Susan Wells, the author of Interior Design on a Dime (out of print), offers tips on using leftover wallpaper to create designer bows inexpensively. Materials:
Prepasted wallpaper strips
Bowl of water
Twist-tie
Optional: glitter spray, gold leaf, hot glue
- Using prepasted wallpaper, cut three good-sized lengths for each bow. Determine the width of the strips by the desired size of your finished bow. Two strips will form the loops of the bow, and the third will form the streamers (figure A).
- Run the wallpaper strips through a bowl of water to activate the glue (figure B).
- The wallpaper can be smoothed out for a smoother-looking bow. For a crumpled bow, crumple the strips in your hand, then straighten them out to dry.
- Begin the bow with the strip of wallpaper that will become the streamers. Fold this strip in the middle, pinching slightly, and place on your work surface with streamers arranged as they'd look on a bow.
- Form the first wallpaper strip into a loop, slightly overlapping the ends in the middle.
- Pinch the center of the loop, and place it at the top of the streamers to form the back loop of the bow (figure C).
- Fold the second loop a bit smaller than the first; pinch and place on top of the larger loop.
- Use a twist-tie, twisted to the back of the bow, to attach the three pieces: the smaller loop to the larger one and those to the streamer strip. The twist-tie can be covered later with a strip of wallpaper or a bunch of dried flowers (figure D).
- Stuff the loops with plastic bags and allow to dry. Don't use paper to stuff the loops: it will bond to the wallpaper adhesive and be impossible to remove.
- Embellish the finished bow, if you wish, with a light spray of glitter mist or an edging of gold leaf. If you like, use a twist-tie to secure a bow to a basket handle and dabs of hot glue to hold the streamers in place.
RESOURCES :
Susan Wells, wallpaper expert
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