Bows are the simplest element for decorating hairstyles, clothes, and interior items. They are made from different materials. The manufacturing process is simple, so even a novice needlewoman can create an original decorative item for herself and her loved ones. Foamiran bows have recently become popular, as this material is flexible and easy to process. A wide variety of its colors allows you to create interesting bows for all occasions.
Features and types of material
Foamiran is a special type of polymer, which is foamed rubber. Sometimes it is also called plastic suede. It is sold in sheets of different colors and thicknesses from 0.5 to 10 mm. Beautiful crafts, jewelry, hairpins, toys are made from it.
Reasons for the popularity of foamiran:
- soft to the touch;
- plastic (stretches well);
- easy to cut with scissors, knife, hole punch;
- due to its porous structure it absorbs any paint well;
- when heated, it easily takes the desired shape, maintaining it after cooling;
- water resistant;
- sticks well;
- does not emit harmful substances.
Foamiran is produced in Turkey, Iran, Korea, China. It comes in sheets or rolls, you can find material of any color and thickness.
In addition to a wide variety of shades, foamiran differs in texture:
- Silk is produced in thin sheets, has a matte and pleasant to the touch surface. It is durable and elastic, holds its shape well.
- Marshmallow foamiran is a soft and pliable material of pastel colors. It changes shape even from the warmth of your hands.
- Glitter has a multi-layer structure, the outer layer with glitter.
- Textured – there is a relief pattern on the surface.
Foamiran is often used to make bows. They decorate hairpins and elastic bands, attach them to clothes, hats, scarves. Bows are also used to decorate shoes, handbags, bracelets, photo frames, postcards or gift boxes.
What you will need
Bows made from foamiran with your own hands are quite popular. This material can be purchased at any store with goods for handicrafts. In addition, you need to prepare auxiliary tools for work:
- You will need patterns to cut out the craft parts. Despite the fact that this material is easy to cut and the bows have a simple shape, it is better to make them using a template.
- Cut out the details with scissors, regular tailor's or manicure scissors will do. Small decorative elements can be obtained with a figured hole punch.
- To glue the parts together, it is best to use transparent glue or a hot glue gun; PVA is not suitable for this.
- Pastel crayons, acrylic or oil paints can be used to color and tint the finished product. Even regular lipstick or eye shadow will do.
- To make the material flexible, you can heat it with an iron, hair dryer or curling iron.
- The basis for bows can be a regular hair clip or hair tie, headband, clip, or brooch.
- Satin or rep ribbons and lace are used as decoration. Products can be decorated with felt, beads, rhinestones, and beautiful beads.
Foamiran melts easily, so it is not recommended to use a very hot iron or open fire to heat it.
How to work with a template
Most often, a template is required to make bows. This is a kind of pattern of the bow shape, according to which it is cut out. You can draw a template yourself, but it will be difficult to achieve symmetry and a beautiful shape. Therefore, it is better to use ready-made patterns.
The easiest way to get such a template is to print it on a printer. But this is not always possible. Then you should use tracing paper. It is applied to the monitor screen and carefully traced with a marker or soft pencil. The resulting stencil should be transferred to cardboard; such a template is reusable.
You can transfer the stencil to foamiran with a pencil or a pen that no longer writes. It is not recommended to use crayons, felt-tip pens or markers for this, since the material absorbs coloring pigments well, this can spoil the finished product. You can even use a toothpick to transfer the stencil to soft foamiran.
Step-by-step master class on creating bows
To make a simple bow, you don't need a pattern. You need to take a strip of material 10-16 cm long and 2-4 cm wide. Fold its ends to the middle and glue them together. Since foamiran is a very flexible material, you can give the resulting part the shape of a bow by hand. After heating the workpiece, you need to squeeze it in the middle, forming folds. They need to be fixed with glue. A small strip is glued in the middle. You can connect several such parts of different sizes to make the bow more lush.
There are many examples of such products, you need to choose the right model and select a color combination. When making complex bows from foamiran, a master class will help you do everything right.
New Year's from glitter foamiran
Shiny foamiran is often used to make holiday decorations. These can be bows attached to an elastic band or a hair clip, clothes, and even a Christmas tree. To make such a New Year's bow, you will need red and green material, small snowflakes, and white beads.
By making a bow from glitter foamiran with your own hands, you can decorate a child’s outfit for a matinee.
