Using Perler Bead Patterns to Make Polymer Clay Canes
Video #732: Taking a book about Perler or Hama Bead Patterns (“Bead It, Iron It, Love It!”)… in a new direction with polymer clay.
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IN THIS POST: — pixel canes — perler bead patterns — extruder projects — emoji — emoticon — hama beads — book review — polymer clay extruder — craft book review — (Topics marked with an asterick* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
In today’s video I’m going to show how you can use Perler Bead patterns (fusible beads), to create cool polymer clay canes.
A little while ago, a publishing company (Barron’s) sent me a small stack of crafting books to review. In the pile was a book called Bead It, Iron It, Love It! by Kaisa Holsting. When flipping through the pages, I was instantly inspired to use the patterns in the book for making pixilated polymer clay canes.
The book was designed for making plastic ornaments, charms, jewelry and other craft projects, using fusible beads such as Perler Beads, Hama Beads and Nabbi Photo Pearls. But because of the grid patterns they can also be used for making pixel style polymer clay canes.
In the video I go further into what a Perler Bead is and how they are put together and fused using a domestic iron.
This book is filled with 300 super cute pixel patterns that you can recreate. The colors and numbers that you need for each color (not including the background color) are included with each pattern. This makes it super easy to figure out how many clay piece of each color you will need to make your polymer canes.
Re-creating the Perler Bead patterns in polymer clay, requires the use of an extruder and an extruder disk in a size that makes sense for the pattern. This is all explained in the video.
For my Emoji Cane I used a Lucy Clay Extruder with the three-small-squares disk from the Lucy Clay #2 Extruder Disk Set. This disk can be in the Lucy Clay Extruder, the Walnut Hollow Extruder and the Makins Professional Extruder. So… you could buy just the #2 Disk Set, even if you don’t have a Lucy Clay Extruder.
You can also use small round spaghetti extruder disks, hexagon disks, and square disks, depending on the style and size of pattern and cane you want to make.
If you want to create this styles of cane, I would recommend you purchase (if you haven’t got it already) my Christmas Sweater Cane Tutorial. It will provide you with all the tips and tricks that will ensure your success with making Pixel Canes… especially if you want to make larger patterns.
And if you want to purchase the Bead It, Iron It, Love It book, I’ve provided an Amazon link below the video.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi Guys! This is Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor and in today’s Studio Tip, I’m gonna
00:00:08 –> 00:00:14 show you how you can use Perler Bead Patterns, specifically the ones from this book here:
00:00:14 –> 00:00:22 Bead It, Iron It, Love It and how to use those patterns for making polymer clay canes. Now,
00:00:22 –> 00:00:29 just a little while ago, a publishing company sent me a stack of craft books for me to review
00:00:29 –> 00:00:35 and in the set was this book here. And as I started flipping through it, the first thing
00:00:35 –> 00:00:43 that came to mind was polymer clay canes. So, what this book is about is actually, it’s
00:00:43 –> 00:00:49 designed for making–for using with Perler Beads and now, if you have no idea what a
00:00:49 –> 00:00:57 Perler Bead is, it’s these little plastic beads that kids will often use. There’s several
00:00:57 –> 00:01:03 companies that make them, there’s Perler, Hama and some other kinds of and beads they’re
00:01:03 –> 00:01:11 fusible beads. So you use these beads in a set pattern on a board like this so you put
00:01:11 –> 00:01:17 your little your little beads in the right pattern on your board just like I did with
00:01:17 –> 00:01:25 this– I made a snowflake from the book actually and then what you do is you put a piece of
00:01:25 –> 00:01:32 parchment paper over top then you iron it and the heat will fuse those beads together
00:01:32 –> 00:01:40 into a–an ornament of sorts so you can use this for a Christmas ornament for a backpack
00:01:40 –> 00:01:47 charm, coasters, fridge magnets, that kind of thing. Kids love to make them and they’re
00:01:47 –> 00:01:55 really fun to do but because the patterns are done in a grid, you can make some really
00:01:55 –> 00:02:02 really cute polymer clay canes with the patterns. Now here’s one that I actually made with one
