How to make video game characters from Hama Beads tutorial
Written by Craig Stewart, 17th March 2008.

OK I've made this guide to explain what Hama Beads are, what you'll need, where to buy them and how to make the video game characters of your choice.

Each design will take between 20-60 minutes to make so be warned. Make sure you have enough time to make your design and it'll always take longer than you think.

The picture below is a large view of what the Hama Beads look like.

Where can I buy Hama Beads?

I would go to your local arts and crafts shop and you'll more than likely find them there. I was looking in my local toy/model shop and I found them there. Hama Beads are the most popular of all bead crafts so they shouldn't be too hard to find.

If you're buying online I would recommend buying from http://www.hamabeads.co.uk since they offer a large selection of colours and bead tubs. If you're not from the UK you can find them at http://www.ebay.com

I recommend you buy the large 5,000 bead tub because this is the cheapest and best value to help you get started. I had to buy the extra boards from eBay since my local shop didn't have any. Each colour should cost about £1.20 each, extra boards about £1.50 each, 5,000 bead tubs about £8.00.

What colours do you use the most?

Generally if you use beads from the tub you're OK. It's usually browns that don't come with it and most Nintendo stuff I've been making recently has needed some sort of brown. I'd also recommend getting a lot of black since most video game things use it.

Will I need to buy anything else before I can start?

I've had to buy LOADS of extra colours since most of the ones I needed weren't supplied in the large 5,000 bead tub. If you get the large tub like in my picture you get pastel colours, but if you buy a "refill bag" of 5,000 as I did you don't get the pastels. Below are the extras I bought.

I highly recommend you buy some food tubs with air tight locks to hold your extra beads. This will keep them from spilling out and is the most secure method I can think of. Below is the kind which I use.

You'll need to buy some extra boards because the blue one that's supplied is far too small to be any use. I would recommend three of four interlocking white boards. The only other thing you need is baking/cooking paper to iron them.

Where can I find video game characters designs?

For the designs I use http://www.animalcrossingcommunity.com/patterns.asp because they're easy to follow in squares.

What's the easiest way I can make my own designs?

As stupid as it sounds the best program to use is Microsoft Paint. If you look at the pictures below you can see how to make your design easier to see and make.

Save this very small picture below to make the NooBTooB forum logo.

What do the final designs look like?

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