What are Perler Beads?

Great question!

Perler beads, or any other kind of melty beads, are small tubes in various colors, that when ironed come together as a solid piece.

To assemble them you use a pegboard and place them in your design. When you're finished building on the board, you traditionally put wax or parchment paper on them and iron until they're fused. There are other methods of ironing and assembling that I'll go over later.

An average pegboard - 29x29, holding up to 841 beads

You can purchase them from your local craft store, such as Michaels- or order online for much cheaper. There are countless brands, and most are worthless. If you want a good project use either Perler or Hama- they tend to warp less, and not explode during ironing.

I find them fun to work with, and they make great decorations- and people love them as gifts!