Hey! Listen! Are you a Zelda fan who wants to have your own Navi the fairy by your side? If so, I’ve got the perfect Perler Bead craft for you. It’s easy, inexpensive, and fun to make. If you really don’t want a fairy in your jar, you can put any small Perler Bead creation inside. Read on, to find out how to make a Navi in a bottle.
A fun Zelda craft. It’s so easy to make a Navi in a bottle.
I’ll be honest, Wonder Boy and I have been trying FOREVER to find away to make a Navi in a bottle. There are a lot of images on the internet, but no really awesome tutorial. Or at least not one that we’ve thought would be easy enough for us to accomplish. So, when someone in one of my Facebook groups posted a picture of a Perler Bead Mario suspended in a mason jar, I knew we could take that concept and turn it into Navi in a bottle.
When I told Wonder Boy that we’d be finally be making our fairy in a bottle, he was really excited with the concept of floating Perler Beads. He even came up with his own idea to float in a jar that he’s still working on. I’ll be sure to share that with you all too once he get’s it finished.
So let’s begin!!
Supplies Needed for DIY Navi in a bottle
- Perler Beads (and all the things that go along with making something with Perler beads)
- Mason Jar (or any decent size jar that you’ve recycled)
- Water Orbs (we bought ours at Dollar Tree)
There aren’t many supplies needed to make this simple DIY Navi in a bottle
Making the Perler Bead Navi for your jar
The key to this project is making a Perler Bead creation that is small enough to fit in your jar. You can suspend anything. You can even suspend multiple things if there is room in the jar.
We chose to suspend Navi, Link’s helpful fairy from Zelda. So, I’m going to make sure you know how to make your very own Navi.
I’ve posted images of the two Perler Bead patterns needed to make Navi the fairy below. After the pieces have been ironed they will snap together to make a 3D Navi.
These two patterns will lock together to make a 3D Perler Bead Navi
I used glow in the dark Perler Beads for the center and wings of Navi. Cool, right? It will glow just like Zelda’s helpful fairy. BUT, if you don’t have glow in the dark beads, no worries. In the game Ocarina of Time, Navi changes colors to help out the player. So you can use any color Perler Beads that you want.
Tips for making Navi
- Do not over iron. If you do, the two pieces may not snap together when complete.
- Lay a heavy book on top of your pieces once you’ve ironed so that you can be sure that they are flat.
Adding Navi to the mason jar
Now that you have a fairy of your very own you’re ready to suspend him in your mason jar.
Start by filling the jar up about a quarter of the way with your water beads.
Then place your Navi on top of those beads. Don’t spend too much time trying to get it straight, you can fiddle with the positioning later.
Next, pour more of the water beads into the mason jar to fill it up until there is about an inch of space left at the top.
Pour more water beads on top of the Perler Bead pattern.
Here’s where Wonder Boy freaked out. “We can’t see Navi,” he cried. He was right, we couldn’t. Even I had a small panic moment. Your jar will look like the image below. Don’t worry though. The next step will fix that.
Don’t panic like we did. You’ll be able to see your Navi in a bottle with just one more step.
Take your mason jar over to the sink and fill it almost all of the way up with water. Tada!! Navi will magically appear. Both Wonder Boy and I were amazed.
Now is the time you’ll want to position Navi how you want him in the jar. Once the fairy is place perfectly you can fill it completely up with water. If you see any air bubbles just push down on the beads to fill in the gaps. After that, screw on your mason jar lid.
Easy to make Perler Bead Navi in a bottle.
What an amazing way to make a Navi in a jar. It was really easy and we had fun. One thing I will mention is that Wonder Boy had a fun time rolling around the jar after we had Navi in it. No problem there, but there was a problem with many air bubbles forming. When I went to fix it so I could take some pictures, the water beads had grown. Beads fell out everywhere. No biggie. It gave us a chance to have fun chasing the water beads around on the kitchen floor.
Do you think you’ll make your own DIY Navi in a bottle? What other Perler Bead crafts can you think of to suspend with water beads? We’ve got a project we are currently working on, but I also thought it would be cool to make an underwater scene with fish in a jar. Let me know your ideas in the comments.