Ribbon around fan handles

nahokulele

Hi ladies,

I realize this might be a stupid question....but how exactly does this work?  My fans were shipped directly to my WC, and I need to wrap them when I get there.  

What do I need, other than ribbon?  I wonder how much ribbon per fan, like 12"?  It's hard since I haven't seen them in person.

I assume a type of glue...suggestions?

I will probably just tie a tag on with raffia after it's been wrapped with a colored ribbon.

Thoughts?

TIA!

ally_ruth

Hey Liz, my BMs and I just worked on that very same project.  I refered to this website for instructions, http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-embellished-palm-fans. One of my BMs measured out 24" pieces of ribbon (used 7/8" inch)for each fan. We had to make adjustments according to the handle size, sometimes the ribbon was the right lenght, or too long, etc. I too bought from Oriental trading company and the palm fans vary in sizes.  As for the glue, we used a low-temp glue gun and it worked out great so far.  My wedding is not for another 3 months so I hope the glue will hold up 'till then.  I'll post some pics in my bio sometime this weekend so you can see.

Ally

daveandjess2010

I second everything Ally said - I used 7/8 width satin ribbon and measured out pieces about 24" long (although I just stretched the ribbon along the length of my arm and cut randomly).  The low-temp hot glue gun worked well for me.  I've been working on this project in phases, starting about three months ago, and the glue has all held up.  Its a little time consuming, but with a couple of extra hands it isnt too bad. 

For anyone getting their fans from Oriental Trading, they vary ALOT in size.  I was glad I ordered extra, some in the batch I received were so small!!

carrieoz_76

Hmmm ... I'm thinking more and more that I'm either not doing this, or not wrapping the handles in ribbon and will just hand them out bare.

I'm DIY-ed out.

mauidandy

Yep- it takes awhile and the fan sizes range from really big to super small! It's weird. I also used a low-temp hot glue gun....finished these back in November so I could leave them with Lori during our scouting trip, hope they're still in good shape!

nahokulele

Oh, geez, like how long does this take?  If I get three girls to help to wrap 60 fans, maybe just an hour?  Am I on crack thinking I can do this at the hotel?

ally_ruth

It's doable.  There were 3 of us and we wrapped 30 fans in about 1-1.5 hours which includes cutting ribbon and sorting. 

When are you flying to Maui? How many days before your wedding day?

nahokulele

I thought we (b-maids, moms, whoever) could have an arts and crafts afternoon in my suite on the Thurs b/f the wedding, which in Saturday.  I guess worst case scenario, the men get the unwrapped ones!  

daveandjess2010

I think its totally do-able.  I didn't time myself, but I've wrapped a bunch of mine by myself and it goes pretty quickly once you get the hang of it.  It may be helpful to cut all the ribbon ahead of time, one less step when you are all there assembling.  Getting 60 done with three people working on it shouldn't be bad at all, I can definitely do 20/hour.

ETweet

Ughhh... This was my #1 most hated project. It was much more time consuming than I had originally hoped. We used tacky glue, the kind in the gold bottle. See if Lori has mine, I left them there. Save yourself the pain. . . I am going to have nightmares tonight just thinking of it. Ew.