Hama bead brooch and pendant tutorial

I haven’t broken out the Hama beads for a while but I’ve seen the fabulous necklaces on the Chelsea Doll website and, as I don’t have time to order and receive one between now and BritMums Live, I thought I’d have a go at making one myself.

There seems to be a trend at the moment for using the word Geek, Epic and Dork on things and, as I am going as an award finalist, I figured that the middle term was the most appropriate and at only four letters, far more manageable than my blog title. So I messed around with the letters until I had a design I liked.

I did this freehand- just placing the beads on top of my sketched drawing, then covering with a sheet of baking paper and ironing with a hot dry iron. Obviously this means that the ‘melts’ appear on the top and are visible in your design. If you didn’t want this, you would have to invert your design and do it all backwards so that the un-ironed side would be spelled correctly and the right way around.

I actually liked the ‘ironed’ look, and ironed both sides- always remembering to use paper between the iron plate and the beads- for strength.

Once cooled, I fixed a brooch pin to the back of my square-style Epic, and added my cursive Epic to a chain to hang around my neck.

For other great Hama Bead ideas, check out the Hama Bead Hangout we had this evening.

Zing Zing Tree made some great mixed media collages

Kids Chaos had a go at the most epic Minions

Plus 2.4 steals the show with tardis hama action

Red Ted Art made some brilliant melty-bead bowls

Here Come the Girls shared the prettiest birthday cards!

If you want to know more about Hama beads or buy them online, then speak to the Queen of Hama Beads from Craft Merrily.