I must be insane...

[Sarlon]

So every year for the past few I've taken up a project during the colder months where my various aches and pains make me want to stay curled up in a tiny ball.

This year I've taken on the task of perler bead creations....inspired by at least one member on this board.

The problem is alot of the images I like won't translate well to a pattern.....any suggestions?

[Sapphire Silk]

Do them anyway. It's an art form. Art often isn't what we expect.

The final product might be more appealing than you think.

[Sarlon]

I want to try this.... (see picture below) but I think it might be a bit ambitious.

[fireheart]

See if you can find a sprite of that and plug it into mypixelpal.com. It'll then give you the instructions for what you need and how much of it.

[Words4theWorld]

I had to google "perler beads" as that's not what they are called here but as far as I can tell those are the little plastic beads you put on pinned boards and when you're done you fuse them together with a electric iron. Right?
I've done a couple of those with my kids and while I can't give you any suggestions regarding your patterns (and I really much like the one you are trying your hands at), you should be aware that you won't get straight lines with this technique. Due to the way the beads are treated to fuse them, the edges will alway look more or less wobbly. Therefore I would suggest patterns that will even look good with a certain "washed out" look.
In addition: I don't know if you already did some patterns with the beads, but if you are really ambitios and want to try the Zelda pattern, I would suggest to start with a small part of the pattern, e.g. one of the inner triangles, to see what it will look like afterwards and to experiment with the pressure applied during ironing the pattern.
I hope this helps a little and please forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir because you already have experience with working with the beads.

[Sarlon]

Nope complete novice when it comes to this. I have been laid up with a bad sprained ankle so this is something I can do while the ankle heals. I have almost finished sorting all the beads by color.

[KiaKat]

Seraph does perler bead crafts, she might have some tips.

[gremcint]

I do them a bit too, that kind of detail would require it to be huge like several boards worth across.

A plain triforce is easy to do with the 6 pointed star shaped board but something like that would take a long time and I strongly reccomend starting smaller.

[Sarlon]

alright....from a modified cross stitch pattern, I present to you my project....this thing will be huge....the perler board I'm using holds 900 beads each, and I need 18 total to make the entire project.....did i mention I think I'm insane for doing this?

[fireheart]

That should keep you going.

My advice is to mark off one row at a time.

[Words4theWorld]

alright....from a modified cross stitch pattern, I present to you my project....this thing will be huge....the perler board I'm using holds 900 beads each, and I need 18 total to make the entire project.....did i mention I think I'm insane for doing this?

You did, but when you're done I still like to see a photo of the works of a madwoman, please. Your pattern already looks pretty cool this way and I'm curious to see what it will look like in perler beads.

[Sarlon]

alright kids.... I've got alot of this outlined, but i ran out of the colors I need plus i don't have a dark enough blue for the body, but so far it looks good!

pattern is the first picture, what I've got done so far is the second.

[Andrew B.]

Ok. That's awesome. And well detailed.

[Sarlon]

Sadly I will probably sell her once done

I am saving to put a good.down payment on a house I want to buy

[Kagato]

See if you can find a sprite of that and plug it into mypixelpal.com. It'll then give you the instructions for what you need and how much of it.

dear gawds, I just put in a larger picture for kicks and was stunned by the sheer number of beads that would be needed - the final picture would be MASSIVE...

Dark Blue	112132
Black	        9147
Brown	        2445
Fuschia	        35
Peach	        1069
White	        2057
Cream	        1778
Gray	        346
Tan	        2762
Light Brown	7375
Butterscotch	3493
Cheddar	        105
Rust	        3205
Orange	        149
Yellow	        21
Pastel Yellow	6733
Toothpaste	384
Turquoise	106
Pastel Blue	2360
Periwinkle Blue	498
Dark Green	31
Light Green	4
Light Blue	13740
Kiwi Lime	9
Total Beads	169984

Found a supplier of beads locally and figured I'd give this a try... dear gods, while the beads are easy enough to find, getting the pegboards is like trying to find a needle in a freakin' haystack. I've googled for them, searched craft shop websites, even tried one of the big-box shops near where I live, no success (and when GOOGLE fails you, you know things are looking pretty darn grim)