Getting Into Ribbon Sculpture

I recently decided I wanted to try making those adorable ribbon sculpture hair clips you see being sold in lots of places these days. So I've been looking for info on how to make them and finally bought a few pieces of ribbon so I can experiment. I came across a this tutorial for a ribbon goldfish that was for sale on etsy.com, and it looked simple enough for me to figure out on my own. Because I will not spend money on a tutorial! I'll figure it out, or do without...or find a free tutorial elsewhere online! Anyway, working from just that picture, I decided to make a little blue ribbon fish to match a t-shirt with a blue fish on it, and thought I could also improve on that fish-eye look. I used a narrower ribbon than the picture shows because that's what I had, but I think it turned out just fine anyway. And this time, I have a picture to share.

I used 4 pieces of light blue 3/8" wide grosgrain ribbon, one for the body, one for the little piece that scrunches the body to form the tail, and two for the fins. Sorry, no measurements, I tend to just eyeball it. The colors are kind of altered in the photo, but the background ribbon that the actual alligator clip is covered with is a pale aqua with white polka dots, reminiscent of the sea but with an added fun factor. Because I found polka-dot ribbon at the store and I simply adore polka dots. So Fishy swims in the Polka-Dot Sea, basically. The eye is just a tiny little googly eye sold for crafts, made more fishy by using a dot of blue puffy paint to stick it on instead of glue. 

For this clip, I tried out the idea for no-slip grip I saw here (she is just so incredibly creative and talented).[..and liked it so much, I went back and added it to the other clips I'd made previously. 

I plan on using this on all of my clips I make from now on. One roll should last pretty much forever. 

So this is my first attempt at ribbon sculpture. I'm now hooked and I have loads more ideas floating around my brain waiting to be translated into ribbon. The hardest part is decided which one to do first!