Make Perler bead bowls (and words)

Today's post is a bit late because my computer died last night.

RIP, dear friend.

I knew that it was going to happen sooner or later (but I just wish it was later.)  Boo.  I also wish that I had backed up my stuff (double boo.)  Hubby's performing some intensive surgery on it, so hopefully we can get my documents and photos back.

OK, enough heavy shop talk... onto today's craft.

When I saw Poppy Haus melting Perler beads to make bowls, I knew that I had to try it too.  Melting plastic beads in the oven?  Too. Much. Crafty. Awesomeness.  Sign me up!

Definitely check out her results, because they were much classier (she used two colors.)  I, on the other hand, went whole-hog color crazy.  Here are my results:

Bam!  It's like a whole bunch of sprinkles and confetti exploded to make this bowl.  We're currently using it to store fruit.     





Materials:
 - Perler beads
- Cooking Oil  (I used Canola)
- Paper Towel
- Oven proof bowl  (I used a Pyrex mixing bowl)
- Baking pan
- Butter knife

Directions:
1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2.  Use a paper towel to lightly oil the inside of your oven proof bowl.
3.  Place your oven proof bowl on a baking dish.  (This will make it easier to carry to the oven.)
4.  Pour one handful of beads into your bowl.  Carefully push the beads so they line up against the edge of the bowl.  Then, pour in another handful of beads and push them against the sides of the bowl.  Keep repeating this procedure till your beads line the inside of your oiled bowl.
5.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.
6.  Pull your melted masterpiece out and let it cool down for a couple of minutes.
7.  Use a butter knife and gently pry your bowl out.

Tada! Now you too have a unique, lacy, and colorful plastic bowl.  It's definitely a conversation starter.

And of course, after seeing how nicely the bowl came out... the cogs in the old noggin got a'workin.

I had to take things one step further... Perler bead typography!

Melting beads into the shape of a bowl = easy.
Melting beads into the shape of a word = ehh... not so easy.

I took a bunch of aluminum foil and shaped out the word "joy." (I wanted a photo of the word for a guest post that I was working on.)  I made sure that my word had an indentation/well running throughout, so I could fill it up with Perler beads.  Then, I placed the letters onto a baking dish, lightly oiled them, and then carefully poured the Perler beads inside.  (Looking back, I should have covered my baking dish with aluminum foil too.... just in case some of the beads escaped.)

Crazy... or crazy awesome?  Ehh.. the jury's still out.

And then I baked the beads like before.  Here's what I got:

(Note:  I didn't quite like how the bit between the "J" and the "O" looked, so I cut it out and then hot glued it together again.)

Whoa.  Perler beads are amazing.  Nothing says "joy" like a bunch of colorful melted beads.

Happy crafting!