How To Make Star Wars Perler Bead Coasters

If you are looking for a quick and easy craft to celebrate Star Wars Day, look no further. These Star Wars Perler Bead coasters not only look great, but they are also easy to make. Plus, they are completely functional. W00T!

Easy to make Star Wars Perler Bead Coasters

I have to admit that I didn’t have the kiddos help on this project. Wonder Boy was busy making Gravity Falls Perler projects, and Paige was working on her skills with MarioKart 8. I couldn’t let Star Wars Day pass without making something for my favorite franchise though. So I sat down with Wonder Boy and worked on my Empire and Rebel logos. That’s still one of my favorite things about Perler Beads you can create ANYTHING.

Ok, lets make some Star Wars Perler Bead Coasters!

Easy to make Star Wars Perler Bead Coasters

Supplies Needed for Star Wars Perler Bead Coasters

Black and white Perler Beads
1 sheet of black felt
Scissors
Black Marker
Glue (anything heavy duty or a hot glue gun)

Creating the Perler Bead logos

The first thing you are going to need to do is make the Perler Bead portion of your coasters. If you are new to Perler Beads, check out my Perler Bead Instructions.

Since we are celebrating Star Wars Day, I chose to make black and white logos for both the Empire and the Rebels from Star Wars. You don’t have to make yours monochromatic, but I thought that they would look cool. Plus, black and white fits better in my decor than the traditional Star Wars black, red and white of these logos.

To start, you’ll need to make two of each logo. I’ve provided the patterns in the image below. Make one for each exactly as shown, and then make one for each with the colors reversed.

Easy Star Wars Empire and Rebel logo patterns for coasters

As you can see, the patterns fit on a small circle Perler Bead pegboard. I’ll admit that this isn’t the perfect size for coasters, but I wanted to use a pegboard size that most people would have. The small circle comes in many of the Perler Bead buckets, so it’s more universal. Now, I’m not saying that these coasters are going to be too small to use. They fit a can of soda or many cups perfectly. BUT they are not ideal for a larger mug, like a coffee cup. They are just a tad too small. So, if you have a large circle pegboard, you can add another row of beads around the outside of the pattern and all your cups should fit perfectly.

The Force is strong with these coasters

Directly after melting your beads place heavy books on top of them while they cool. This will help to keep them flat. I’m not sure why, but sometimes Perler Bead projects curl up after they’ve been ironed. A lot of times it doesn’t really matter, or you may not even notice. In this case, it’s important that your 4 Perler Bead logos lie flat or your coasters may be warped.

Turning your Perler Bead logos into coasters

There’s really only one more step for completing your Star Wars Perler Bead coasters. They need some kind of backing. Perler Beads have holes in them no matter HOW much melting happens. The ONE job of coasters are to protect your table. So a coaster with a bunch of holes is pretty useless. The backing is going to give your table the protection it needs.

There are several things you can use for backing on Perler Bead coasters. I chose to use plain, cheap, felt. You could also use thin cork or crafting foam sheets. No matter what medium of backing you use, the instructions are the same.

Trace one of your Perler Bead Star Wars logos onto the felt. I had to use a black marker for this because I couldn’t see the line I traced with anything else I used. Repeat this 3 more times, one for each future coaster.

Now you have a black piece of felt with 4 circles. You’ll need to cut each of the circles out. Make each circle of felt a little bit smaller than the line you traced so that the felt won’t show from the top of the coaster. If you don’t get it perfect the first time, you can trim it. Mine weren’t exactly circles when I was done, as you can see from my picture, but they do the trick.

The final step is gluing one circle of felt on the back of each Star Wars Perler Bead logo. I used E6000 glue for this project, but I think you could also use hot glue.