Art and Tips from a Perler Mini Bead Master

Finished perler mini bead art: Seaside cafe

It all started a year ago, when Patricia Padilla del Rio's daughter started a little business, selling a local brand of mini perler beads out of her their garage in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Patricia creating her first perler mini bead art piece

Soon, mini perler bead art became an escape for fifty-five year old Patricia, who was dealing with the death of her mother.

Finished perler mini bead art: Woman with fan and parasol

"I take this hobby as occupational therapy," Patricia says. "It started with a small design and it became a passion of creating masterpieces."

Finished perler mini bead art: Girl with dog eating ice cream

Her passion has become a very intricate form of art. Patricia prefers to work with mini perler beads, which are half the size of the popular perler midi beads, because they allow her to create more complex patterns on a smaller scale.

Finished perler mini bead art: Peacock

She chooses designs according to her mood and gets most of her designs from cross stitch patterns that she finds on Pinterest and Google, then converting them to bead art.

Finished perler mini bead art: Country cottage scene with geese, blossoms, and water wheel

Patricia Padilla del Rio with customers in her shop

"The largest pieces are done in 1 week. Dedicating approximately 3 hours a day," says Patricia.  Patricia and her daughter, also named Patricia, now sell a local brand of perler mini beads and mini perler bead artwork at their shop in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico and online via their Facebook page: Perler Beads Culiacan.

Perler Mini Beads in Patricia's shop, which includes 70 different colors!

Perler Mini Bead Tips from a Mini Bead Master

Perler Mini Bead Tip 1

• Use a towel or paper towel under the loose perler mini beads to keep them from rolling away.
• 

Perler Mini Bead Tip 2

• Try using a large sewing needle instead of tweezers for perler mini beads. "The secret is to use a sewing needle," says Patricia. "Insert several beads in it and fill out the pegboards."
• Put several perler mini beads on the needle at once and add them to the pegboard directly from the needle. This saves a lot of time and energy as opposed to picking up and placing each perler mini bead individually.

Patricia Padilla del Rio gives us a look at her perler mini bead art creation process with these intricate pieces:

Creation process for perler mini bead art: Flower basket with fruit

Finished and framed perler mini bead art: Flower basket with fruit

Creation process for perler mini bead art: Tabby cat

Creation process for perler mini bead art: Santa Claus

Patricia with her framed perler mini bead art pieces: Tabby cat and Santa Claus

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