A few weeks ago (okay, more like 6 weeks or so...) I was trying to explain perler beads to Fraser. We were chatting about things from our childhood and somehow we got to talking about Lite Brites (which I always wanted and never had). This lead me to bringing up how fun Perler Beads are since they're somewhat similar (or at least I think so)! If you aren't familiar, they are little plastic cylindrical beads that you create patterns with on special perler peg boards and iron to melt together! Yay! I love toys with limitless possibilities and require ample creativity. So fun! Well not many days later it seemed like perler beads were back in crafty fashion since I read two posts about them. Isn't it odd how things pop up like that?
The first post I saw was from My Poppet and used the beads with old cross stitch patterns to make floral coasters! They turned out beautifully and I love the vintage feel:
The first post I saw was from My Poppet and used the beads with old cross stitch patterns to make floral coasters! They turned out beautifully and I love the vintage feel:
 |
| (source) |
Aren't they neat? And you wouldn't have to stop at flowers - you could make coasters with any old pattern and have the most fashionable perler bead table protectors in town! Ahaha! Such a plan!
The second post I saw was from Rachele at Nearsighted Owl, who made a whole slew of kitty brooches based off some famous (in blogland) kitties! Clearly I fell head over heals for these babies since 1. I love brooches and 2. I am all about the cats! Take a peek:
Ah! Aren't they awesome? I love how they sort of look geeky and pixelated too! Heck, as I recall Lindsay had a perler heart keychain a few years ago so if you aren't in need of coasters or pins I'm sure you could use another keychain right? No? Magnets? Pendant? I'm sure I could rationalize some sort of perler bead craft that you need to make your life complete because they have certainly been on the top of my mind for months. Looks like the next time I've got some extra funds burning a hold in my pocket I'll be headed straight to the store to pick some up! What do you think? Have you ever played with perler beads before? What would you make?
I would totally make some 8 bit video game characters from old Nintendo games!
ReplyDeleteI love these! Clearly I played with them too, though I was always loathe to actually melt the beads into something since then I couldn't keep sorting them by colour and sparkliness. I want to make them again though! Do they have grownup versions that I could buy (and sort) now?
ReplyDeleteYay! I love perler beads and I really should use mine more ^_^ I brought a huge container from Ikea which has all the basic colours and from my craft store I got special glow-in-the-dark and sparkly beads! Yes!! ^_^ You have inspired me to get them out again, Kate, and start making brooches!
ReplyDeleteWhat about an 8 bit Mario?
ReplyDelete