How can I keep real ribbon from absorbing oil from the butter cream and changing colors?

As tedious as it may be the only way I've found is to cut a ribbon of wax paper to go between the cake and ribbon. I attach the ribbon to the wax paper in a few places with glue then wax paper to cake a small dot of either buttercream, royal or chocolate every several inches or so. It's works great and looks nice.

Okay, thanks for the tip, Jeep_girl!

Some people pre-grease the ribbon with shortening so there aren't uneven surprise stains later.

Yep, just go with it. Spray it with Pam and you'll have no blotchiness.

Someone told me to double the ribbon, and this is the method I have always used. It's simple, easy and fast and looks professional when the cake is taken apart to eat.

Good Luck !

My problem with just greasing the ribbon is that I usually have the bride provide the ribbon and I don't want her wondering wtf happened to the ribbon, why isn't it the color darker than its supposed to be? Because in my experience, you never know what's going to get under these bride's skin, Kwim? Especially if it's a hard to match, funky color like David's Bridal colors. I prefer to do the bit of extra work with the wax paper and keep the colors true.