Nov 26, 2009

Melted Bead Suncatcher tutorial.....Melting Beads.....it's oh so fun!

If you have girls you probably have a huge collection of various plastic beads. At some point your girls will probably out grow the desire to string endless strands of pony bead necklaces and you will be left wondering.......What do I do with all these left over beads?

I have the answer for you.........

You melt them!


By doing a little web surfing I found out that you can transform plastic beads into bowls, sun catchers, lamp shapes, night lights, jewelry and cool Christmas ornaments!

For our first melted bead projects we made a few sun catchers.

Here is what I did.

1. First, decide on a shape you want your sun catcher to be. I used some light weight disposable Reynolds molds that I bought at the 99 cents store.

You can also use cookie cutters, pie tins or just free form it!

2. Place the beads in a single layer on the bottom of the form. Try to fill the entire area the best you can to avoid holes (but holes can be cool).

3. I melt my beads at 425 for approximately 25 minutes. The time needed to melt the beads will depend on a few factors, size of your beads and your oven. Less melting times = the beads holding more of their original shape. More melting time = more blending.

Warning**Melting beads lets off toxic fumes that are strong enough to lower your IQ!

I highly recommend that you melt your beads in an old toaster oven that is placed on your back patio or another well ventilated area.  Seriously people, these stink and I'm sure the fumes are bad for you.

If you aren't worried about your IQ and use your indoor oven make sure you have plenty of ventilation by opening the doors, windows and running a fan or two.

Just the little whiff's I got by opening the door to the toaster oven was enough to make me feel like I had probably lost a few brain cells in the process (but it is worth it).


More molds!


4. After we melted our beads we let them cool and then peeled them out of their tin foil forms. I also tried using a cookie cuter and the cooled plastic popped right out of it.

5. Next I grabbed my supply of soft 24 gauge wire to wrap around the girls creations.


After a few wraps and curly-q's.


A sun catcher was born!


After looking at these completed sun catchers I was thinking how cute they would look with some coordinating seed beads added to the wire.

The possibilities are endless.

***added 2/15/12 -- If you want to pin this craft on Pinterest....Yee haw and thank you.  However, could you just pin a picture and refrain from copying all of my text into the pin.  Thanks and happy crafting.

Here are some links to some other melted bead tutorials:

Bowls
Bracelet & ring
Art
Lampshade
Night light cover

Happy Crafting!
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49 comments:

K said...

that is WAY cool! Too cool! No wonder they call you One Crafty Mama.
I'm calling my girls to go find beads...

Turtles In Northern Florida said...

definitely way cool!

Casey's trio said...

Beautiful!! I love this idea:)

Danielle Moss // Graphic Design and Photography said...

Such a CUTE project. Love it!

Rhonda said...

that is VERY CUTE, and what a great way to use up those old beads we don't use anymore! thanks for the great idea!

The Blonde Duck said...

That is a brilliant idea!!!!

And I love your Thanksgiving story last post.

Pam said...

This is the neatest craft!

Chris said...

I may actually try this -- what a cool idea. And I'll keep it outside -- my brain cells are precious and few.

Jen said...

those are awesome! Too beautiful, really. You are just so crafty, I guess that is why you blog at One Crafty Momma. ;)

Kacey said...

That is REALLY cool!

Sam_I_am said...

those r really cool. ur so crafty!

More Than Words said...

Oh my gosh, that is so cool!!!!!

EG CameraGirl said...

Yours turned out very well and look great in the light.

Girl Tornado said...

How cool! I love these. You are just too, too crafty sometimes. :)

Lindsay said...

What fun! I love how bright and cheery they look. Just what I need, another project idea.... ;)

Tabitha Blue said...

So cute. Such a good idea and a fun project. I just love that star sun catcher you made :)

Unknown said...

These came out awesome!!

Mandy said...

That is cool! I think my kids would love a craft like that. Problem is...we don't have beads around. LOL Guess I'll have to get some! :)

scrappysue said...

that is SUCH a GREAT idea michelle! i never would have thought of that - so colourful too!

