I have been making those korker bows for a few years now-my kids are getting older and not wearing them as often, so i have been making the long ones-spirit ribbons with korkers in them. Not hard, but time consuming!
Get wooden dowels in varying widths but get many of the same width. Ex: pick two widths-1/2 inch and 1/4 inch-get some for light colors and some for darks and keep a few for whites since the color will bleed onto the white if you kork white after another color. And get a bunch of both kinds of dowels-Michaels has them and we cut/saw them in half to fit in the oven. Get lots of wooden clothespins.
Preheat oven to 350. Hook ribbon with clothespin around one end of a dowel. Roll ribbon down the dowel evenly, touching but not overlapping. At end secure with another clothespin and cut ribbon. Do this with all the dowels you have-different colors of course and "cook" on clean rack in oven for 10 minutes. Don't overlap different colors as they will bleed. Take them out carefully and let cool. Unwrap ribbon off of dowel and you have your corkers. Cut to desired length (make them as equal in length as you can-use a ruler if you have to or count how many curls you cut each one(but that will differ with different sized ribbon). Different people use different methods.
Get the desired amount (20-40) corkers and wrap them together with stretchy cord. Go around twice for strength. Tie them onto barrette and secure with hot glue. Sometimes I will use thin thin wire for a good hold.
Fix bow(fluff a bit) and cut parts that are too long or pull through for evenness. Seal edges of ribbons with Fraycheck.
That is how I learned to do them and even if they get wet, they hold thier curl!
Have fun-Lori