Pyssla toy from Ikea, Perler beads
This is my new favorite craft - melting tiny polyethylene beads to make little shapes and pictures. My daughter turned this one into a Christmas tree ornament with a paper clip. You can find the Pyssla at Ikea. This is also called Perler beads. You can get them in big buckets at Joann fabrics.
10/05/08 - It occured to me that I should point people to the portrait of Mr. Spock that I also made with Pyssla beads.
How do you iron the beads without having them stick to the iron or the cloth?
Thanks
The plastic cards with the bumps that you use to arrange the beads come with a couple sheets of paper that is like wax paper, but not waxy. You put the paper over the beads and iron away!
What iron temperature do you use?
I set my iron for cotton fabric, but I think that it was too hot. If you set it for wool or synthetic fabric, I think it would just require more ironing time to melt the beads.
My daughter lost the paper to this - can you use another paper or where can you buy it?
@sbk, I don’t know where you live, but you can get perler paper from Amazon
or Joann fabrics. I bet you can find it at any of the chain hobby stores in the US like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby as well.
?must use ironing paper
@Sharpay - I think you do need to use the special paper when ironing the beads unless you have an old iron that will not be used for clothes. The beads can melt to the point where they will stick to the iron.