Everyone has had a go at threading pony beads, but how many of you have tried melting pony beads instead?
We had a go not so long ago. It was a lot of fun. We had a play with a few bits and pieces to see what would work and what wouldn’t. The possibilities are endless.
This is a craft that will need some careful supervision. Let the little people design their creations, but melting pony beads is a job for the grown ups.
Before we get started with the creative side of things, preheat your oven to about 200 degrees Celsius. You don’t want to be waiting around for it later.
Start by lining an old baking tray with some greaseproof paper. Then arrange the beads into the shapes you’d like. we made a few flowers to start with. We wanted to see how they turned out before we tried any adventurous designs.
The next bit is definitely for the grown ups. Im sure this goes without saying, but please do not let little people near hot ovens.
Place the tray in the oven for about 5-10 minutes. This will vary depending on your oven, so don’t forget about it. Melted plastic doesn’t smell great, so please be careful not to breathe in the fumes. Open windows where you can. One they have melted remove from the oven and leave them to cool completely.
They turned out pretty well! One of the pink ones could have been better. I think the beads were not close enough together with that one.
The flowers we glued onto hair clips using a hot glue gun. You could try a bit of super glue perhaps if you don’t have a hot glue gun. But I have found the hot glue works best here.
I have a small Dremel drill, which i used to make the keyring. If you don’t have a Dremel drill, you could make a small hole with a metal needle as soon as you take it out of the oven, before the plastic sets.
We tried a bigger design next. This would be more of a sun catcher. To be honest, we were just messing around with the colours and seeing what would happen.
Whilst we were in the swing of it, I couldn’t help but try something a bit more elaborate…
The colours ran a tiny bit, and some of the beads moved as I transferred it to the oven, but it’s not a bad effort. I will hang this one in the window when its cooled.
You could use also use metal cookie cutters to shape your design. Just arrange your beads inside the cutter and bake for the same amount of time. I found a 3D cookie cutter set in the drawer, so we had a go with that. You will need quite a bit of force to push them out of the cutters once they have cooled, but they will come out.
This is the easier option for younger kids. My three year old enjoyed this far more than designing his own.
Have a go. Let me know how you get on!
Happy Crafting!
Beading Brilliant 