How to make a necklace with perler beads

Although Coco Chanel may not have ever imagined something like Perler beads being used to make jewelry, she did bring costume jewelry into our jewelry boxes. For decades, using non-metal materials to create beautiful accessories has been the way many of us have curated our collections of jewelry. In more recent years, the worlds of costume jewelry and crafting have come together to give us the opportunity to create completely custom pieces, exactly designed for each individual style. 

Perler beads are one material that is so easy to work with, they are often marketed as children’s projects. But make no mistake, these can become unique, funky pieces of jewelry with a little creativity and an iron. Follow our tutorial to make your own floral accessory that can be paired with any outfit. Use your favorite colors for the flowers and have fun seeing your piece come together. 

Materials
- Perler bead pegboard
- Perler beads, variety of colors
- Parchment baking paper
- Iron
- (2) Eyelet screws
- Awl
- Chain
- Wire cutters or chain cutters
- Split rings
- Jewelry pliers
- Lobster clasp

Instructions
1. Start by arranging your Perler beads in the center of the pegboard for your pendant. Remember that, since this will be the pendant of your necklace, it should be in a solid shape. We are making a triple-flower pendant. 


2. After creating the center of your flower, create the shape of the flower and the petals around it. 


3. Once the flower shape is created, place a square of parchment baking paper on top of your Perler bead design. Use an iron to fuse the beads together. Turn the heat setting all the way up and follow the bead directions for fusing. After the beads are melted together and the piece is cool, remove the parchment paper and set this first flower aside. 


4. To complete our design, repeat steps 1 through 3 two more times using other colors of Perler beads for the different colors of the flowers. 


5. Once you have all three flowers created, arrange them on the pegboard. You should have one side of each flower that still fits onto the pegs. We laid our flowers out in a curve. Between the flowers, use green Perler beads to connect them and create leaves. Then, iron them as you did with the flowers. You should end up with one large piece. 


6. With the flowers connected with leaves in the middle, add a leaf on each of the outer flowers to connect to the necklace chain. Follow the same method as before by placing your outer flower on the pegboard and arranging green beads, then ironing them. 


7. With your Perler bead piece complete, use an awl to create a hole in one of the edge beads on the outer flower. This will become the place you attach the necklace chain. 


8. Once you’ve made the hole, install an eyelet screw into it. Try to find one in a metal that will match your necklace chain. 


9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 on the opposite outer flower. 


10. After you have the eyelet screws in place, cut two lengths of chain that are several inches long. We cut two that were both 8 inches. 


11. Next, use jewelry pliers to open a split ring and loop it onto one of the eyelets you screwed in earlier. With the split ring still open, loop on the last link of one of your lengths of chain. Then, close the split ring tightly. 


12. Repeat step 11 on the other eyelet screw. 


13. Now, with both chains attached to your bead piece, you will attach your clasp. Open another split ring and loop the last link of one of your chains onto it. With it still open, loop on the clasp. Then, close the split ring. 


14. To make it easier to clasp your necklace, add a split ring to the other length of chain. Open the split ring and loop the last link on the other chain onto it. Then close the split ring. Double-check that your clasp will work and you’re ready to accessorize.