Mother’s Day Craft: Melted Beads Ornament!

I am not the craftiest person in the world, but every once in awhile I see something that I just have to try out with my kids. This melted bead project is one of those and I figured Mother’s Day was the perfect opportunity to test it out. The craft is really quite simple and the possibilities are endless as to what you can use your creations for.  For now we decided to stick with something relatively easy, but in future I think we will try making something a bit more challenging like key chains, sun catchers and even jewelry!  The items you will need to make your Mother’s Day craft are pretty easy.

Supplies:

• assorted plastic beads in a variety of colours
• muffin tin, tart pans or tinfoil trays
• ribbon or strips of tulle
• an oven

Instructions:

The first thing you want to do is preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Make sure you let the oven heat all the way for even melting. 🙂 The next step is to make sure your muffin tin or tart pans are clean and dry inside.  There is no need to line your pans with anything because the melted beads will not stick to the bottom.  I did not want to use my good baking pans so I bought these tart pans at the dollar store, but going forward I would like to try out the tinfoil trays.

Now it is time to let the inner creative you escape!  My daughter Emily and I decided to do a pattern with coordinating colours, while William wanted a more random look.  If you take a close look at mine, the design with the purple in it, you can see the pattern is a bit off while Emily’s, in the blue, is even.  This is because I used two different sized beads while she used all the same size.  I don’t think this is a big deal as art is expressive of one’s own taste.  To each his own!

One tip to remember is to keep the beads all with the hole facing up.  This allows the bead room to expand as it melts.  To be honest I am not sure what would happen if you lay them on their sides.  Maybe I will try it that way the next time and see!

Once your design is complete just pop the trays into the oven.  It should take about thirty minutes for the beads to melt, but I suggest checking on them throughout the process.  It is cool to see them change shape and the kids got a kick out of it!

Once the beads have melted to your satisfaction take the trays out of the oven and let them cool for at least twenty minutes or so.  The beads will pop right out of the pans when they have cooled down.  If it is a chilly day you could put them outside to speed up the process.

It should be noted that some beads will let off fumes when they are melting so you will want to turn on a fan or crack a window.  To be honest ours did not smell at all, but perhaps that is due to the quality of the bead.  By that I mean cheap. 🙂

The finished product!

The last step is to decide how to display your melted bead craft.  In our case there were several spaces or holes in the beads to use for hanging.  I used a piece of tulle and two types of ribbon to decorate the finished pieces.  If your completed craft does not have any holes ready to use you will need to drill a hole with a small drill bit.  That is where my hubby would come in, but fortunately we did not need to use a drill for ours.

What do you think of our Mother’s Day Melted Beads craft?

FT&PD

Suz