Wow. This is pretty nifty

Melted Pony Bead shapes
Ok, so a friend of mine who is slowly becoming my partner in crafting crime showed me this link to someone's blog that found a new use for those cheap plastic pony beads that everyone has, but doesn't know what to do with. She melted them down to make a shape for a necklace. I found this pretty interesting, so I figured I needed to try it out.


The blue circle shape was made with a shimmery blue star shape which when it melts looks like a soccer ball the way i placed the beads in there.

1. I preheated my oven to 450 degrees
2. put some aluminum foil on a cookie sheet
3. put Metal Cookie cutters on the cookie sheet (very important that they are metal or they will melt also...)
4. I made eyelets out of some jewelry metal I had, but a jump ring works too or you can buy some eyelets too. I found that it works better if they are on the outside edge of the cookie cutter or a good 10mm in because the beads won't melt around it right and the edges come out wierd. But that could be considered added character I suppose.
5. Spread out the beads evenly. I laid one layer of beads in the cookie cutter and that worked well, except the tiny one where one wasn't enough so i had to put two on top of each other.
6. I set my timer for 15 minutes. Someone mentioned on the website I got this from that she let them cook for 6 minutes and then put more beads on top and then let those melt for 8. I tried this for the second batch and I would recommend it because you can kind of see where they are melting and plan accordingly.
7. Take them out and let them cool. You will know they are starting to cool because they will start making a cracking noise because they are pulling away from the cookie cutter.
   
8. Once they are cooled, they should just pop out. Depending on the shape of the cookie cutter, you may have to play with it a little, so just be careful.
   
9. Now you have this great shape you can create something with!!!

One of the hearts I made looked like stained glass

I especially liked how the clear glittery beads melted.

This is the link to the tutorial I followed, but it wasn't very detailed as far as heating instructions and such... http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/barb_wire_wrapped_heart_necklace