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The Iron Craft challenge prompt for this week was to do something related to an upcoming holiday. I guess it’s because they are traditionally red that I thought of Swedish dala horses, because they don’t have anything in particular to do with the holidays, I just wanted to make one.
And I wanted to make one of out perler (melty) beads, which is a fun way to give a really traditional project a new look. This little horse would be great to use as a Christmas tree ornament or to decorate a gift bag if you happen to be giving gifts to a horse lover (or Swede) this season.
What You’ll Need
- dala horse shape (I used one from Make Learning Fun, printed out at 50 percent)
- red, white and blue perler beads, or colors of your choice (I used 142 red, 13 white and 16 blue)
- perler bead peg board
- pressing paper
- iron
What You’ll Do
- Print out the horse shape.
- Mark out the outline of the horse with beads.
- I decided I didn’t like the look of trying to include all the details, so I simplified. Fill it in however you like.
- Once you have it the way you like it, follow the directions that come with your beads on how to melt them.
- Allow to cool, remove from peg board and melt again on the other side to add stability.
This perler bead dala horse project was really fun and easy and I think it turned out pretty cute. I can’t wait to add it to my tree. As soon as we put the tree up.
Have you been making any holiday crafts? I’d love to hear about it!
I think of Dala horse as very holiday-ish, I think because that is when we bring out the bulk of our Swedish stuff for decorating.
Well, good. 🙂