i really liked those hama ironing beads as a kid so when i saw them in a shop some weeks ago i got some and wondered what to do.
since they came in 10 colors like the ten digits of the decimal system i decided to visualize the digits of pi in color.

Step 1: What You Need

- hama beads in 10 different colors (or ironing beads from any other brand)
- a square or rectangular hama-beads-board, the bigger the better
- clothes iron
- patience
- website or book with digits of pi
- piece of baking paper

Step 2: Assigning the Colors

you have to assign the colors and stick with it to the end of the project.

i went with

0 - white
1 - yellow
2 - orange
3 - red
4 - pink
5 - violet
6 - blue
7 - green
8 - brown
9 - black

it doesn't really make a difference which number is assigned to which color. only according to murphys law be sure that the number assigned to your least favourite color will come up more often.....

Step 3: Digits of Pi

since most of you probably can't memorize the first 500 digits of pi (i know about 10) go to the internet and find yourself a website that does. for example this one: http://www.pibel.de/

or find a book if you like that better.

Step 4: Get Beading!

so all you have to do now is start beading.

3 = red, 1 = yellow, 4 = pink, 1 = yellow, ....

i did the beading from right to left since you turn the whole thing around after ironing. this way when it is finished the end product will show the digits from left to right.

since this will take a while, you might wanna listen to some music on the way.
maybe

πr2 and 2πr by clint mansell

or even better

pi by hard'n phirm

Step 5: Ironing

put a piece of baking paper between the beads and the iron and iron on medium heat (see instruction on bead-package) until all the beads are fused together.

Step 6: Enjoy!

either you use your digits of pi thing as a coaster or you can enjoy it as a wall decoration, or do whatever else comes to your mind.

haters might say that this is quite a long time spend on something that in the end looks just the same as random beads thrown onto the board. but i think the knowledge of what it actually represents makes it all the more beautiful and worthwhile to me.

try other irational numbers and see which one turns out the nicest color-sceme!
in the last picture you see the beginning of e (eulers number).