Unsure about using Perler Mini Beads? Check out my Mini Perler Bead review to see what I thought about them.
Have you heard of mini Perler Beads?
Mini beads are a type of melting beads that are…well, mini.
All throughout my Perler Bead adventure, I’ve heard people talk about using mini beads. Until today, I had never tried them.
Now, I’ve wanted to try them for a long time. I even bought a small kit, but I was so daunted by their actual size that it has just been sitting with the rest of my Perler Bead supplies for about a year.
I finally decided that I needed to try them because I love making things with my Perler Bead sprites, and I’ve seen many people making keychains and earrings with Perler mini beads. So here we are, and I’m going to give you a detailed review of my first impressions of working with mini Perler beads.
What you need when working with Perler Mini Beads
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The supplies you need differ just a little than what you need when working with normal Perler Beads.
- You, of course, need mini beads.
- You also need a special mini bead pegboard. The melting beads are so small that they do not fit on a regular pegboard.
- You can use the same ironing paper as you do with regular Perler Beads.
- There is one thing that I think is a must; mini bead tweezers. It would be painful to work with these beads without tweezers to pick them up. I have the Artkal brand tweezers, but Perler also makes their own mini bead tweezers.
Before we get too far into it, I do want to mention that working with mini beads is not for small children. Perler states that they are for ages 12 and up. I tend to agree. The dexterity and patience needed to create projects with mini beads is not something a small child possesses. Plus, the mini bead tweezers are pointy; like stab yourself and bleed pointy. They are not something you want to give to small kids.
Ok, lets begin.
Mini Perler Bead Size
You guys, I cannot stress enough how tiny these things are. They make a normal Perler Bead look like a mammoth.
The photo below is a normal 5mm midi bead next to a mini Perler Bead. It’s a decent size difference.
Now, that’s not a bad thing. That’s the idea, you can make much more detailed projects with mini beads without making HUGE projects. The size of mini beads also makes them perfect to make earrings and keychains.
Fun fact, a mini bead can fit inside a midi bead. People use them as accents in their projects. So yes, they are tiny…but we knew that. The fact that they are so tiny is why I’m trying them out…but my GAWD they are tiny.
To give you another idea of the size difference here is the same pattern. One is done with mini beads, and the other is done with midi Perler Beads. Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the size difference.
Look at the tiny Mini Perler Bead sprite versus the one made with normal Perler Beads
Putting Mini Beads on the Pegboard
So first things first. I do not recommend trying to do this without mini bead tweezers. They really help with the process. These beads are hard to pick up and place using just your fingers.
When I say hard to pick up with your fingers, I mean almost impossible and not even a little bit fun. It took me placing about 4 beads this way to realize it wasn’t in my reality.
The problem is multi faceted. First of all, they are hard to pick up and then hard to get in the right peg on your pegboard. I mean, I had to roll them into their spot sometimes. BUT, then you must fill in the beads once you’ve got several on your board. You can try, but there is a huge chance that you will knock the beads you’ve already placed off their peg on the board. It’s frustrating. So just plan on using mini bead tweezers. You can actually use any precision tweezers, they don’t have to be for mini beads, they just have to be really pointy.
Ok, so now you have your tweezers and you are going to put them on your board. Honestly, it’s just about the same as using normal Perler Beads. It just takes longer.
Whatever you do, just don’t move. Like FOR REAL do not bump your workspace or pegboard in any way, shape, or form. Beads will fly. Of course, that can happen with normal size beads, but with mini beads it takes a much smaller movement for all your hard work to be destroyed. I’m not 100% sure, but I think you need to not even breathe deeply…just kidding. But a heavy cough might send them flying.
Also, use care when moving your finished sprite so that you don’t knock them out of place. I know, you have to use care with all Perler Bead projects when moving them, but again, it’s much easier to move these tiny beauties out of place.
All in all, putting mini beads on your pegboard is pretty simple if you use tweezers, but keeping them there isn’t that easy. They can easily be dislodged from the pegboard, so just make sure you are really careful. The beads are small enough that it does make the whole process take a lot longer than it would for the exact same pattern using normal Perler Beads.
Ironing Perler Mini Beads
Now, all I’ve done so far is complain about working with mini Perler Beads. That’s about to change. OMG, ironing them is a breeze.
I set my iron on its usual setting, and they ironed like a dream in about 10 seconds. 10 SECONDS! So quick, right?
Not only did the Perler mini beads melt quickly, it was the perfect melt.
So, the frustration with putting the beads on the board basically melted away when the bead melted so easily and quickly.
I’m not sure why, but the melt seemed to be much smoother than it would with a midi Perler Bead. Perhaps it’s because of how quickly the sprite melted. No matter the reason the melting of the mini Perler Beads gets a big thumbs up from me.
Summary
Although they take a lot of patience and are harder to work with, there are some great advantages to working with Perler Mini beads.
- Their size allows you to make more detailed projects.
- Perler mini beads can be used to create small accessories such as earrings and keychains.
- They melt so easily
For me, I won’t spend a lot of time working with mini beads, but I’m glad I tried them out. If you decide to try them out, I would recommend just buying a small tray to see if you like them. Although using them is very similar to working with normal Perler Beads, they really do take more patience.
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