Anonymous said...

Those are so awesome! I may need to invest in an old toaster oven. As I do need to keep every brain cell I have left.

Melanie @ Whimsical Creations said...

What a cool idea!!

tiarastantrums said...

Hey - I LOVE this idea! My kids would have so much fun with this! Beats me picking these little tiny beads up off the floor!

The Blonde Duck said...

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

Liz Mays said...

Oh hey...this was written during my blogcation! No fair!

Those are gorgeous! I wouldn't have thought it could turn out like that.

The only thing we've done with beads and heat is to med them together onto those plastic grid thingies. That was fun, but not beautiful like these are!

annies home said...

what a cool idea I have never seen this before and think it is great

Live.Love.Eat said...

No girls or beads here but I have to say, those sun catchers came out fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tracie said...

That looks like a great project for our 4th grade scouts.

Angela @ Nine More Months said...

Those turned out awesome! Great ideas for Christmas presents!

Anonymous said...

Great craft idea! I am going to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

Jenners said...

Oh...I am so doing this when the weather is warmer and I can "cook" them outside!!! I need all the brain cells I can get!

Chic Mommy said...

You are a genious. I have to try this sometime. Perhaps when the weather outside isnt -10.

P.S. Im another crafty mama, check out my blog sometime

http://www.craftychicmommy.blogspot.com/

Merry Mack said...

OMG! I love.

Joanne said...

Hopped over from crafty chic mama today. LOVE this idea! Off to check off the rest of your blog!

Joanne @ Ready, Set, Craft!
http://www.readysetcraft.blogspot.com

steph said...

oh my goodness! It's so cool and easy. i really WANT to be crafty but i feel like a big dummy when it comes to trying to come up with stuff. i bought a cricut machine, but i haven't done a thing with it yet.

thanks for the comment over on my blog! i love SITS!

Kathy C. said...

Michelle, that is so neat. I've never heard of that before, where've I been? LOL
Those are so pretty, and I usually see bags of beads at the thrift store. Gonna have to check this out...but definitely using the back porch, lol.

Sharibbles said...

love this...thanks!!

hannah said...

I have to admit that the results look great, but I sure hope none of my neighbours are planning to do this. Very dangerous indeed, even out of doors.

lily said...

absolutely awesome....what a great craft!!!! and i posted it at my fb site

Leslie said...

Can't wait to try this!

marie said...

I overheard someone talking about melting plastic beads for suncatchers...so I "googled" that phrase and your post came up. Sounds like great fun. I can't wait to try it.

Thanks for sharing it...back in Nov. of 2009!

Anonymous said...

I just made these and cooked them on the grill at 500 for just 10 minutes and it worked perfectly and no fumes in the house.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Hi I want to try this using cookie cutters. What can I use on the cookie sheet to prevent it from sticking? Thanks!

Cali Horton said...

Hi is it possible to use a smaller mold to make a necklace charm? And if I cook it in a toaster oven is it safe to still cook food in ? I'd really like to try...

Tanya said...

I followed this from Pinterest as I am looking into melting beads I inherited....

Have you ever tried swirling the beads when they are heating? I forsee a nice change up of color but maybe they just muddy up?

Lisa said...

Hi,
I was wondering if you could tell me what you did differently with the last two photos of stars? I really like the clear, transparent look of your last star - did you do something different to get that glassy look?? I am just starting to try melting shot glasses and beads and I find that my colors are too blotchy rather than the glassy, transparent kind. Any advice would be very welcome!
Thanks so much for sharing this craft with all of us.

MtnLady said...

Did yours turn out cloudy on one side?
Thank you.

Blogger said...

great idea! Rosewood Beads are what i use

angiG said...

So you posted this quite a while ago but I am glad it is still available. Today my mother in law and I tried using the faceted beads and in other ones we tried the pony beads. I recommend that they are separated into different batches because the pony beads take less time then faceted beads. I much prefer the faceted beads which I found to very pretty when done. We did not notice a lot of smell with ours. But we did have the door open because it was a pretty day.

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