Saturday 31 May 2014

May's See it, Pin it, Do it - a sorry tale of failure!!

It's the end of the month so just time to join in with Fiona's See it, Pin it, Do it

And sadly a big failure for me - I have had six attempts at it and still can't get the lovely results that so many people on Pinterest are getting.  It has certainly kept Mr P amused over the last two weeks and has confirmed to him just how bonkers crafty people are.

So what am I waffling on about???  Well I wanted to make my own enamel dots by melting beads - every pin and blog that I have looked at made it look so easy, so even I could do it - couldn't I???????

ATTEMPT 1 - failure, but might have been because I used non-branded perler beads and as I didn't have any parchment paper I used greaseproof paper instead.  They totally stuck to the paper and didn't melt down any further than this.

I then read on a couple of blogs that it was the branded Hama beads that worked best, so Hama beads were ordered and I got some parchment paper.

ATTEMPT 2 -

Right so now I am using proper Hama beads and the correct paper - what temperature to do them at???  Well every pin and blog seems to differ on this with temperatures ranging from 150 to 220 C.  I figured hot might be best so I plumped for 200 C.

This took about 35 mins and I managed to get a small handful to melt properly.

Still not as perfect as the lovely ones I had seen online but better than the majority which looked like this -

 Hey ho back to the drawing board.

ATTEMPT 3 - maybe 200C was too hot, so I turned the oven down to 170C, I also read on UKScrappers that you should lay them on their side, not stand them upright - ok, lets try a few of them like that (I can tell you that everytime I picked up the tray the little blighters that were laying on their sides rolled everywhere - never mind it is giving Mr P a good laugh to hear me swearing at beads in the kitchen!!!!!)

Errr so this how they turned out after 40 minutes - the ones on their sides just become an oblong blob!!


But I had put some of the unbranded ones in (I only have those in black, grey and white) and they were not too bad (still not as good as the ones being blogged/pinned everywhere)
 Hopefully you are still with me - I'm not a quitter you know!!

ATTEMPT 4 -  next bright idea - what about if the beads are smaller and I try to melt them really fast???  So I cut a load in half and did them for 30 minutes at 220C

Nope that isn't working either!!!!!!!



Now I am really beginning to get a bit cross with it all but I am still determined to make my own enamel dots!!!

ATTEMPT 5 - I wonder if it is the oven????  I have been using the top oven, but maybe the bottom oven would be better.  OK lets try again and with the oven at 200C as the best results so far seem to be with a hotter oven.


Very mixed results - the unbranded ones at the front have melted a lot slower than the Hama beads, so I am going to have one last attempt at cracking this!!!

ATTEMPT 6 - right this time I am going for a hotter oven (220C) with just the unbranded ones as they do seem to need more heat.

And again another big fat fail!!!!!  The white ones started scorching and none of them lost the dimple in the middle and they stuck to the parchment paper too!!

So I'm throwing the towel in for now and going to stick to what I do best with ovens and that is baking cakes!!!!!!!!  If anyone has done this successfully can you please let me know your secret!!







14 comments:

  1. Oh, that's just too funny Karen! You are not alone in these tribulations as the thread on UKS will show. My friend Lisa-Jane has had success with this. I'll ask her the secret.

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  2. Karen x
    I really feel for you xxx
    TBH I have tried this once & I just got polo shapes & I haven't bothered trying again.

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  3. LOL, at least you have perseverance!!! The cakes look wonderful :-)

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  4. Oh dear Karen this did make me LOL. I haven't tried it yet - it was me that posted on UKS that the beads need to be standing (I read that on Pinterest as it happens) but it looks like it didn't make lot of difference. :o(
    Sue x

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  5. I tried it once and it didnt work so I gave up! You have more patience than me lol

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  6. Well done you for trying so hard! Sorry none worked out perfectly

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  7. Thanks for sharing your failures ... put me right off having a go ... but it did give me a laugh - glad you've still got a sense of humour about it all :-D

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  8. Oh my lord.. this made me laugh! and I started the thread on UKS as I had exactly the same failed attempts as you.. tried just about everything..no success...lol. Now deciding if I should buy Perler beads.. or stick with pearl pen blobs, flicked continuously on the back of the paper to make them look like enamel dots! Cakes look great... FYI.. I can't even get them right! LOL!!!

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  9. Lol ... Sorry can't help you, I just but them already done. Life's to short to stuff a mushroom (so they say) lol. I'm in awe if your trials though x

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  10. I admire your perserverence too! Wow - I am not even going to bother trying to make enamel dots- I will just buy them - I much prefer the look of your cakes!

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  11. Fabulous cake...shame about the beads!! Just put it down to experience. Great post xxxx

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  12. I had a similar experience, but made it work in my favor- check out my blog post if you like- I used Maxi Hama beads, Perler, and some unbranded ones- came up with a few variations- http://girlpaperscissors.blogspot.ca/2014/06/melting-things.html

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  13. I was bought 4 tubs of hama beads today and have ended up with 100 polo shapes! I now have just under 20,000 beads I don't know what to do with, I will use the polo shapes though, spent too much time coking them to throw them away, LOL. Loving your cakes by the way :)

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  14. Hama beads bring back nightmares for me ... I bought giant jar from IKEA once and my eldest son ( now 19 ) thought it would be hilarious when he was little to empty the entire jar all over the house . I was terrified my younger son who was crawling at the time, would find one , put it in his mouth and choke ! Lord only knows why on earth I bought them in the first place !! We're still finding them now 14 years later !!!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment, I do read all of them and they are really appreciated.

Karen xx

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