I fell in love with the concept of the bow maker the moment I saw it on our Silhouette Facebook group, Silhouette Cameo Paper Crafts. I will forever be grateful to Sue Busch who shared a photo of her bow maker customized by her brother-in-law. I got obsessed with it and really spent time searching and watching every bow maker video I can find. I come from a place where there are a lot of skilled furniture makers which makes it easy to have this customized so I thought of creating my own design according to the specifications I need. With the help of my brother, we went to see his friend, Melo, to have it made and after only 5 days, voila, I now have this beautifully hand crafted bow maker. Melo did a great job in following all my specifications from the exact measurements down to the stain color.
It is critical for the dowels to fit snugly into the dowel slots in order to achieve the perfect bow. And the other critical aspect of the design for me is how to secure the dowels for storage and having them laid flat for space saving storage. That's how we came up with the hallowed receptacles for the dowels along the sides on top of the base. Great and happy solution! To complete the bright idea, I created a pouch for the bow maker set. There is actually a better storage solution for the dowels wherein 2 long holes, almost the whole length of the dowel, are drilled inside the base of the dowel which would mean having to increase the width of the base which I was not willing to do as I wanted to minimize the size of the base for less space on my desk when I'm using it.
BTW, before I had my bow maker made, I was very anxious to see if this concept really works. You know how we see all these things being demonstrated on these video tutorials making them look so easy but when we try them ourselves we get so disappointed as they are not really that easy to do and sometimes they don't really work? So I came up with an improvised bow maker making use of 2 chopsticks which I adhered with a double sided tape to the side (inside) of a plastic container (the shape should not really matter). You will see below the very first bow that I made with my improvised bow maker. It is, indeed, a perfect bow! So this convinced me all the more to have my own proper bow maker made.
There are tons of video tutorials out there on how to use the bow maker. For me, this link is the best as it clearly shows the directions of the looping of the ribbon around the dowels in a slow step-by step instructions.: Perfect Bow
For more ideas on ribbons and bows, check out my Pinterest board, http://pinterest.com/ligayatg/ribbons-and-bows/
Thank you very much, Sue Busch, for all the photos and information that you very kindly provided us regarding your bow maker.
