Ideas, Beads |
- Choosing beads
- Ironing paper
- Pegboards
- Freeform
- Text
- Don't mix beads of different materials
- Be careful with the pegs
- Massproduction
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1 Choosing beads (ironing beads)
Most of what I have on this site is about ironing beads and most about the original Nabbi.
There are several brands on the market. I have used Nabbi for many years and I like them.
If you are not satisfied with the beads you have bougth somewhere, you can try other brands
and notice the differens.
| Here you can read more about Nabbi and polyethene |
2 Ironing paper
When you iron the beads together, you need an ironing paper or something like it
between the beads and the iron.
You can use paper called iron paper.
Greasproof paper or oven paper are often cheaper and often better.
I prefer a paper that lets me lift the paper with the ironed figure,
losen it with a semisharp knife and let the figure get cold under a book
or form it if I want a bended figure.
If well ironed figures stick to the pegboard when you remove the paper,
you risk to deform it when you take the warm figure from the pegboard.
If you want a glossy surface and maybe iron on both sides, I recommend you
to use a teflon sheet, but then you have to iron more than once and turn the figure around.
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3 Pegboards
Usually you use pegboards when you make bead figures
You put beads in a pattern on the pegboard, put iron paper on top and
iron the figure together.
You make the pattern on the whole pegboard or on a part of it.
You can glue the figure on to something, lika a wooden plate, plastic plate
or one of the frames that are made to fit the pegboards.
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4 Freeform
Sometimes you want to make a figure, and there is no pegboard for it.
When I needed a map of Sweden, I drew a map on a paper, put glue on a part
of the paper and placed the beads in the glue.
To make the spettkaka (a speciallity from Skåne in Sweden)
I needed rings i diferent sizes. I put the beads on the sticky side of masking tape and ironed them.
Then I could glue them together making a spettkaka.
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5 Text
All kids like to write their names. When you want a text on a bead figure,
it can be a bit difficult to make the letters mirrored to get them right,
when the figure is ironed. One way of solving that problem is to write like
you want it when the figure is ironed and then put a similar pegboard on top
so the pegs fit in the hole of the laid beads. Then you hold it together
and turn it all, take away the first pegboard and hey presto, there you
have your figure ready to be ironed.
Same method can be used to mirror an already laid motif.
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6 Don't mix beads of different materials
When you iron beads together, it is important that they have the same
melting point. If you have had the bad luck of getting one singel bead
with wrong melting point, it is enough to destroy a big nice figure.
If you are uncertain which plastic there is in the beads you maybe
got as a present or found on your attic, you can use them when you glue
a picture, make neclaces, sew or weave with the beads.
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7 Be careful with the pegs
Sometimes you want to make a little figure on a large pegboard.
Then it is easily happend that the iron destroy some of the pegs.
One way to minimize the risk, is to put some extra beads on the emty surface,
so the iron has support outside the figure.
An other way is using masking tape. You lay the figure right, tape it together with
masking tape, press it carefully, turn the pegboard with the beads around and take off
the pegboard. Place it on a sturdy surface and iron as usually.
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8 Massproduction
Little kids sometimes find it difficult to follow a pattern, but
they want to make the motif, or a bigger group of children want to
make many similar figures. In that case, you can draw the pattern with
a pencil on the pegboard.
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If you want to help them with the colors too, you can use colored pencils.
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