After explaining my injury in yesterday's post (which is much better already, yay!) a few folks questioned why I was melting pony beads. I thought I'd explain...

I got the idea, like so many cool ideas, from Craftster. You can see a bunch of melted bead projects here if you want. She did a fabulous clear version of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" among other things. I am thinking of trying to make some funky soap dishes for Christmas presents. Oh yeah, don't read today's post if you normally get Christmas presents from me!

Anyway, you just take the plain old pony beads that are a buck or two a bag at Wal-Mart, and arrange them in a way that's pleasing to the eye on something that's safe to heat. I was using a large metal bowl when I burned myself, but I've also used stoneware covered with aluminum foil. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and give it 15-30 minutes. The time can vary depending on how many beads you're melting, what kind of beads they are (the glitter ones seem to take longer), and what kind of container you're melting them in. Obviously, you want to open a window or turn on the hood fan or something while you do this, but the fumes really aren't that bad.

Check every 5 minutes or so, and when they're melted to your satisfaction remove them from the oven. If your container will stand it, you can run cold water over the hot mess to get them out faster. I wouldn't do that if you're using your stoneware, but it worked well in the metal bowl.

Oh, and I haven't tried this myself, but I read on Craftster that the shiny metallic looking pony beads create really noxious fumes while melting, so I'd avoid those.

When I have a few projects done, I'll take photos and post them for you!

Labels: crafting