Melted Plastic Beads - Coloured Torso

This instructable shows what you can make with plastic beads, also known as HAMA beads.
I am in college doing art and design, and i was doing a project based on male and female, and i was using different media and coming up with different ideas.. however using this method i found to be my favourite and i really liked the final piece.
I hope you guys enjoy doing this process and come up with some great stuff, which also i would love to see.

SO... the first image is my final piece.

Step 1: Step 1 - Gather Materials

First of all you will need the following items..

Plastic Beads (I buy my large tubs from IKEA)- http://tinyurl.com/6yu97kh

Heat Gun

I used a mannequin torso, but you can use any item as long as it can withstand heat without too much damage

Metal tray or baking tray works well

Metal/Wooden utensils

Step 2: Step 2 - Melt Beads

it's best to melt beads in small *squares* so pour your beads onto your metal tray and flatten them all outmake sure they're all tightly together, once laid out turn the heat gun on and slowly heat all over the beads, you will see them start to merge together make sure all the beads are melted together.

But whilst the beads are melting use the metal/wooden utensil to merge together even more, this creates a smudge effect and also keeps the beads stronger together when cooled down

Once the beads have melted together allow a few seconds to cool down and u will notice that once cooled down, it all comes off very easily in one piece.
Once the whole piece comes off, place on top of your object, here i have placed it on my mannequin, then again use the heat gun and you will notice the plastic just melts in shape, although use your utensil to perhaps smooth areas to create more definition.

Step 3: Step 3 - Continue

Continue to repeat the process of melting beads in squares, then adding to the item.

Be sure to overlay slightly so the beads merge together, again using the utensil to bond the plastic together, so it creates one whole piece.

Step 4: Final Piece

So once you have created your final piece you should have something strong and solid, and perhaps like mine be able to stand on it's own.

I was going to do a whole torso, but when i looked side on i think it looked pretty cool so i left it as it is.

This was my first attempt at an Instructable, i hope it was clear for you guys and i welcome any comments you all may have.


Also, if you managed to do something similar then please send pictures, i am happy to see what you all come up with.


Thanks.
Paul

Comments

[evajagd]

Neat! Good idea, well worked out.

[l8nite]

I hope you got a good grade because the piece is AWESOME ! Not a bad "ible" for your first either altough some of your pics probably should have been run thru a program. A clean background isn't really needed for here but if your going to share your work on other sites a dropcloth of some type will work wonders in making the colors and shape stand out.

Check out Wetcanvas.com , its an online forum for artists of all mediums and skill levels, Im sure this piece would be well recieved in both mixed media and sculpture

[neonaddict]

thanks for your comment! i won't know until a few weeks if i did well.

however, thanks for the info on Wetcanvas i will check that out in the coming days.

Thanks

Paul

[splazem]

Wow. That is neat-o!

[punx777]

That is amazing, and brilliantly simple. Thanks for the idea!