New Jen's Horde


Friday, September 22, 2006

Melted Pony Beads

 
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:


Comments:
Can't wait to see the pics! Sorry to hear about the mishap but glad you are almost healed! I scrolled down to read about the "Lama". He seems like a great individual - very down to earth. I found out that he was about an hour or hour and a half from where I live the DAY OF...I wasn't pleased...if I would have known this prior I would have been there for sure! Thanks for the entries! I enjoy them!
 
I'll def be checking out that site...I need Cmas ideas!!!
 
I love it! I'm so uncreative, I would have never thought something like this even possible.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Oh, now I get it.
 
Sorry to hear about your ailment, Jen.
 
Um, I don't even know what 'pony beads' are. Shows how crafy I am.

ER was great. Very suspenseful. And left another cliffhanger at the end!
 
Wow! It sounds so powerful and destructive to melt pony beads! I haven't even baked Fimo clay for fear of fuming up the house. What did you make on the metal bowl?
 
What a neat craft idea! I am gonna read the previous post now to catch up on the details of your injury.
 
Glad your arm is feeling better... trip is going great, but lots of blog fodder...hee hee
 
I'd love to see what it looks like!
 
wow i think that it looks totally neat. (i checked out the links)
but wich ones are the poney beads. i feel totally stupid asking.. but i'm drawing a blank.
 
good post :)
 
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