They Call Her the Pipe Cleaner Lady – Wendy

Discover Easy as 1-2-3- Steps to Making a Pipe Cleaner Cocktail Ring

This past Sunday I attended a Baby Naming celebration for a very special little girl named Ari.  The grandparents, Bobbie and Papi, decided they needed entertainment for all of the kids attending along with the 60 guests.  As I helped to greet guests upon their arrival, one colorful, cheery guest arrived with her humongous cart of pipe cleaner fun – Wendy the Pipe Cleaner Lady.  What a grand idea!  She was like a balloon artist who twists and ties pipe cleaners to create everything from rings to crowns to footballs to monkeys and more! 

Martha Stewart and Wendy Baner (The Pipe Cleaner Lady)

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I spoke to Wendy more throughout the party and found out she was recently on the Martha Stewart Show!

I asked her to give us the 101 on how to make fun pipe cleaner rings.  Trust me, adults at this party wearing Chanel dresses rocked (a.k.a. wore) these rings like they were the hottest items off of 5^th Avenue, along with little boys who enjoyed them and wore them as “power rings”, and even little girls who flirted them as their own shiny ‘diamond’ rings.

Read below for the easy breezy step-by-step process on how to make a pipe cleaner cocktail ring. The good news is that there is no cleanup required!

Materials:

• 3 pipe cleaners in your desired color 
• 1 sparkly pipe cleaner (if you want to add a ‘diamond’ center to the flower) 

Note: You can find pipe cleaners at any local craft store such as Michael’s 

 

Let the Pipe Cleaner Fun Begin Below:

1)     Group 3 pipe cleaners with the ends even, and twist in the middle about 5 times to create something that looks like whiskers.

2)     Put the twist under the intended ring finger and cross the “whiskers” over the top of the finger to measure the ring size. Remove pipe cleaners from finger and twist to size.

3)     Open and spread out the “legs.”

4)     Make a very tiny bend on the end of each leg (see the below image’s white pipe cleaner in the bottom right corner), pressing back onto itself.  This is so that the pipe is not sharp for the kiddies!

5)     Start rolling each leg from the bend into the center, pulling back as you roll to make the roll as tight as possible.

6)     Arrange each rolled “petal” of the flower. Begin by turning the two innermost rolls to face each other, and work outward, arranging and organizing the petals until you are happy with the flower’s shape.

Note: If you want to make a ‘diamond center’ for your flower I would suggest arranging the petals flat so that you see 6 petals (skip to Step 8).

7)     Arrange the 5 petals flat and pull 1 ‘petal’ to the center to create the middle of the flower (see pink middle center in picture below). This is considered the “Simple Flower.”

8)     To add a “bling bling” diamond, twist a silver pipe cleaner around the bottom of the flower/top of the loop of the ring, where it meets the flower.

9)     Wrap the end of the silver pipe cleaner around the bottom of the flower 3 times and pull the remainder to stick up like a stick through the center of the flower. 

10)     Bend the end of the silver pipe cleaner inwards to avoid a sharp edge.

11)     Swirl and coil towards the center of the flower until you reach end of the pipe cleaner. 

12)     Keep coiling….until your ‘diamond’ looks like the below cocktail ring.

13)     Voila and Enjoy!  The cocktail flower ring now has a ‘diamond’ center!

DON’T FORGET…

CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE to see the short virtual video on how to create a pipe cleaner cocktail flower ring with Wendy Baner, as well as more images of fun pipe cleaner crafts on kids!