How to Make a Perler Bead Pattern from a Photo or Pixel Art

Perler beads are small plastic beads you place on a pegboard and fuse together with an iron. Once you know which bead goes on which peg, anyone can build one, so the pattern is what matters most. This guide walks through making a pattern from a photo or pixel art and moving it onto your boards.

Terms first

Term	Meaning
Perler · Hama	Fuse bead brands. Perler is American and Hama is Danish
Fuse beads · melty beads	General names for beads you fuse with an iron
Pegboard	The board with pegs. A large square board usually has 29 pegs per side
Midi · mini	Bead sizes. Midi beads are about 5 mm, mini beads about 2.5–2.6 mm
Bead pitch	Distance between pegs. Midi is about 5 mm, so 29 beads span about 14.5 cm

Step 1: Choose the picture

Each cell in a bead pattern is one bead, so the kind of picture matters a lot.

• Pixel art fits best. A 32 × 32 pixel sprite becomes 32 × 32 beads. Enlarged pixel art can be scaled back to its original cells once you know how many pixels make one cell.
• Characters and illustrations work well with bold outlines and few colors. Thin lines narrower than one bead look broken.
• Photos need several boards to be recognizable. For a face, use at least 2 × 2 boards (58 × 58 beads).

With a transparent PNG, background cells get no beads, so the finished piece comes off the board in the shape of the design. That is ideal for keychains and magnets.

Save pixel art as PNG. JPG blurs colors at pixel edges, so one-bead eyes and outlines turn muddy.

Step 2: Decide pegboards and finished size

Finished size is number of beads × bead pitch. For midi beads (about 5 mm):

Pegboards	Beads	Finished size (approx.)	Good for
1	29 × 29	14.5 × 14.5 cm	Several keychains, small characters, coasters
2 × 2	58 × 58	29 × 29 cm	Framed characters, portraits
3 × 3	87 × 87	43.5 × 43.5 cm	Wall pieces, landscapes

Mini beads (about 2.6 mm) come out at roughly half the size for the same count. They show more detail but need tweezers and take much longer.

When you join boards, the pattern should already be split by board. Counting board edges on one big chart is where most one-row shifts happen.

Step 3: Build it in your brand’s colors

Color codes differ by brand. Perler red and Hama red have different codes and shades, so build the pattern with the palette of the beads you own.

In the Perler bead pattern maker:

1. Upload the picture and choose a bead brand (Perler, Hama Midi, Artkal S, Hama Mini or Artkal C).
2. Set the pattern size by pegboards across and down. If your board does not have 29 pegs per side, change “Pegs per side”.
3. Set the maximum colors. Try 8–16 for characters and 20 or more for photos. Fewer colors means fewer bags to buy.
4. Tap a color in the list to see where it is used, then remove it or swap it for a color you have.

Upload pixel art and the tool recognizes it, copying it at 1 pixel = 1 bead. Stray-bead cleanup starts off so single-bead details like eyes and highlights are kept.

Step 4: Print the board charts at actual size

The tool’s board-by-board PDF puts each pegboard on its own page at actual size. The cover shows the whole design with board names (A1, B1, A2 …), and every board page has a colored circle and symbol on each bead position.

1. Print at “Actual size (100%)”. “Fit to page” shrinks it slightly and the circles drift off the pegs.
2. Measure the 10-bead bar at the bottom with a ruler. For midi beads it should be 50 mm.
3. Slide the page under a clear pegboard and drop each bead on the circle of the same color. No counting needed.

With an opaque board, keep the page beside it and count using the light lines and numbers every 5 beads.

Step 5: Gather and place the beads

• The count in the color list is the number of cells using that color. Add about 10% extra for beads that get dropped or knocked out.
• Place outlines first, then fill large areas; positions stay accurate that way.
• For several boards, butt them together and fill them in board-name order.

Step 6: Iron

Follow the instructions for your beads and ironing paper first. The usual steps are:

1. Cover the beads with ironing paper (such as parchment). The iron must never touch the beads directly.
2. Set the iron to medium and move it in slow circles until the bead holes shrink a little.
3. Let it cool, lift it off the pegboard, and lightly iron the back the same way.
4. While it is still warm, press it under a heavy book so it sets flat.

Irons are hot, so children should always iron with an adult.

Common mistakes

• Rows shift at board edges: use a pattern that is already split by board.
• Pixel art looks smeared: it was saved as JPG or smoothed when enlarged. Use the original PNG.
• Colors differ from the screen: pattern colors are on-screen approximations. Hold your real beads up to check key colors, and swap codes in the color list.
• Printed chart does not line up with the board: the print scale was not 100%. Measure the 10-bead bar.

Leave the counting and board splitting to the tool, and spend your time on choosing colors and placing beads.