Fused Beads Project

This was an art project for my granddaughters, aged 5 and 8.  Here’s a de4scription of how they made fused plastic bead ornaments.

Materials list includes a variety of plastic craft beads, metal cookie cutters, cookie sheets and aluminum foil.   We also used metal ornament hangers and attached them with a glue gun.

Photos show (1, 2 and 3) Mary and Grace starting the project with their bead trays and sets of metal cookie cutters.

Next photos (4,5) show the beads arranged in cookie cutters, ready for the oven.  The trays of ornaments go into a pre-heated 350 degree F oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

I recommend using a portable oven, such as a toaster oven.  You need to put the oven in a well-ventilated area, since you don’t want to breathe the plastic fumes.

The ornaments are done when the beads are melted.  When the ornaments are cooled, they should pop out of the molds.

Next photos (6,7) show the girls waiting for the ornaments to melt in the oven.

The final photos (8,9) are Mary’s and Grace’s finished ornaments.  Some of the ornaments stuck to the cookie cutters and couldn’t be removed intact.  They still are beautiful!