Perler beads are perfect for recreating 8-bit video game characters and scenes. They can be used for all kinds of amazing geeky crafts and are so easy to use, anyone can do it. Below you will find 10 incredible examples of the things you can do with Perler beads.
1. Super Mario Brothers in Perler Beads
Danny_8bit makes some elaborate Perler bead art. This little scene from Super Mario Brothers is attached to a briefcase.
2. Float Eye Boss from Final Fantasy
The Float Eye Boss from Final Fantasy has great shading. Faith9990 really got the details in on this one. Is it just me or does this guy look like an evil version of Mike from Monsters, Inc.?
3. Pokemon
I know my eight-year-old could tell me who all these little guys are. For now, I’ll take Fashion’s word that they are Pokemon and they are an impressive collection.
4. R2D2
Here at Geek Crafts, we seem to always end up back on Star Wars. Flickr user Copy + Waste made this huge R2D2 from Perler beads.
5. Ape Lad’s Spock illustration
I’m not a big Star Trek fan, but this is the second Star Trek craft that I really like (the other was the Spock apron). blakewest did a great job capturing the look of the original illustration.
6. Donkey Kong in Perler Beads
Here’s another one from Danny_8bit: a very elaborate Donkey Kong/Burgertime combo scene – not sure why the two games are mixed, but it still looks great!
7. Sinistar
Wow – what an incredible likeness of the evil Sinistar himself. Awesome job done by CoderKev. “Run, coward!”
8. Space Invaders Key Chains
Faith9990 does it again with these little Space Invaders keychains. They aren’t attached yet, but if you look closely, you can see that a bead is purposely missing from each one to attach the keyring to.
9. Gameboy Color 3D
I love the dimensional Perler bead crafts. Doctor Octoroc used what looks to be three layers of beads to make this Gameboy Color 3D.
10. Samus Aran vs. Omega Metroid
And one more by Doctor Octoroc: Samus Aran vs. Omega Metroid. I think this is the most detailed Perler Bead art I have seen. Details + shading + size = pure awesomeness. (I don’t think that’s a direct quote there from Samus)
Gaming is not part of my geekness — well, except for Angry Birds. But I do have friends who are quite proficient in various video games and so have heard the term Metroid bandied about amongst them occasionally. However, I did not realize just how cute they could be until I spotted Ellen Kramer‘s series of plush keychains of various characters from video games. For sale in her shop on Etsy called Smellestine, the key chains include Pokeman, Mario Star and Metroid.
