HOME | DD

Description
Time for something a little different. When I first started working with Perler beads, I used several of the combined sets you get at the store and a couple 11,000 bead buckets for my projects. Since then, I've tackled more complex sprites that require a diverse palette of colors for shading. Instead of spending time sorting through the 10,000 and 22,000, I usually order my beads directly off the Perler Beads Site since they sell 1000 bead packs of specific colors. There are a couple exceptions I'll get into below.

So to explain the image here, I broke down the main colors I use by their relevant group with all the yellows, the blues, skin tones, etc. to show the difference in color shading for each set. Some metallic colors work well as shades too but the color difference doesn't show up as well in the photo here. While some colors may look similar, there are no duplicates. All of the colors in the shot are distinct and found on the Perler site. The couple of exceptions I've found are the translucent colors. As far as I can tell, the translucent orange, pink, and yellow colors aren't sold individually on the Perler site and I've only been able to find them in the large bucket-type packs. For this reason I bought a few of the 22,000 and had to sort the colors out of them.

Either way, I thought this information might be helpful, especially with folks that might be starting out with Perler bead projects. I do need to point out that this color guide is only for the Perler products. I've never used Hama or the other similar types but I assume they have different names for their colors. I've made the picture file available for download but if you post it elsewhere, please credit me.

Update: For the greens, I recently ordered some of the "Prickly Pear" color and it turns out it's more like the pastel lighter green shades. The color listed as "Prickly Pear" in the diagram above is actually translucent green and as far as I know can only be found in the big assorted bottles like the other translucent colors.

Description
Time for something a little different. When I first started working with Perler beads, I used several of the combined sets you get at the store and a couple 11,000 bead buckets for my projects. Since then, I've tackled more complex sprites that require a diverse palette of colors for shading. Instead of spending time sorting through the 10,000 and 22,000, I usually order my beads directly off the Perler Beads Site since they sell 1000 bead packs of specific colors. There are a couple exceptions I'll get into below.

So to explain the image here, I broke down the main colors I use by their relevant group with all the yellows, the blues, skin tones, etc. to show the difference in color shading for each set. Some metallic colors work well as shades too but the color difference doesn't show up as well in the photo here. While some colors may look similar, there are no duplicates. All of the colors in the shot are distinct and found on the Perler site. The couple of exceptions I've found are the translucent colors. As far as I can tell, the translucent orange, pink, and yellow colors aren't sold individually on the Perler site and I've only been able to find them in the large bucket-type packs. For this reason I bought a few of the 22,000 and had to sort the colors out of them.

Either way, I thought this information might be helpful, especially with folks that might be starting out with Perler bead projects. I do need to point out that this color guide is only for the Perler products. I've never used Hama or the other similar types but I assume they have different names for their colors. I've made the picture file available for download but if you post it elsewhere, please credit me.

Update: For the greens, I recently ordered some of the "Prickly Pear" color and it turns out it's more like the pastel lighter green shades. The color listed as "Prickly Pear" in the diagram above is actually translucent green and as far as I know can only be found in the big assorted bottles like the other translucent colors.