Parrot fuse bead pattern

About this design

The parrot sits upright, facing left, with a Red head and body, a White patch around the eye and a Yellow beak. The wing is where the colour is: bands of Yellow, Light Blue and Green layered over each other, and the tail tapers down to a point in Light Blue. It is a narrow design, so it works as a keyring or a decoration hung from a single hole at the top.

Bead counts: 53 Red, 47 Black, 17 Light Blue, 11 Yellow, 10 Green and 3 White, 141 beads in all. Buy a few spares of each colour, because the odd bead always rolls away.

Placing the beads

One large square pegboard (29 × 29 pegs) holds the whole 17 × 18 design. Build the wing first, because its colour bands are the fiddly part, then fill the red around it. Check each row against the chart before you move on, as one stray bead is hard to fix after ironing.

Ironing and finishing

With an adult at the iron, fuse the front under ironing paper on a medium setting until the holes start to close, then flip it and do the back. Cool it under something heavy to stop it curling. The finished piece is roughly 8.5 × 9 cm and works well as a keyring or a tropical-party decoration.

Colour plan

Perler 80-19005 Red does the most work, 38% of the 141 beads, followed by Perler 80-19018 Black at 33%. Perler 80-19001 White (3) is used only a little: small details worth marking on the chart so you don't miss them. 54% of the grid is left empty.

Working notes

All the beads touch along a full side, so it irons into one solid piece.