Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Monster Eye Hair Clip


With Halloween coming my daughter is a tad excited. She asked me to make her some Halloween hair clips. So I made a monster eye clip. But after making I realized with a couple changes I could make it look like a pumpkin too. But I don't have the right color ribbon to make those yet. 
Supplies:
Hot glue gun
2-3 different color ribbon (5/8 or 5/16) 
Alligator clip(s)
2 Small buttons (smaller then 1")
Ruler
Scissors
Ribbon lengths:
Clip cover -1- 3"
Whites of the eyes -2- 5 1/4"
Outer eye -2- 5"

I suggest cutting all your ribbon lengths and heat sealing the ends first. This makes sure your ribbon wont unravel. There are a few ways to do this. They sell some stuff that is called Fray Check that is sort of like a glue for the ends of the ribbon. You can use a wood burning tool to cut and seal the ribbon at the same time. Or you can use a lighter or a candle to seal them. I used the candle technique. Hold the ribbon close enough to the flame that the heat melts the ribbon a tad. But not too close, otherwise you could scorch or light the ribbon on fire.

 


Now we are going to cover the alligator clip in ribbon first. You will need 1 piece of ribbon cut to 3" and 1 alligator clip.

Squeeze the clip open. Put a dab of glue onto the underside of the top half and place the end of the ribbon over the glue.
Next carefully put glue along the top half and fold the ribbon over it. Careful not to get too much glue into the hole in the center. It will end up getting onto the bottom half like I did. Then you have to scrape some glue off LOL But if you do don't worry. you can use a hair dryer to melt away any little strings of glue left after you scrap some off.
Put a dab of glue on the bottom, right where your thumb would pinch to open the clip. Wrap the ribbon around and glue it down.
Your covered clip should look like this.

 Now lets make the monster eyes... Start with one of the 5 1/4" pieces of ribbon. Wrap it around your index finger making a circle.
 Glue the ribbon to it's self making the small circle.
 Wrap the ribbon around it's self making a larger circle around the smaller one.
Glue the end of the ribbon to about the same spot that you glues the smaller circle at.
 Repeat this to make the second eye.

Using one of these double circles. Glue one of your 5" ribbon tips to the same spot. Wrap it around and glue the other end down as well.

 Repeat on the second eye.

You will end up with two pieces that look like this.
  Glue the two pieces together in the center.
 Carefully put a drop of glue inside the smallest circle and attach one of the buttons. Let that cool then repeat for the other eye.

 Next flip the eyes over. In the center put a dab of glue and attach the eyes to the clip. I marked the area with a green dot.

There you go! A cute Halloween inspired clip!