The University of Idaho Argonaut

Maybe when you were a kid you played with the infamous Perler beads. These quite boring, plastic, tube-shaped beads can be made into some ugly jewelry or something even better. The beads are traditionally placed on pegboards and then ironed, causing the beads to fuse (or melt) together into one solid colorful mass. I recently discovered that the best things to make with the Perler beads are classic eight-bit and 16-bit video game characters. These little characters can be made into magnets, hung on the walls, rearview mirror in your car or anything else you feel like doing with them.

What you'll need:

- Perler beads: These are pretty cheap and can be bought at any craft store or even at Wal-Mart. They usually come in buckets of 5,000 for $10 or in smaller kits with specialty pegboards.
- Pegboards: Most kits come with these, but you'll probably want one that's square-shaped. The best are the huge ones that lock together. You'll more than likely need just one, but it's better to have extra space on your board than to run out.
- A piece of ironing paper: To prevent the beads from melting straight onto the iron. This comes with the beads.
- An iron: Any size or kind will do.
- A flat surface: or any other oven-safe tray
- An image of your favorite character from an old video game

Step 1:
Find your image.

Try doing a Google search on your favorite character and pick the best picture you can find. I tend to have a special spot in my heart for Mario or Link ­— anything classic Nintendo. The goal here is to see each individual pixel, because each bead is going to be like a pixel when you put them on the pegboard. Try zooming in on the image before you print it out.

While the image may seem blocky, that’s exactly what you want. Make note of the colors you’ll need, especially if you’re printing in black and white. If you are printing in black and white, make sure you’ll be able to tell where the different colors go in your image. Try coloring on the paper or making a key for reference.

Step 2:
Get your beads ready.

Make sure that you have each color you think you’ll need and enough of each individual shade. Running out of one particular color that you need sucks, so try to plan ahead.

Step 3:
Start placing your beads on the pegboard.

Remember, each pixel, or block on the image, represents an individual bead. For some designs it may be easier to draw lines on the image, like a grid, to break it up. Start on one side or in one corner and work through the image slowly and carefully. Be cautious to not knock over any of the other already-placed beads. As you add more beads, you should start to see the image on the pegboard more clearly. If you feel like your fingers are too clumsy, try tweezers.

Step 4:
Iron away.
Carefully cover the beads with the ironing paper in preparation for the ironing. You’ll want to place the iron flat on top of the beads and paper, and slowly move across the surface for a minute or so, but not for too long because they will melt into plastic goo.

Make sure to check to see if they’ve fused together without completely melting by setting the iron aside and carefully lifting the paper. If all the beads stick, you’re in the clear. Once the beads have cooled, just peel the paper off and flip it over, and repeat the process on the other side. If your beads don’t fuse all the way, no worries, just place the paper back onto them and try the ironing process again quickly.

Now you’ve got some totally awesome video game characters all made out of little plastic beads. Make pins, magnets or whatever you like. Give them to your fellow geek friends or keep them all for yourself