00:02:02 –> 00:02:09 of the emoji patterns in there in the book and I’ll just show you the different patterns
00:02:09 –> 00:02:16 that are in here. Now, this book has 300 patterns in it, a few instructions and a couple of
00:02:16 –> 00:02:23 projects in it but it’s mostly about the patterns themselves. So as you get in here there’s
00:02:23 –> 00:02:33 tons and tons of patterns done in a little grid style. Now, there are seasons and animals
00:02:33 –> 00:02:41 and all kinds of neat things– flowers, weather, sports. Some of these patterns are absolutely
00:02:41 –> 00:02:48 adorable look at this pair is the cutest thing ever and there’s like fruit and pineapples
00:02:48 –> 00:02:57 and sea creatures, animals, look at that moose, he’s just the cutest thing ever, all kinds
00:02:57 –> 00:03:04 of patterns in here in fact they’ll make you want to start making stuff right away. And
00:03:04 –> 00:03:10 there’s alphabets but here’s the whole page of emoticons and this is the little guy that
00:03:10 –> 00:03:15 I made right there and you can see the same little guy. Now the neat way–the neat thing
00:03:15 –> 00:03:19 about how these patterns are set up first of all they have the pattern here and the
00:03:19 –> 00:03:25 grid and how you would count everything out, but they also have alongside of it, they have
00:03:25 –> 00:03:33 the colors that you would need minus the background. Some patterns, if you’re going to try to convert
00:03:33 –> 00:03:39 them into polymer clay, you may need to put the background in. But here in this case here,
00:03:39 –> 00:03:47 if you’re going to make this little emoji, you need 88 yellow 22 white to 27 black and
00:03:47 –> 00:03:54 46 orange plus because his hair sticks out you can’t really, I mean you can remove the
00:03:54 –> 00:03:59 hair, I suppose, but if you wanted to keep the hair you also have to put in the background
00:03:59 –> 00:04:05 and you have to count out this– the pieces that you would need for that. So it’s really
00:04:05 –> 00:04:11 well perfectly suited for making polymer clay canes. Now, I’m not going to go into the whole
00:04:11 –> 00:04:18 process too far I actually have a tutorial, a paid tutorial called the Christmas Sweater
00:04:18 –> 00:04:26 Cane where I do this exact same idea of doing a pixelated pattern and there’s lots of tips
00:04:26 –> 00:04:34 and tricks to doing it to make it easy because even though it’s a simple concept, there are
00:04:34 –> 00:04:38 some things to it that can make it a little tricky especially when you do something as
00:04:38 –> 00:04:43 detailed as this but working on this little guy, i would kind of give you the the rundown
00:04:43 –> 00:04:52 how something like this was done. Now, i decided to go with a square extrusion that I extruded
00:04:52 –> 00:05:02 from my extruder. I used the disk that has– now this is from the Lucy Clay Set. Now Lucy
00:05:02 –> 00:05:09 Clay Tools does all kinds of different extruder discs here’s one here, this is the number
00:05:09 –> 00:05:17 9 disk this particular one is from disc number two and it has three small squares. It’s a
00:05:17 –> 00:05:24 nice size because when you extrude it out, it’s a reasonable size. Some of the other
00:05:24 –> 00:05:32 extruders have a larger square and if i was to make this cane out of that larger square
00:05:32 –> 00:05:38 we’d end up with something really quite large but this one is very suited for it and the
00:05:38 –> 00:05:43 nice thing about the Lucy Clay Discs is they’ll also fit in with the fit in the Lucy Clay
00:05:43 –> 00:05:49 Extruder which I’ll show you here you just pop it into the end I have some clay in there
00:05:49 –> 00:05:58 already you screwed onto the end but they’ll also fit into the Walnut Hollow and the Makins
00:05:58 –> 00:06:06 Extruders so you can use those if you wanted to get that particular disc set as well. But
00:06:06 –> 00:06:10 i’m just going to extrude a little snake so that for those of you have never seen this
00:06:10 –> 00:06:17 process before, you can see how it’s done so you and extrude of miles and miles of clay,
00:06:17 –> 00:06:23 you would cut it off into lengths. Now you never want to go shorter than about an inch
00:06:23 –> 00:06:30 and a half up in length otherwise you’re going to have– it’s going to be too difficult to
00:06:30 –> 00:06:36 to reduce it especially if it’s a large cane so you would want your snakes to be at least
00:06:36 –> 00:06:42 an inch and a half long and then you would need the numbers that were in the pattern.
