No more frayed ribbons!

The other day I was finishing up a craft project involving a ribbon embellishment, and wanted to seal the ends so that the ribbon wouldn’t fray over time. I reached for my Dritz® Fray Check, only to discover it was an old bottle containing liquid that had gummed up and turned cloudy. Hmm, I thought, I didn’t know Fray Check did that. Of course, this was an old bottle, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was a Sunday evening when I discovered this, so running to the fabric store to pick up a new bottle was not an option. An old stand-bye is clear nail polish (even though it leaves your ribbon stiff), and in a pinch you can use a tiny bit of Elmer’s Glue. I’ll wait till tomorrow, I thought.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t resist surfing the Net to see what other solutions might be available. The next thing I knew, I had discovered a handy little gadget called the i-magicutâ„¢ Ribbon Cutter & Sealer by imaginisce®, the folks from Durham Enterprises who bring you the i-top brad/button/magnet maker, the i-rock Gem Setter, i-rock Mini Iron, Petal Roller and more tools that I should but often cannot resist.

The next day, I visited my local Archivers scrapbooking store to look for an i-magicutâ„¢, but was disappointed to discover they had not even heard of it. And you know where I found it next, don’t you? Yep, online, at Amazon. While I waited for my new toy to arrive, I watched a video by Stamping Scrapping about it.

A few days later, my i-magicutâ„¢ arrived. I couldn’t wait to try it out! I inserted four AA batteries (not included), grabbed some gross grain ribbon, and turned on the five-inch long device. All you have to do is slide the switch from off to on, and insert your ribbon. Your ribbon can be up to three inches wide.

When you open up the i-magicutâ„¢, there are guidelines across which you lay your ribbon. You can do a straight cut, diagonal cut, or a chevron cut. I started off with a straight cut. Close the i-magicutâ„¢, and press the button. In three to five seconds, your ribbon will be cut and sealed.

In the next photo, you can see how you angle your ribbon to do a diagonal cut. To create a chevron cut, fold your ribbon in half length-wise, then angle it exactly as you would for a diagonal cut.

The i-magicutâ„¢ works only on synthetic ribbons and trims, not cotton, since what it is doing is melting the fibers together. For this reason, if you need to seal two ribbons together, such as when you wrap a package with layered ribbons (like a narrow ribbon centered along the length of a wider ribbon), you can seal the ends together to make it nice and neat. If you cut wired ribbon, you will have to use your scissors to snip the wire, but the ribbon itself will cut and seal without any problems. Because I still do work with cotton trims, I won’t be throwing away my (new) bottle of Dritz® Fray Check, but for synthetic ribbons I found the tool to be quick and easy to use. The i-magicutâ„¢ sells for $19 .99 to $24.99.  If you can’t find it locally, try Amazon, Stamping Scrapping, Scrapbook.com or Oh My Crafts! I’m sure there are other suppliers as well.

© 2012 Judy Nolan. All rights reserved.