you know the tiny plastic circle things, that you make into a pattern then iron?............

[frazzledfairy]

well how long do you iron it for, and at what temp?

and what on earth is it called?!

and why the feck am i doing it before 8am?

Hama beads?

Don't know about the ironing. DD has one on the side but have been putting it off!

Yep, they're Hama beads. Warm setting for as long as it takes to bond them together. Be careful not to melt the plastic template! I challenge you to get them upstairs without spilling one, and to find something to do with it once it's finished!

No wonder I get through so many Hoover bags ......

Oh and if you haven't got any of that expensive Hama ironing paper greasproof works just as well!

cheers! we've had them since ds1's birthday in nov and only just got round to doing them. they did get taken out the packet in nov, half of them spilt and hoovered up and the other half put away till now!

ds1 is making me a flower with them which i'm not allowed to see so daddy is in charge of the ironong part

paper??? can i have step by step instructions please? think would have ironed straight onto the plastic!

Ah, how sweet! Tell daddy to leave it on the template thing until it gets cold, else you'll have one v. angry ds!

Just wait until your darling LO makes a huge great Father christmas - took my DD a week, and was made using 4 big sqaure plates clipped together. the pressure of having to iron that - much swearing and cursing under breath.....

If your DS does make a big creation, you could do what I did and stick it to some stiff card/board with PVA glue (the white "school" glue) - we got some white "foam board" from Staples for DD1's Father Christmas, stuck it to that, and I cut about round it about a centimetre away from the outline with a craft knife. She still puts it out for Santa to see (and she's 14 now...)

use greaseproof if you have to but it's nowhere near as good

Take pattern still on template and put it on flat surface

cover with hama bead ironing paper (around £1 at hobbycraft) and rub iron over in small circles on medium heat.

You'll see them start to stick through the paper, you can lift a corner and look, they need to look melted together but not so far that they'll start to melt the board.

Peel paper off, wait till the beads are cool enough to touch then gently shake the pattern off the board.

Wait two minutes before your little darling accidentally breaks the design!

You can use greaseproof paper but it sticks quite badly and if it's a delicate design it pulls them apart when you take it off.

thank you! think we will have to use greaseproof paper as don't have the hama stuff and hobbycraft miles away...

glad it's dh's responsibility he he

Did you know that Ikea sell a big box of their own 'Hama' beads for £2? Its not as big as the £10 box in Hobbycraft, but its definately half as big. (Just thought I'd throw that in, if anyones interested!)

princess, have you never experienced the frustration of them 'popping up' as you try to iron them, because they don't quite fit the Hama templates?

Some branches of Toys R Us and The Entertainer sell the Hama bits if that's closer.

We used the Ikea beads for the just-pretty-circles coasters etc and the geunine ones for designs she wanted to spend more time on.

just remembered also - if you need to buy lots, mailorderexpress.com do a lot of Hama stuff

oh, clearly not! I bought them for my Rainbows mainly, for necklace making, so it won't be too much of a problem. Although I did try on the peg board and they seemed ok. I will heed your advice though and be careful not to let dd make a huge one with them just in case!