perlemagi!

after years of making "perleplader" with the child and never having them really hang together, i spent yesterday playing with hama beads. i saw someone doing very creative things with them a few months ago at upcomers in vejle and bought a couple of her how-to books. she calls her technique perlemagi.

her technique involves melting them much more than we ever melted them back in the day. luckily, i saved my old iron that was spitting chalky residue on all of our clothes. turns out if you turn off the steam, it's perfect for melting little plastic beads.

i went a little nuts. and couldn't stop making them. i even made husband eat smørrebrød for dinner, because i couldn't be bothered to stop and make dinner. it's kind of magical how these geometric shapes just melt like that. and how melting them this much makes them actually stick together. 

i made these as buttons for the cushions i'm making for our new outdoor lounge area. i needed 36 of them. it was fun. i could have kept going, but i restrained myself. ok, i did make a few extra, as i have to figure out how to make holes in them so i can sew them on. it was a great activity for a rainy day.