How to Make a Sea Star Out of Perler Beads
Perler beads fuse together when you iron them. Follow a design template to lay your beads on a pegboard or create your own design from a picture. Use a super-sized pegboard to reproduce a sea star or starfish design in three to four hours or use a large pegboard to make the design small enough for a child to finish in under an hour. The spines in the starfish reproduce well when the holes in the beads remain open.
Things You'll Need
- Starfish picture
- Perler beads
- Cups or bowls
- Pegboard
- Straightedge
- Ironing paper
- Iron
- Cord
Instructions
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Find a picture of a starfish for your project. EKSuccess Brands, the company that makes Perler beads, offers a free program you can use to turn a jpeg, gif, png or bmp file into a bead project, complete with a color-coded diagram to reproduce your file. Upload a picture no larger than 20MB to PerlerSnapshots.com. Crop or rotate it before choosing the size pegboard you want to use. The software tells you approximately how long it will take you to reproduce the design on the chosen pegboard, how many beads of each color are needed and allows you to substitute one bead color for another if desired. Download the pattern and instructions from the website and print them out.
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Select your pegboard and place each color of bead into a separate container, such as a cup or bowl. Arrange the containers around the pegboard and place the design under the pegboard if you have a clear plastic one. Lay the picture flat and use a straightedge to reveal the design one line at a time if you have a solid-colored pegboard. Choose the first color used in the upper left corner of the design and slip the first bead onto the peg. Follow the layout and skip pegs to create space between the arms of your starfish. Continue until the design is complete.
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Cover the completed design with the ironing paper that comes with the pegboard or bead kit. Apply a hot iron to the design for approximately 10 seconds per area. Keep the iron level as you go around the pattern in a circle.
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Allow the beads to cool then invert the pegboard so the design drops off the pegs. Lay the design on a flat surface, cover it with the ironing paper then iron the other side of the starfish. Insert a cord through one of the bead holes at the end of a starfish arm to hang the design.
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Tips & Warnings
If a child is making the starfish, a parent should iron the beads.
Reuse the ironing paper and pegboard. Craft stores carry ironing sheets you can purchase separately if you need larger sheets.
Avoid using the steam function of your iron when ironing.
Keep children away from the hot iron.
Resources
- Photo Credit Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
