How to Make Fairies from Paper Ribbon and Pipe Cleaners

Make Fairies from Pipe Cleaners and Paper Ribbon

Part 1 of 3 – St Patrick’s Day Crafting Project

How to make magical fairies from paper ribbon and pipe cleaners. This is a fun and easy project for all ages using pipe cleaners, paper ribbon and glue to create adorable Fairies.

We’re happy that some of our Fairies are getting ready for St Paddy’s Day celebrations at a local senior’s centre.

SUPPLIES

For the Fairies:

Pipe cleaners (3 white, 2 orange or other colour if you prefer)
Paper ribbon/raffia (we used green) or tissue paper if you prefer
White glue
Scissors
Tooth pics
Paper towel

For the Fairy Wings:

We tested three different kinds

Paper wings decorated with coloured pencil and a coat of shelac
Wooden wings (ice cream sticks) decorated with acrylic paint
Sculpted hot glue decorated with acrylic paint

INSTRUCTIONS

For the head and shoulders start with one pipe cleaner, folded in half.

Make a loop for the head at one end and twist few times to make the neck.

Fold each of the 2 ends in half and twist to form the arms.

Take second pipe cleaner fold in half and wrap it around the neck and twist a few time to form the body.

Fold each of the two ends in half and twist to form the legs and feet.

Follow directions as pictured here:

To make the fairy’s face take a piece of paper towel and shape it into a wadded ball, one side should be smooth.

Fit the wadded paper towel into the head loop of the pipe cleaner body. Glue around the edge where the paper towel and pipe cleaner meet, do the same to the back of the head, gluing paper towel to pipe cleaner edge.

Paint or wipe a thin coat of white glue over the face side of the head and let dry. Once the glue is dry trim any excess paper towel from the back of the head.

For the fairy clothes start with a short length (4 or 5”) of paper ribbon/raffia from which we make the top of the dress. Open and smooth the raffia to make a flat sheet of crinkly paper.

Cut it in half lengthwise.

Take one of the strips and dab white glue on one end of the raffia and starting above the fairy’s hand start wrapping the paper evenly around the arm, continuing the process across to the other arm, glue the end above the fairy’s hand and smooth with your fingers to secure the strip.

Take another length of raffia, cut in half lengthwise and wrap in a criss-cross around the body and add a dab of glue to secure the end. The loose ends will be tucked into the skirt so don’t worry about them.

For the skirt cut out 8 – 10 leaf shaped strips (pointed on each end) from the raffia (ranging in length from 3 to 4’’)

Take another strip of raffia cut in half lengthwise (about 6 or 7”) using one strip to make the waistband. Keep in mind the waist of the fairy is about 2” so it’s good to mark in the middle of the strip, the ends will be used a ties when the skirt is done.

Fold raffia leaves in half and twist to create 2 leaves. Add a dab of glue to the twist and attach to the waist band along one edge. Use a toothpick to help push raffia twist securely into the glue. Continue until all raffia leaves have been glued to waistband.

Add a dab of glue to the outside edge of each leaf and then fold the top of the waistband over the glue pressing gently to secure the glue. Keep in mind the width needed to wrap around the fairy’s waist is about 2” plus another 4 or 5” to tie the skirt.

Take the two loose ends and tie tightly around the fairy body. Add a dab of glue to hold the tied pieces in place. Trim ends to points the same length as the skirt leaves so they blend into the skirt.

For the fairy’s hair take 2 pipe cleaners and coil around the end of a small paint brush or wooden skewer or something similar.

Bend one coil around the fairy’s forehead leaving a ringlet on each side and glue in place. Fold second coil in half and glue to top of the fairy’s head at the back. Once the glue is dry you can shape the hair.

We tested different fairy slippers. One pair sewed from brown felt. Another paper ribbon coated with white glue wrapped and shaped around the foot and twisted to a pointy curved toe. Another was happy to be barefoot with nothing on her feet.

Your Fairy is ready for her wings…