DIY - ribbon pomanders

I know there are a ton of pomander DIY tutorials out there, but I thought I'd add a few pics of my own to the knowledge base, as well as some observations about the process.

1. While working on my first practice pomander (a Halloween themed one that is not yet finished), I spent a lot of time stressing out over white spaces showing through. I've learned, though, that after all the ribbon goes in, the fit is tight enough to make sure those little gaps of styrofoam are nearly invisible. This has helped me increase my pomander-making speed since I'm not scouring the ball to figure out what teeny tiny gap I have to cover.

2. I've been using 5" round styrofoam balls with 4" lengths of ribbon. Because of how I pin them in, I'd say that the ribbon sticks out about 1" in its circle form (look at pictures below for examples), so the bouquet will end up being about 7" round. It felt like a good size. My practice Halloween pomander was a 6" round ball, and has started feeling really huge as I work on it. I know many brides have bouquets of flowers that are much bigger than what I'll have, so it's really one of those "your mileage may vary" type situations.

3. The pins I'm using are packs of 350 applique pins from Joann Fabrics. The pins are less than an inch long, but are a great length for pomanders. I find I go through just over a pack per pomander.

4. My ribbon spools are 18 feet long, cut into 4" segments. It takes me about four spools of ribbon to cover one 5" round styrofoam ball.

Pictures below the cut!



One of my balls ended up coming smashed on one side (shown at top of photo). I didn't notice until I'd unwrapped the packaging, but I don't think it will matter. The ribbon covers up those little imperfections in the ball. Although it doesn't stop me from wanting to slowly torture the folks who think squishing their fingerprints into styrofoam they haven't purchased is a hilarious past-time.

In any event, I've left the flat side on the bottom for this bouquet, so some of it will get drilled out for the dowel.



Pretty much all my loops look like this one.



I always put one pin in the loop first and then stick it to the ball. This enables me to swing the ribbon around for the best placement.



I do my best to nest the ribbons in each other, just slightly. If they go too far in each other you start losing the individual look of the ribbon.