Melted Pony Bead Accessories Tutorial

These melted pony bead barrettes and rings are super easy, cute and QUICK to make. They’re great little projects for playdates, birthday parties, and gifts!

One of the benefits of homeschooling my daughter is that we can take a CRAFT BREAK at any time during our lessons.

We probably put a bit more emphasis on art and craft projects than the average American family, but I find that our projects often lead us to math, science, and history discussions, i.e., What is the melting point of plastic? How is plastic made? How do I figure out the symmetry of a floral design? How many beads do I need to make 12 barrettes and 6 rings?
Seriously, if I can incorporate the importance of accessorizing and jewelry design into our schoolwork, then my mission as a teacher / mom is finished for the day.

So, these little pony bead barrettes and rings are super simple and fun to make. They are often our “craft break” project because we always have supplies on hand, and they take minutes to make. We’ve made a lot of little chotchkies with pony beads, however these are our go-to favorites…..because like any girl out there, WHO DOESN’T NEED MORE HAIR CLIPPIES with MATCHING RINGS??

Instructions:

**Note: We have experimented with a lot of different beads, and the best (in our non-official studies) for melting are basic pony beads, either sparkle, opaque, or translucent. The metallic pony beads do NOT uniformly melt, and shapes like hearts and flowers do not retain their basic shape either. Also, some people complain about the smell when these beads are melting in the oven. If it bothers you, then heat up a burner outside, or do it on the grill. We open a couple windows and are not bothered by the smell. My mishaps with toast are far worse than plastic beads.

Heat oven to 375 – 400 degrees.
Make your designs with the plastic beads. I LOVE muffin tins to hold the circular designs. I bought some used tins at a garage sale JUST for our plastic bead melting. I would suggest keeping your craft pans separate from your REAL cooking pans.

Place your designs in the oven for about 10 minutes, but keep your eye on them!! These melt fast, and every oven is different.
Let them cool until you can handle pans / designs, then pop them out!

Glue your designs to clippies, ring backs, necklace backings, charms, etc. I’ve placed large jump rinds under beads before melting them, and the rings get baked right into the designs…..perfect for charm bracelets.

WE LOVE E6000 for keeping these our designs in place! Hot glue will occasionally pop off from metal when cooled, and regular craft glue isn’t strong enough to hold for the wear-and-tear of small kiddos, Just make sure you give the E6000 ample time for “curing”.