Childhood Reloaded | DIY Perler Bead Necklace

My mom kept me laced with perler beads. Am I the only one? I used to think it was like the coolest thing. They're the small plastic beads you place on a pegboard and then use an iron to fuse them together. Between perler beads, Lisa Frank everything, Creepy Crawlers lol, and daily designs on my Lite-Brite, I had it made. There are a lot of other things that belong on that list, but they sound way less cool...like my rock tumbler kit for one lol...I'm gonna buy me another one!

Don't mind the face lol. I love the way this came out. I get to wear my childhood around my neck lol. I bought a few perler bead kits for the arts & crafts class I teach, but the rest of the classes were cancelled until it starts back up in the fall. I was a little excited to do this activity...so I still did it in my own way. I have a new thing for making necklaces. Not professionally...just for hobby sake. Don't ask me. D.I.Y. lol.

Materials:

• Perler bead kit (Should include perler beads, pegboard(s), and ironing paper)
• Tweezers (optional, but may come with your perler bead kit)
• Iron
• Jump Rings (Can find all jewelry items at Michaels)
• Chain
• Lobster clasp

Instructions:
1) Place the perler beads on the peg in whatever style/color you desire using a pair of tweezers...or your hands. Tweezers make it easier however. Also, keep in mind how you're going to attach it to your chain or whatever you use while laying out the beads. Then, place the ironing paper on top and melt the beads together by ironing them in a circular motion for about 10-15 seconds on medium heat. Make sure the steam is off...it doesn't help lol.

2) After you've made all the pieces to your necklace add the jump rings by inserting them through the holes in the beads and attaching it to the chain on the necklace. You might want to lay everything out first and figure out where/how you want to connect each piece to your chain.

3) Add jump rings and lobster clasp to the end of the chain for closure. I ran out of jump rings in the right size, so that bottom pic is a different chain. I just wanted to show you what it should look like. You may also want to cut your chain if it's too long. For that, use wire cutters or, if there's an opening in each link, you can just bend it open and remove the length you don't want.

That's all there is to it!! I'm probably going to make like 8 more of these lol.

Stay Inspired.