So, Perler Beads

They're these tiny little beads that you can iron together to make cool little pendants and stuff. Just buy a box that has the beads, the wax paper and the pegboard, have an iron and you're good to go! Why am I writing this on Giantbomb? Well I figured I'd show you some of the stuff you can make with them!

Her Stuff

I didn't know what perler beads were until my girlfriend showed me and I thought it sounded way too difficult. So we ended up at Michael's one day, she showed me how to do it and now I make them pretty often. I've made her ten things so far from the Purple Tentacle from Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle, to a flower.

The hardest one by far was the Purple Tentacle just due to its size and well, it was the first one I made. Probably wasn't the best idea I had to have the biggest be the first but it turned out okay! I do have more ideas for stuff I'm going to make her, but knowing she's going to read this I'm not going to say!

My Stuff

I made the Headcrab, Metroid and Meat Boy but she made my Akuma and gave it to me on my birthday. It's still by far my favorite perler bead thing I have not only because it's the best looking one, but also because she made it herself. She knew I used Akuma in Super Street Fighter IV, took that idea and ran with it and that was the result, it makes me all excited all over again when I see it, she makes some pretty amazing stuff and I hope she comments back with stuff she's done.

So!

That's the card she made me for my birthday too, thought some people might like it too! It's always the best to receive things that people themselves made and I still love my gifts from my birthday and before then. So people if you find yourself bored and looking for a way to spend time doing something fun, look into perler bead art, it's pretty cool.

They're these tiny little beads that you can iron together to make cool little pendants and stuff. Just buy a box that has the beads, the wax paper and the pegboard, have an iron and you're good to go! Why am I writing this on Giantbomb? Well I figured I'd show you some of the stuff you can make with them!

Her Stuff

I didn't know what perler beads were until my girlfriend showed me and I thought it sounded way too difficult. So we ended up at Michael's one day, she showed me how to do it and now I make them pretty often. I've made her ten things so far from the Purple Tentacle from Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle, to a flower.

The hardest one by far was the Purple Tentacle just due to its size and well, it was the first one I made. Probably wasn't the best idea I had to have the biggest be the first but it turned out okay! I do have more ideas for stuff I'm going to make her, but knowing she's going to read this I'm not going to say!

My Stuff

I made the Headcrab, Metroid and Meat Boy but she made my Akuma and gave it to me on my birthday. It's still by far my favorite perler bead thing I have not only because it's the best looking one, but also because she made it herself. She knew I used Akuma in Super Street Fighter IV, took that idea and ran with it and that was the result, it makes me all excited all over again when I see it, she makes some pretty amazing stuff and I hope she comments back with stuff she's done.

So!

That's the card she made me for my birthday too, thought some people might like it too! It's always the best to receive things that people themselves made and I still love my gifts from my birthday and before then. So people if you find yourself bored and looking for a way to spend time doing something fun, look into perler bead art, it's pretty cool.

Looks pretty cool - kinda like those 8-bit inspired physical artworks on the streets.

Those look awesome. Now I want to make some... Where can I get them?

Your girlfriend is quiet talented. -is jealous- My girlfriend doesn't make anything like that for me pfft. Haha just kidding.

So, you mentioned in your .. erm blog! That's the word, ...comments back with stuff she's done. Well why provoke people to get off their ass and take a photo of something? Because you're that person! But I also have made perler bead art!! True Story!

-returns from photo taking-

Included is: Charmander, Mew, Ninja Turtles, Squirtle, Recorder from Bioshock, Victorybell, Ash, Jesse, Darkwing Duck, Dragonite, Pirate Hello Kitty, Gym Badges, and Leafeon.

@SexyToad: The beads, pegboards, and wax paper all come in a collection at arts and crafts stores like Michaels, and then you just need an iron. It's pretty easy and I'm sure Youtube has videos on how to do it, personally @rockyhorrorgerri showed me how.

You should make Ron Perlman

@rockyhorrorgerri said:

Winner.

How long did that take?

These beads are just perfect for Pixel art. I'm tempted to recreate something big- no no no no no I just don't have time for this now, maybe later I'll recreate a big chunk of Kanto or something and put it up on the big empty wall downstairs- but I don't have time for this now!

@TooWalrus said:

These beads are just perfect for Pixel art. I'm tempted to recreate something big- no no no no no I just don't have time for this now, maybe later I'll recreate a big chunk of Kanto or something and put it up on the big empty wall downstairs- but I don't have time for this now!

Yeah I'm really tempted to recreate a NES screenshot pixel-for-bead, UI elements and all. That sounds like one hell of a task though. Also picking a good screenshot would be tough for me.

someone make me an NES console and controller and post the pic.

@ManU_Fan10ne: Total.. not too long. A few hours just because I had to do it in stages, iron them and then hot glue parts together. No idea of how much actual time spent though.

Beads, dawg! BEADSS!

@rockyhorrorgerri: If that only took a few hours, then I might just give it a try :)

@ManU_Fan10ne: Yeah pretty simple once you get down to the basics. I took pictures of my steps if you like. I also made a boo (glow in the dark beads) and layed out each layer.

Gallery

Not sure if its frowned on to necro old threads, but a thread with "perler beads" in the title seemed the most relevant in the search functions. Over the last few months I have gotten into perler beadsprites. As you may see in the pics below, the fever has hit me hard:

http://i.imgur.com/VhV2bik.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AK58t8S.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/W0wv8CC.jpg

I was working on a fairly big one (16"x10") for a mailbag I plan on sending in, but sadly I had to scrap it as it kind of fell apart and fused out of place. I will be getting more beads in the morning so hopefully I'll have a pic of that sometime tomorrow. It seemed a bit odd that the last threads I could find about Perler's were all 2 years ago. Is anyone else enjoying this hobby as much as I am?

I WANT!

Here is the thing I mentioned the other day. After the horribleness of having it fall apart after 3 hours during my last attempt, I am so happy to see this came out great:

@bezerker85: gotta be careful when you ship that, id imagine those things snap pretty easily. Would be a shame to have it break in the mail. Looks great though!

Thanks @schreiberty! I am headed out in a bit to pick up a frame for it, and I've got a ton of bubble wrap/airpaks to keep it safe. There will be more stuff going into the mailbag, I just wanted to include something a bit unique as it'll be my first one that I send.