When the two wire ends are in position, apply the silver paint over them. Try to leave the paint just below the cut in the ribbon. If you carefully part the two pieces with a thin sliver of plastic you should get a reading with testmeter set to "Diode". Infinity one way and about 1.5 ohms the other. You're reading a silicon diode somewhere.

You now need to make the whole thing mechanically secure.

Squeeze a small blob of superglue on to a clear area of the wood strip. Pickup a tiny speck of this with the end of a toothpick. Place a dot of glue on top of the wire near to the end of the ribbon. When this is dry, (small quantities of glue don't need to be trapped between surfaces to go off), You should have the wires securely locked into place. Using too much superglue would"take up" the silver and you would loose your connection.