00:06:42 –> 00:06:48 So on the emoji pattern you know you’ve got whatever here they’ve got him laid out here
00:06:48 –> 00:06:55 too, you would need that you know like 93 of the yellow and 40 of the orange and six
00:06:55 –> 00:07:02 of the white and 38 the black and then you just lay them out into the pattern. And go
00:07:02 –> 00:07:09 across each row until you have your design and it turns out very very cute. Now, of course,
00:07:09 –> 00:07:16 i could reduce this right down into something quite small and I’ll do that in another time
00:07:16 –> 00:07:24 but this pattern book, you know I don’t really do Perler Beads but to my kids and their friends
00:07:24 –> 00:07:30 saw some of the patterns and thought they would be really fun to do but whether you’re
00:07:30 –> 00:07:37 into the Perler Beads or if you’re into polymer clay caning this is a really really fun happy
00:07:37 –> 00:07:44 book with lots of neat patterns that can easily be converted into polymer clay canes. Now,
00:07:44 –> 00:07:51 another quick note some of these canes for example here are quite large especially when
00:07:51 –> 00:07:56 you add in the background so in order to not have to order you know I’m a truckload of
00:07:56 –> 00:08:08 clay you can actually extrude even tinier snakes. You can throw the disc halfway across
00:08:08 –> 00:08:15 the room– you can do little tiny extrusions like I did on this came here actually and
00:08:15 –> 00:08:24 even if they’re round they will end up reducing quite square so you can even use a small round
00:08:24 –> 00:08:29 cane if you like. And then one other quick note is there some neat patterns in the back
00:08:29 –> 00:08:41 here that are for octagonal shapes or hexagons, sorry and the way a hexagon pattern works
00:08:41 –> 00:08:47 if you were to use a hexagon disk there are some in like didn’t the different extruders
00:08:47 –> 00:08:56 have the hexagon disc, you would put in the rose, they would be– instead of being squares
00:08:56 –> 00:09:01 and straight on top of each other, they’re set– off set slightly and it– you would
00:09:01 –> 00:09:06 need in order to do any of these hexagons patterns you would need a hexagon shape disc
00:09:06 –> 00:09:11 in order for all the pieces to fit together or possibly a round one if you wanted to do
00:09:11 –> 00:09:17 it that way and just make sure your rows were offset. But this book really has some wonderful
00:09:17 –> 00:09:22 geometric and abstract projects as well as all the cute things. So I thought you would
00:09:22 –> 00:09:27 enjoy that it’s a different way of looking at one of these pattern books and I hope that
00:09:27 –> 00:09:36 you go check it out. Alright so I do hope you like this video and if you did, let us
00:09:36 –> 00:09:43 know and if you’ve got a product you’d like me to test, a technique you don’t know anything
00:09:43 –> 00:09:49 about, a book you’d like me to review even, leave those suggestions in the comments section
00:09:49 –> 00:09:57 below and don’t forget to check out all of the past videos we’ve done, we’ve done hundreds
00:09:57 –> 00:10:02 and hundreds of videos and there’s probably the answer to your polymer clay question in
00:10:02 –> 00:10:07 one of those videos. Alright, so we’ll see you next time and bye for now!
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Resource Links:
- Amazon: Bead It, Iron It, Love It! (book) **
- Related Video: Christmas Sweater Pixelated Cane Tutorial
- Related Video: Review Lucy Clay CzeXtruder XXL HD
- Related Video: Makins vs. Walnut Hollow Polymer Clay Extruders
- Related Video: Perler or Hama Bead Board as a Resin Doming Tray
- Related Video: Reducing a Polymer Clay Cane From Start To Finish
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Cindy:
I actually started doing perler canes before you posted your video. I am making bracelets, badges and more for Children’s Hospitals, and have had the hardest time coming up with things for boys!
But my Superman design can be used for boys or girls since Supergirl is back in the news. It was a little time consuming, but worth it I think.
