Finding Zen in Fuse Beads

During the school year I am a very busy person. I am always working on projects, writing emails, or planning events. So when summer comes around, it can be difficult for me to relax. I decided this summer that I needed to find something to do that didn’t really accomplish anything at all--something that would allow me to be productively unproductive and just unwind. As I was trying to find my “thing,” I also began to prepare myself for my summer job.

As it happens, this summer I’m going to be working as a summer park counselor, so I decided that it would be wise to make a stop in the arts and crafts section at my local Target, just to refamiliarize myself with the crafts I would be facilitating this summer. That’s when I passed by a box of these magical arts and craft supplies called Fuse Beads.

Fuse beads are an incredibly popular craft at my summer program, and I remembered making several when I was a participant. They are quite simple and easy to make, but with a sophisticated sense of design and color, they can become incredible pieces of art. I knew at that moment that I had found my “thing,” that something I could do that wouldn’t require any meticulous planning, that wasn’t working towards any goal besides having fun, that could be done at an almost subconscious level, and that I would absolutely love doing. I felt like a kid in a candy shop at that moment, looking at all the different colors of beads.

However, I haven’t done fuse beads in years, and truth be told, I felt a bit trepidatious as I looked at them. Would I be any good at them? I wondered. But I picked them up anyway and said to myself “what the heck, I can give this a try,” and stuffed them into my basket. Inside I could hear part of myself saying “what are you doing with those? This is such a waste of money, and you shouldn’t be spending your hard earned cash on something so useless.” I tried to push that voice away and reminded myself that it was that kind of thinking that had made me so bad at relaxing and enjoying life. It turned out to be the best eight dollars I’ve ever spent.

For the uninitiated, Fuse Beads are little colorful plastic cylinders, and they come in packs that are sorted into a variety of colors. They also come with these awesome little peg boards that come in various shapes. Some look like animals, such as a penguin or a cat, while others are just generic shapes, such as a heart or a star. These peg boards are covered in--you guessed it--little pegs, which the fuse beads fit onto. You then place the individual beads one at a time on the pegs of the boards to create colorful patterns.

For instance, you might decide to place black and orange beads on the cat peg board to give it stripes and make it look like a tiger. The trick is figuring out the right colors, and then how to make the right pattern. If you want that tiger to have a face, you would have to place dark beads for eyes on the head section, and then make a mouth below that, and then fill in the rest of the face with the orange beads for fur. You might even try to give it whiskers by placing white beads in lines next to the mouth. The fun is in creating new patterns and color schemes, and figuring out how to create the design you want to. Every board is like a puzzle that you're simultaneously creating and solving.

One of the tricky parts is that it’s easier to place the beads starting at the center of the pegboard and working your way outwards towards the edges of the board--that way you aren’t knocking over the beads you’ve already placed down. This requires a bit of planning and some imagination, as you have to know what color beads and patterns you plan to use ahead of time, instead of being able to figure it out section by section. It’s also difficult and time intensive to make large revisions, so thinking it out ahead of time is very beneficial. To me this is the perfect amount of creative planning, as it stimulates my intellect, but doesn’t feel like a burden to do--It’s artsy!

Once you’ve made the pattern you wanted to, it’s now time for the magic to happen. The plastic beads are called Fuse Beads for a reason after all. When you apply light heat to them from a clothing iron, they melt slightly, and fuse together! To do so, you’ll first need to pull out a little bit of ironing paper, and your scissors!

Cut a piece of the ironing paper to size and lay it over the plastic beads--that way the beads won’t stick to the iron. Then set your iron to heat without steam, and once it’s hot enough, gently iron the beads in a circular motion for 10-15 seconds. Sometimes I place a paper towel between the iron and the ironing paper as well, just so the iron doesn’t stick to the ironing paper. Once the beads have cooled, peel off the paper, and remove the beads from the beg board. Now you can turn over the design you’ve made, lay the ironing paper back over top, and iron it again from the other side. Once it’s cooled and you’ve removed the paper again, your design is now set! It’s really that easy.

Fuse beads have been so much fun for me in the past couple weeks. I wanted this summer to be about kicking back, and doing nothing--in the most fun way possible. Fuse beads have helped me to reach that state of zen I was looking for: it draws me into the present and forces me to think only of the beads in front of me. Every day I work on a new project, and I’m constantly finding new inspirations. Every morning when I’m waking up I can’t wait to make my next design!

My first design was a very simple smiley face that I made on my circular pegboard. It was tricky getting the right proportions for the eyes and mouth, as all the pegs are set in rows, and you have to make the curves only using the straight lines of those rows. If you know how a 3-D printer or ink printer works, it’s sort of like that, in how row by row and line by line you build up the shape you want. What I love about this smiley face design I’ve made is that it’s constantly reminding me to smile, even when I’m bogged down with work. I can’t help but smile when I see it!

My second design was a heart, made using my heart shaped pegboard, and it was inspired by one of my favorite cartoons, The PowerPuff Girls. The title card for that cartoon is a series of concentric hearts within each other, and I made my own version using different shades of pink and purple for each heart. I couldn’t decide which color to use for the biggest heart, so I actually ended up doing one half of it in pink and the other in lilac. This one reminds me to focus on the things I love, especially the stories that inspire me, the hobbies I’m passionate about, and--most importantly--the people I care about.

For my third design, I looked up a design for the head of a unicorn, and using my square pegboard, I created a unicorn head design inside the square. It was so awesome, and my favorite part was choosing the different colors for the unicorn’s mane. I used light blue, then a sparkly translucent purple, then a sparkly hot pink, and then finished with lilac. It is by far my favorite design so far. It reminds me that there is nothing more magical than being yourself, and emboldens me to be me always. You do you girl!

Once I’ve finished ironing a design, there is one last step I like to do. Fuse bead designs are so colorful and cute, and I love looking at them. So for convenience sake, I like to attach magnetic strips to the back and hang them on my fridge (or any available magnetic surface)! For this part all you need is some magnets, scissors, and possibly some glue. I like to use Magnetic tape because I can roll out the length I want, cut it with my scissors, and then attach it to the back of my fuse bead design lickity-split.

If you don’t have magnetic tape that’s okay; regular magnetic sheets that are cuttable or small magnets work fine too. Cut out an amount of magnetic sheet that you want, or just find a small magnet, and then glue your magnet onto the back. Viola! You now can hang your favorite design on any magnetic surface!

I hope you have enjoyed hearing about how much I love fuse beads. They truly are my passion right now, and I can’t wait to see all the incredible designs that I’ll make over my life. I hope this might inspire you to pick up some fuse beads--or any arts and crafts that you find interesting--and say “what the heck, I can give this a try.” That’s what I did, and I have had so much fun because of it!