Perler Bead Dala Horse

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

1. Print out the horse shape.
2. Mark out the outline of the horse with beads.
3. I decided I didn’t like the look of trying to include all the details, so I simplified. Fill it in however you like.
4. Once you have it the way you like it, follow the directions that come with your beads on how to melt them.
5. 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!

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