Had a hard time reducing because the red was much stiffer than translucent. I do see more of these perler pattern canes in my future for kids stuff!
Kathy Weaver
Good idea for boys designs Kathy! Thanks for emailing your pictures to me. It would be great if you would post them on the members Facebook Photo Gallery Page as well, for others to see.
I can see that the difference in softness of the clay has caused you some distortion. It is really important in all cane work to have an even consistency between colors, but I think it may be especially important with the pixel canes because of the grid style of the patterns.
Next time… you may want to leach any clay that is too soft, so that you don’t run into the same issue again.
I found some cool fuse beads patterns online, will so be trying this!
Cindy, did you use the square die or round one for this?
I used the small square dies from my Lucy Clay Disks… set #2. I show it in the video I believe.
Ooops I pressed submit before I was done… You could use a round die for it if you like though. It would end up looking pretty similar once it is reduced.
Just thinking if cross stitch books would work since they are all graphed out!
Yes they are perfect for this kind of thing!
Cindy,
First, thanks for your professional “How to” videos, they are well done. I have used the Perler Bead patterns for canes and thought I would share a few more of my sources: cross stitch patterns and bead loom patterns are both great sources for cane ideas. I either google them or search on Pinterest.
Thanks Rosie! Yes any grid based pattern is well suited for making canes like these. Thanks for letting others know!
These grid designs can help the “non-artist” recreate a more complex cane pattern, than they might without the grid pattern. I would also think that wether you use round or square pixels to build the cane, it is important that the individual “pixels” be uniform in size.
Yes if you wanted to keep the pattern looking right, you would need to use all the same size of extrusions in your grid. Though the idea of mixing them up, sounds kind of intriguing… perhaps you would end up with something kind of Picasso-ish?
omg great work1
I don’t know if you already reviewed this book, but maybe it would help you to know, that the “pattern” in this book are taken from pixelartists or from game-sprites. So some (I just saw the amazon preview, so I don’t know about the whole book) are not made by the author. you could also find endless more patterns for free if you search for pixelart on google or deviantart :)
Thanks Toadette for the insight. As far as a review of this book, this video and post was all I planned to do. I can see how simple patterns like this could be easily ‘borrowed’ since they would be difficult to copyright but since I do not have knowledge of whether or not that would be the case here, I can not say either way. Like you suggested, there are lots of designs that you can get for free on a quick Google search, but one of the things I really like about this book was the fact that all these cute designs are all in one place and the colors and amounts are all figured out for you. That alone would be worth the price of the book. For me anyway…
Well, that just looks like fun all the way around. What an excellent project to due with kids or friends who are curious about polymer clay and wish to learn the basics.
Did I happen to see a quick glimpse of a pattern for the Russian Nesting Dolls? I have loved and collected these since childhood, and would love to do a caned version. Actually I’d love to figure out a way to make the nesting set out of polymer clay, lol.
Matryoshka Doll
10-Piece, Wood Matryoshka Nesting Doll
Nesting Doll
10-Piece, Matryoshka Nesting Doll
Any suggestions, Cindy?
A Nesting Doll would be so much fun to figure out how to make in polymer clay Jocelyn! You would have to use a release agent, or a barrier of some sorts between the dolls as you layered them on, but it is something that could be done. I will putt some thought into it… perhaps it could be a tutorial down the road if I figure it out? Thanks for the suggestion!
The nesting doll concept would make a great project, not just to imitate the Russian style.
Imagine them make to represent real families or friends, or a wedding party….what a cool Christmas, Wedding or Birthday present for someone special!
Thanks for considering it…
This sounds like a job for Kato Repel Gel. Perhaps make an armature from aluminum foil, and coat it with repel gel before making your doll over it?
That might work Kieran. Definitely worth a try!
This discussion is coming at the right time for me! I just bought some compressed cotton peg doll shapes.
I bought a couple of different sizes. I plan to try covering them with clay and trying to nest them.
Hmm that sounds interesting Krithika. I suppose you could bake on the fiber forms and then split them across the middle to get them off the form. Then you’d just have to figure out how to make a little lip on each of them so they would hold together. Would be a fun challenge!