you how to do this rather quickly Because I want to show you how quickly they can be done in order to Do 180 bows in a week Okay, you have all four stacks in front of me. You'll just fan fold it You'll I've all nine inches doesn't have to be perfect. Go ahead do your humps You're gonna add your glitter. I'll add the red green pattern Make sure you're paying attention. You don't attach your presence on upside down Large zip tie small zip tie Then I'm just gonna crank it down And then I usually throw it over to somebody to tie it on Step four, we're gonna add the hanger Hang them hang them Hang them if you got them hang them high hang them if you got them All right, so for the hanger your hangers are gonna be about 18 inches I usually will just measure them the width of our sign because we know we make our signs 18 inches so The stretchers across there again, I will pick a hanger that has That's one of the ribbons inside the bow so that they do coordinate So I have this buffalo plaid inside this dog bow We're gonna use the ribbon slots at each of our signs All of our signs come with these ribbon slots in the top And I usually hang mine off of the table like this so that the ribbon slots are hanging over Because you're gonna need to get to the back a little bit Stand mine up for filming purposes All right, and we're going to pamphlet fold the end of our hanger ribbon kind of like we did with the burlap ribbon So I'm gonna fold the left side in I'm gonna fold the right side in over the left side I'm gonna shake it all about then we're gonna push it through the hole and Now that we have a little hanging over the hole I usually take mine and just make a little knot back there tie into knot And you want to keep that knot as close to the end as you can So yep start the yes. Yes. That's great. Yeah, perfect Perfect pull it back through Book fold or pamphlet fold the other end Push it through the ribbon slot Sorry a little knot Keep it close to the end and this is absolutely the easiest way we found to hang our signs We didn't start this way Garrett's genius of the ribbon holes came a little bit later But it's been great ever since the ribbon holds the weight no matter how many layers we have out like this one's a little bit Well, both of those are a little hefty. Yeah, both of these are kind of heavy signs They've got multiple layers and the ribbon holds them really well Just one will not the back will hold it Now let's attach our bow Now you can hang your bow either on the right side of your ribbon hanger Or the left side of your ribbon hanger But you definitely want to make sure that your presents are face up. Oh, you never cut the back ears I didn't I was using it as a bow tie No, that's right Now make sure that your presents are face up. Oh yours are going. Yeah, they're face up That's for I mean when the kids help me they always are face down Whatever it is, it's face down and you kind of want to pay attention to what side you put it on so for this Welcome dog paw. I'm gonna put it on the right side since I have so much Weight of the sign or the lot of the Detailing is on the left side of the right-hand side. I'm gonna put the bow on the left-hand side opposite side of the Stuff you got going on. Yeah, I think Garrett's gonna do the same because he's got that big scene ahead Now you're gonna use your little tiny zip tie That should already be in place. That should already be there wasn't And you're just gonna lay your bow right on the front and then just tie the little zip tie in the back now my tip is to Pull it nice and tight and then push your bow way down to where it meets the ribbon hole If you do that, then your bow is gonna sit up a little bit nicer if you leave your bow Up here, then it just flops Very then you're gonna floppy boat a sad bow. Yeah, so I suggest and you can move these around a little bit I mean just trim this piece. Yeah Push it down low and snip off the end of your tiny zip tie I'm gonna use these same scissors And that is it and that is that Bowtown love it. We gave you the instructions to get to your own bow town. Yeah, you have to show me your bow town Step five the time to brand them. We're not just bows. We're also branding Well, I just wanted to kind of remind everyone that when you send a little sign out into its new home You want to make sure that you have your branding on the back of it You always want to make sure you either engrave your logo on the back But that's hard to do because then you have to flip every one of them over and engrave the back Or you add some sort of branding We used to put stickers on the back of each one, which was great, but pretty expensive So we recently switched to these little tags. We use these as their price tags as well This has a little QR code our website address and our logo on it and our logo on it and some soap apparently Yeah, slippery little sucker and then we put it right here between The ribbon holes this glue. Yeah, so we're gonna add well You're gonna put a little Little glue on here. You don't want them to be able to take it off We're gonna add a little accelerator because I do this after we add the bow We're gonna add their little branding on the back and then put it right in the cart. So we use the Really is whoo like accelerators serious business So I'm doing this kind of as I put them in the cart to take it And with that accelerator look it's not going anywhere Done and the QR code really works. We've already tested it Yeah, so if they want to buy another one because what happens is folks Almost always want to start with an everyday all season sign like a generic welcome And then when the next season comes along, they're like, oh, I love my door round. Where did I get that from? Yes. Oh, it's on the back of the sign. Yeah, and look how classy that looks You know who else is classy our patrons. Uh, we love all of our patrons. They're all very classy Just like our branding, of course Big thanks to all of our patrons and kim for knocking everything off the table. It's clear the table Get ready for the outro Well, we are about at a time I have to go pack up the trailer so that we can head over to another craft show So we will see you on tuesday Where we're gonna do a test cut tuesday and then again next friday. We're gonna do it build it and make it again And i'm not gonna balance it with Nope