Perler bead stands can add a special touch to your project and help you easily display them for everyone to see!
When I made the Mario project (featured above) for my mom’s birthday, I knew I wanted to make a stand for it, so she could keep it in her office. Along the way, I learned a few things from my research and from my mistakes.
1. Pick the type of stand you want to make
Stands can range from simple “triangle” shapes (which you can learn more about here) to more detailed, flat designs that leave spaces for the bottom of the project to “click” into (and there’s a great tutorial on it here).
My mushroom stand is an example of a flat stand. The mushroom has spaces near the middle, and the bottom row of Mario’s feet “click” into them.
2. Plan where to put the spaces
If you’re going to make a stand, it’s best to plan ahead instead of jumping right in.
I copied a design I found online for my mushroom stand and got stuck. I didn’t know where to add the spaces or how wide they should be.
So, it’s better to plan ahead! I now use Piskel, a free online sprite editor, to create my designs. It’s easy to use, and it’ll help you plan out where the spaces need to be and how big the stand must be.
3. Add an extra row on the project to fit in the stand
The project (or the part that will be standing up) needs to have an extra row at the bottom that will go into the stand. In the tutorial I referenced above, she does a great job of showing how to add in that extra row.
I had already ironed my Mario project when I decided on making a stand, so I didn’t include the extra row on his feet. As a result, the spaces on the mushroom had to be larger and the bottom line of Mario’s feet are hidden by the stand.
4. Make the spaces one bead wider than the row on the project
The spaces in the stand should be one bead wider than the row that you want to “click” into place.
After ironing, the spaces on the stand are going to get a little smaller as the beads melt. Having that extra space gives you a little more wiggle room. If they get too melted, though, you can shave them down with a knife.
In the image below, you can see that Mario’s feet are 7 beads wide while the spaces are 8 beads wide!
5. Have fun and be patient with it
Whether you’re making the simple “triangle” stands or the more detailed, flat stands, it’s important to have fun with it and be patient. You can try out all sorts of designs as stands as long as you include the spaces.
Just iron the designs slow, make sure they stay flat, and work with it until it all “clicks”!
Bead by Bead 