For work you need templates of two sizes: 10 and 8 cm. You need to outline them on the foamiran from the back side. The process of making the decoration:
- cut out two pieces, the larger one is green, the smaller one is red;
- the green element is the base, its edge needs to be decorated with white beads, gluing them with transparent glue;
- glue small snowflakes along the edge of the red piece;
- for the central butterfly you need a green rectangle 5 x 12 cm;
- from it you need to make two blanks, cut into strips 2 mm wide, leaving a solid space in the center for folding, these will be the wings;
- glue the edges of the strips, leaving 3 mm between them, to create a three-dimensional piece;
- cut a small oval out of green foamiran;
- connect the base of the wing to the oval on the front side, and glue the ends to the back side;
- decorate with a bead and white stamens;
- connect the butterfly with a bow, glue an elastic band or clip to the back side.
It is better to attach a clip or hair clip to a bow using a strip of foamiran.
Elegant on a hairpin
Foamiran hairpins can be worn not only by children, but also by adults. To make an elegant bow, it is better to use a shiny material of one or two matching shades. The template consists of three parts: the base, the bow itself and the bridge. They need to be transferred to foamiran and cut out. Then the manufacturing process is as follows:
- apply a drop of glue to the middle of the bow detail on the reverse side;
- connect the ends so that they touch in the center;
- glue the resulting bow to the second piece;
- connect them with a jumper, carefully placing it in the middle;
- secure the bow to the base.
The hairpin, clip or elastic band should be glued with a bridge. The metal base should be pre-glued in this place with a piece of fabric so that the bow holds better.
American
American bows are popular now. Their peculiarity is that they are lush, multi-layered, they combine different materials. When using foamiran, you can combine it with rep or satin ribbons, lace, braid. To make the simplest American bow, you need:
- redraw the template on foamiran, cut it out;
- connect the ends of the part by gluing them in the middle;
- take 3 strips of grosgrain or satin ribbon 17 x 2.5 cm and 2 of the same pieces of lace;
- fold the ends of the ribbons towards the middle and gather them with a thread to form a fluffy bow;
- sew a hair elastic to the back surface;
- glue the foamiran piece;
- decorate with lace, cabochons or beads.
With ears
Many people are interested in how to make a bow from foamiran so that it is unusual. You can quickly and easily make an original hair clip with ears. For this, you will need two bow parts and 4 ear parts. You can use regular foamiran or shiny. Any color will do, but it is better to make the inner part of the ears pink. Algorithm of work:
- cut out the details for the ears: 2 main parts, 5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, 2 internal parts, 3.3 cm long and 0.8 cm wide;
- prepare the parts for a classic bow: the base and the back split bow, the second template should be larger in size so that it protrudes slightly beyond the base;
- glue the ear parts in pairs;
- connect the large piece into a bow;
- glue all the parts together, symmetrically placing the ears, they are glued between the two parts of the bow;
- you can glue a jumper or a piece of fluffy fur into the middle;
- attach the base, decorate with beads.
Multilayer butterfly
A multi-layer bow-tie can be made from regular or glitter foamiran. The process of making it is very simple, since the parts are the same. Step-by-step instructions will help you do everything right:
- Cut out three pieces using one template: length – 15 cm, width of the convex part – 3.5 cm, width of the bridge (middle) – 0.7 cm.
- Fold the edges to the middle, glue. Do the same with the remaining parts.
- Connect all the elements, placing them not directly under each other, but in a fan shape.
- Glue together, cover the middle with a jumper made of material of the same color as the top piece.
Tips for Beginners
Made from plain or glitter foamiran, the bows hold their shape well, do not fade, and are a great addition to any outfit. Step-by-step instructions and templates will help you create a real work of art in just an hour. It is better to start with one- or two-layer bows. Later, you can move on to more complex designs from figured parts.
It is important to choose the right color combination. It is advisable not to mix more than 3 colors in one product. You can decorate the craft with a detail made of gold or silver glitter foamiran. Finished bows are sometimes painted with oil paints, pastels or acrylics.
There are several subtleties of working with foamiran. Beginner craftswomen should also take them into account:
- It is better to choose sheets no thicker than 1 mm, then the products will not look rough;
- although it is a plastic material, you should not stretch it too much, it may tear;
- It is better to glue the parts together using a hot glue gun;
- To make it more flexible, it is easiest to heat the material by applying it to a warm, but not hot, iron.
Foamiran bows are a beautiful decoration for hair, clothes, shoes and interior items. They are very easy to make, a large number of master classes with templates will help you cope even with a complex model.
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