It’s a question a lot of us have asked when looking up tutorials, and I wanted to try it for myself to see if it made any difference on the project. For both pieces, I will be making a small heart (as they were requested by my younger cousins)!

Attempt 1: Not Poking Any Holes Through

After making a heart design, I carefully laid a piece of painter’s tape over the design and rolled a battery over every bead to make sure they stuck. I cut off the excess tape, something I don’t normally do, and went to iron it. It only took about ten minutes to complete the whole process.

Above, you can see the final result after ironing. It has some uneven melting in places, especially the middle, and it almost broke in half when I pulled it off the tape. It was almost like I hadn’t ironed it enough.

Regardless, I wasn’t unhappy with the result. I’m not too particular about making it even, and once I ironed the other side, it looked fine!

Attempt 2: Poking Holes Through Every Bead

Just like the previous design, I carefully laid the tape over it and pressed every bead to make sure they stuck. Then, I used a lead pencil to poke a hole through the tape at every bead. While doing so, I accidentally cut through the tape at the top right corner, but it thankfully hadn’t messed up the design. This process did take more time but not by much. (However, I can imagine this is much more time-consuming with larger products!)

The beads are definitely more melted this time around, and it was more evenly ironed. I did have some trouble with my bottom blue bead, but it happened when I was moving the tape, not when I was poking holes.

In comparison to the first attempt, I like this heart more. The more even melt, though not super important to me, does look nicer, and it held together better than the first one.

Results

To answer the article’s question: yes, but no!

More experienced artists can probably achieve the same even melt without poking holes through each bead.

However, from my personal experiences, poking holes through the beads do help with the project. I don’t know if I’d do it with bigger designs, but it definitely works for the smaller ones!

As always, it’s worth a shot! Whether you do or do not poke holes through the tape, you’re going to have a wonderful piece!