Melted Bead Suncatchers

Now that the weather is cooling down and I am ready to turn my oven back on, it is time for a fun and easy craft that involved some baking.  Like many other crafters...and many other people that do crafts with young children...I always seem to have a plethora of those cheap pony beads hanging around.  Every time I move a box I swear I hear the ping of a bead falling out and rolling to some hidden place.  So I decided to gather these little gems and turn them in to something fun and new.  I had months ago seen a post on Pinterest about melting beads so I thought I would try it out and add my Katie flair.

The melting process is really easy.  you can put beads in to any pan of muffin tin you have to create different shapes.  I used a heart shape cake pan, heart shaped muffin tin, doughnut muffin tin and a regular muffin tin. Along with a variety of shapes I also enjoyed mixing my colors to create different looks.

Once you have found your containers and sorted you colors it is time for the fun to start.  Fill your container so that they cover the bottom completely.  In my first round I places the beads to they were all flat and organized and quickly realized that isn't necessary.  After that I just started pouring my color mix in and making sure to not be stingy on the amount of beads so I would get a thicker and more sturdy product.

After filling a container with bead just pop it in the the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  I warn you it does smell from the melting plastic so turn on your fan and open your windows.  After they bake remove from the oven and let cool.  When the plastic cools it will shrink slightly and then easily fall out of the pan.

There are many ways you can make your plastic discs ready for hanging.  One idea is to drill a hole with a dremel tool.  I enjoy working with craft wire so I decided to wire wrap some of mine.  I also really enjoy using the doughnut rings because you can just attach fishing line to hang.  Other things I did to make each piece unique is add translucent glass beads to the inner circles of the doughnut shapes.  I love how each of the combinations becomes so special and interesting depending on the additional bead and the way the wire wrap forms.

They make me smile and I have been enjoying giving them to friends and family as gifts as well as hanging them in my own windows.

More to come soon!