I can’t remember the amount of times I bumped my pegboard and ruined hours of hard work when making my first project.
And I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s experienced this problem and others like it!
For my first project, I remade the design ten times before I finally got the chance to iron it, and even then, I still experienced problems with my iron not being hot enough or the beads popping out of place.
Nevertheless, there’s a lot I learned during my attempts to make this first project!
1. Make it on a flat surface
I started my first design in my living room floor, and I quickly realized my error when I tried to pick up my pegboard. There was no way to get a good grip on the board without knocking off some beads in the process. Then, moving my boards from one room to another accounted for three of my re-dos.
I recommend starting on a flat surface where you could easily slide the pegboard into your hands if you have to move it. Currently, I make my designs on my dresser and move them to bathroom to iron them.
2. Take little breaks
It doesn’t have to get done in one day or even in one week! Rushing to get a project done is likely to make it more frustrating, and every unruly bead will have you wanting to pull your hair out.
3. Find/Separate the colors you need before starting
This is more of a personal preference, but I really like taking the time to find the colors I need before starting the project. Though I occasionally buy the bags of individual beads, I mostly use the big bucket of mixed colors, so it helps to find the ones I need before getting started.
4. Get a good pair of tweezers
The more projects you do, the more important your tweezers will be. With my first project, I used an older pair of tweezers, which caused plenty of disasters. Currently, I use tweezers with a LED light, but they sell tweezers specifically for Perler beads!
5. Don’t give up
There’s so many things that can go wrong when working on a project, but it doesn’t mean you should give up! If something isn’t working or you feel like the project is too big, take a quick break before coming back to it. If it still isn’t working, try out a different design.
With my first project, I watched it tumble into pieces several times, destroyed it on purpose when I realized how poorly I copied the design, and ironed it improperly twice before I finally finished it. Here’s my finished first project (Sans from Undertale):
It’s not perfect, far from it. Some of the beads are more melted than the others, a few beads are slightly skewed, and the whole project is curved instead of being flat. Despite all of this, it was so rewarding to see it finally finished.
Thus, even if things to keep going wrong with your first piece, keep trying! The result is always wonderful.
Bead by Bead 