In an effort to show you more great things you can make from Perler Bead sprites, I thought I’d write a quick tutorial on making Perler Bead keychains.
Perler Bead keychains make great gifts for friends and family. AND, of course, your kids will love being able to showcase their artwork by clipping them on their backpack, jacket, or even lunchbox.
Plus they are so simple to to make. You can turn a finished Perler Bead sprite into a keychain in less than a minute.
One of the great things about this project it you can take any small Perler Bead project and turn it into a usable item. BUT, if you are making this project and have never used Perler Beads, you may need a bit of help getting started. If that’s the case, be sure to check out my Ultimate Perler Bead beginners guide.
Supplies needed for Perler Bead Keychains
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- Small Perler Bead Sprite
- Key Chains
- 10 mm or 12 mm jump rings
- Pliers
The links above will lead you to my suggestions on Amazon if you need any of the supplies. Honestly, you can get the key chains and the jump rings for a cheaper price at your local craft store. But, the pliers with the jump rings are a sweet deal.
Now, you may have noticed that I chose a key ring with a clasp on it. That’s because I knew my keychains would be used on backpacks, and locking key rings are easier for kids to use. You could also use a ring type key chain, it’s a personal choice.
Making your Perler Bead sprite
The sprite you are using for this project, needs to be fairly small. The examples I used in pictures on this post are on the extreme side of small. You can go bigger than mine. Just make sure that the sprite fits on a small pegboard of any shape. No one wants a giant keychain, right?
Also, you’ll need to make sure the Perler Bead sprite is well ironed on both sides. By ironing on both sides the sprite will be sturdier. This is a usable piece of art and you don’t want it falling apart.
Even though I just said to iron well, you also need to make sure your Perler Bead design does not get ironed to the point where the holes completely close. The jump ring will go through the hole in one of the beads, so you do need to leave a small opening in the beads when melting.
Creating Perler Bead Keychains
Once you’ve picked or created your Perler Bead design all that’s left to do is attach the key chain.
This is really easy, but does take several steps:
- Open the jump ring (you can use your fingers or the pliers)
- Put the jump ring through a hole in a bead at the top of the Perler Bead sprite
- Thread the jump ring through the end of the keychain.
- Using pliers, firmly close the jump ring
Steps to make your Perler Bead key chain
That’s it! You now have an awesome keychain.
Tips and Tricks for making a Perler Bead keychain
- You can see the key rings that I made, but if they don’t suit your fancy, check out my Perler Bead Pinterest board. There are many small Perler Bead designs that you could use.
- The reason I suggest using the 10 or 12 mm jump rings because they are larger and easier to thread through both the Perler Bead sprite and the key chain. The larger ones are also easier to open and close. If you are an expert jewelry maker, you could more than likely use a smaller jump ring or even the one that is already on the keychain.
- All DIY keychains are not created equal. There are different ones for different uses. You want to make sure you purchase ones that have a way to attach the jump ring.
- If the hole in the Perler Bead sprite is not large enough to thread the jump ring in it, use a large safety pin to widen the hole. You’ll just need to stick the pin into the hole and wiggle it a bit and you should be fine.
- If after using the safety pin, your hole still isn’t big enough, you can heat the safety pin up with a lighter first, and it will help melt the bead so that you can make the hole even larger.
- It’s worth stating that turning Perler Bead works of art into keychains is not something a child could do easily. Let your budding artist make the sprite and you can make it into a keychain for them.
- For you extreme beaders, try making keychains with mini beads. You can make a much more detailed sprite with out it being too large.
Now go forth and make key chains!
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