# Bead Art Bead Art, also known as Perler art or bead sprites, is fan craft that fuses plastic beads on a pegboard to recreate pixel sprites of video game, TV, and film characters. The hobby surfaced on web Q&A sites by late 2003 and spread through craft blogs, DeviantART, and a dedicated subreddit. By May 2013, Autostraddle was covering sprite bead builds as geek craft worth highlighting in a feature titled 'Nerdcraft'[2]. ## Origin One of the earliest online references to Perler bead sprite craft appeared on November 8, 2003, when a user posted a question on Answers.com asking how to make a yin yang design with Perler beads[6]. On May 17, 2006, the site 8bitsprites.com launched to catalog bead-based recreations of video game sprites[7]. Hobbyists were sharing bead sprite techniques through craft forums and blogs well before dedicated communities existed, since Perler itself is a plastic bead brand that long predated the pixel-art fan use[5]. - **Platform:** Craft blogs / DeviantART and Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2003 ## Overview A Bead Art piece starts with small fusible plastic beads, originally sold under the Perler and Hama brands, placed onto a pegboard that acts like graph paper for pixel sprites. Once arranged, the beads are ironed through wax paper so the plastic melts and locks the design into one flat sheet[1]. Builds track directly to recognizable sprites, 8-bit Mario, Link from The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon front sprites, Family Guy character portraits, because the bead grid matches the pixel grid one-to-one[4]. Fans use the format for both wall art and functional objects, including picture frames, coasters, and keychains assembled from fused sprite designs[1]. Multi-sheet designs expand to 3D figures by stacking fused panels into cubes and layered scenes, with the /r/beadsprites community and Tumblr blogs showcasing those builds[5]. Autostraddle's 2013 'Nerdcraft' feature described the practice as a way for geeks to turn gaming nostalgia into decor, giving it a fandom slant distinct from traditional beadwork[2]. ## How to Use To make a Bead Art piece, crafters typically load fusible plastic beads onto a square pegboard following a pixel-art pattern taken from a sprite reference. Common conventions include working off printed grids of 8-bit video game characters and ironing the finished layout through parchment paper to fuse the beads into a solid sheet[1]. Larger builds involve dividing a sprite across multiple pegboards and seaming the fused pieces together. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Bead Art? Bead Art, also called Perler art or bead sprites, is fan craft that fuses small plastic beads on a pegboard to recreate pixel-style sprites of characters from video games, TV, and film[5]. ### Where did Bead Art come from? The earliest known online mention came from an Answers.com question posted on November 8, 2003 about making yin yang designs with Perler beads[6]. The dedicated site 8bitsprites.com launched in May 2006[7]. ### What does Bead Art mean? Bead Art refers to physical pixel-sprite recreations assembled from fusible plastic beads, the real-life counterpart of digital fan sprites[5]. ### How do you use Bead Art? Crafters place fusible plastic beads onto a pegboard following a sprite pattern, then iron the layout through parchment paper to fuse the beads into one flat sheet[1]. ### Is Bead Art still popular? By September 2014, more than 44,000 Perler-tagged submissions had been posted to DeviantART, and the Facebook group 'Perler Bead Sprites' drew more than 15,000 likes[5]. Autostraddle and Buzzfeed covered the practice through the early 2010s[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/9-awesome-perler-bead-picture-frames#zzas0h]() 2. [http://www.autostraddle.com/nerdcraft-craft-like-a-nerd-with-perler-bead-sprites-176533/]() 3. [http://www.pibbit.com/2007/07/10/video-game-crafts-perler-beads/]() 4. [http://4thegirlgamers.blogspot.com/2008/11/epic-8-bit-art-family-guy-perler-bead.html]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bead-art]() 6. [http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_make_yin_yang_out_of_perler_beads]() 7. [http://www.8bitsprites.com/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/bead-art Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library