Melted Bead Ornaments DIY

If you liked this post, and have tried your own melted bead bowl, you will love this great DIY to create these colorful melted bead ornaments! If you have a tween, chances are, you have a bucket of meltable beads (like Perler Beads©) sitting around. The concept of melting the beads together in a design is the same, but with this technique, the results are more artistic and a little bit like your own melted bead art experiment. Every ornament is unique and depending how each bead melts, the end result is always cool and colorful.

First, place metal cookie cutters on a cooking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Spray the cookie cutters with a little non-stick spray to help them not stick after melting.

Arrange your meltable beads in ONE layer on the bottom inside of each cookie cutter. Push the beads in place if you need to make one layer.

Then place them in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

This is before:

And this is after:

Let them cool, and then punch them out of each cookie cutter.

I then strung a 1/8″ wide ribbon through one of the top holes of the beads to hang. These would look great hanging on a tree or wrapped on a gift with a pretty bow. The colors and the way the light looks when it goes through them, I had to hang them on one of our windows. Lovely!

You can tailor the colors for each ornament, but you get just as satisfying effect by randomly picking a handful of beads and seeing what colorful melted creation you get. For instance, I put mostly green beads with a few colored beads in the Christmas tree melted bead ornament on the right. I used a palette of pinks in the middle heart ornament and a random sampling in the heart ornament on the left.

This would make a great homemade teacher’s gift, or a fun craft activity for a girl scout meeting. Whatever you choose, I hope you have as much fun as my tween and I did.

Check out the DIY video on how to make your own melted bead bowl too. Happy melted beading!

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  29 comments for “Melted Bead Ornaments DIY

  1. February 7, 2012 at 6:12 am

    These are awesome too, love it!

  2. February 8, 2012 at 11:38 am

    Just tried this with my kids, but we can’t get them out of the cookie cutters. Help! What did we do wrong?

    • February 8, 2012 at 11:57 am

      So glad you tried them! Once they cool, you should be able to pop them out. You may want to try and spray a little cookie spray along the edges on the inside if you are still having trouble. Are you using metal cookie cutters?

  3. Ewa
    February 18, 2012 at 10:31 am

    I tried this with my boys the other day and used their sisters plastic hamma beads. Not sure what went wrong, lol, but they would not come out of the cookie cutters. They are stuck solid!

    • February 18, 2012 at 1:50 pm

      Oh man, that is funny. Next time maybe try to spray a little cooking spray in cookie cutters before baking. Happy crafting!

  4. March 12, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    i have placket cookie cuters will they work for thsi cool craft

    • March 12, 2012 at 4:37 pm

      Hi Elizabeth, Unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend plastic cookie cutters for this craft. I am afraid they would melt along with the beads. Try metal ones if you have them. Good luck!

  5. Nenette
    April 16, 2012 at 10:50 am

    What a great idea! I can’t wait to try this beautiful craft to my day care kids.
    Thanks!
    Nenette

  6. Vone
    December 5, 2012 at 11:42 am

    I wish I rad the comments before I tried – mine are also stuck 🙁

  7. Priscilla
    December 8, 2012 at 9:45 am

    I tried these several different ways. What I found that spraying with veggie oil turned the beads colors and still didn’t make it easier to release. So what I do is spray them them, put the beads in or have the kids bead them up. Bake for 10 minutes, cool for 5, freeze for 5 and them drop them into a pot of boiling dish water in the stove for 5 minutes. They pop right out and are clean

    • December 8, 2012 at 11:47 am

      very good advice. Great technique. Bravo for for your craftiness!

  8. rebekah
    December 11, 2012 at 3:07 pm

    I did this & while they were still warm I popped them out without any problem.
    Did 20 in about 15 minutes.

  9. Cathy
    September 29, 2013 at 7:39 am

    I did this and for the ten minutes at 400 and they melted completely so there is no hole to put a string through. 🙁

    • September 29, 2013 at 8:07 am

      Hi Cathy,
      Your oven must run a little hotter than mine. Try another batch for 5-7 minutes and they shouldn’t get as melty. I know when we were melting bead bowls the longer we left them in the oven the more the beads melted together. Good luck. try again. = )

  10. Janella
    October 16, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    I have also seen these where you just leave them in the cookie cutter, especially if doing them for Christmas.

  11. Judy May
    October 22, 2013 at 8:04 am

    Can this also be done with transparent colored beads?

    • October 22, 2013 at 10:49 am

      You can melt colored transparent beads, but it is a little different technique and tutorial. Stay tuned! I’m working on a DIY for that exact thing now! = )

  12. jessica
    December 1, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and then spray it with Pam (also spray the cutter prior to decorating). They slipped out very nicely. We are going to use these as decorations on our presents as well. What a great idea! Thank you for sharing.

  13. carrie
    December 3, 2013 at 8:04 am

    yep, mine are stuck too. wish i had read the comments. 🙁

    • December 3, 2013 at 8:47 am

      Oh no, so sorry they stuck. I have updated the post to include using non-stick spray.

  14. February 2, 2014 at 7:25 am

    Hey there! Wonder if I’ll hear back quickly … I was just wondering I haven’t read anyone complaining about SMELL–Did this NOT smell up the house with fumes? We need to do this TODAY LOL! I was actually expecting the answer in the comments too LOL ;D
    Jeanine

    • February 2, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Hi Jeanine,
      Thanks for the question. I hope you try this today. I did not experience a bad smell. I think because perler beads are meant to be melted. This is just a new technique. Just make sure to spray your cookie cutters with non-stick spray and keep an eye on them until they are the perfect “meltiness”. Have fun!

  15. Lori Z.
    October 17, 2014 at 11:18 am

    When the ornaments are finished, are they fragile? Would they snap in two easily? Just curious of durability. Thanks!

    • October 20, 2014 at 9:21 am

      Hi Lori, actually they aren’t brittle at all. Think in terms of one giant pony bead. They are actually strong enough, they could work as a plastic plate or tray. Hope that helps!
      Thanks for the question.
      Pauline

  16. Joseph
    January 19, 2015 at 7:44 am

    I bet if you put in one metal bead that would solve the problem of the plastic beads melting to a point of not having a hole to string through, gonna try this and see how it turns out, thanks for the project idea!

    • January 19, 2015 at 8:09 pm

      Actually I thought the same thing, and tested it out, but the plastic beads wouldn’t stick to the metal bead. Good thinking though!

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