Ralph Breaks The Internet Bead Craft Tutorial

Ralph Breaks The Internet shelf decorations

Our friend and resident MomStart writer Jessie has an amazing talent for crafts. After the first Wreck-It Ralph movie came out, she created a huge Ralph out of Perler beads that she hung up on the wall as a decoration. So in honor of Ralph Breaks The Internet coming to Blu-ray, Jessie and I got together for a fun crafting afternoon so she could teach me her Perler skills in order to make a Fix-It Felix as a sequel to the first craft!

Supplies Needed:

Pattern (See below)
Perler beads in an assortment of colors
Perler pegboards
Tweezers
Parchment paper
Iron

Assembly:

To get started, you’ll need an image or pattern to use as a guide for your beaded creation. When Jessie made Wreck-It Ralph, she referenced an image of 8-bit Ralph which she used as her base to recreate in beads. Depending on your skill level and preference, you can either use an 8-bit image for reference and recreate it freehand with the beads, or follow an embroidery pattern. Since this was my first foray into the world of Perler beads, we started with a more simple project by making Fix-It Felix. To create Felix, we referenced this pattern on BraceletBook.com by Maxie – this is actually a pattern for making a friendship bracelet, but because it shows the 8-bit character on a grid, it also makes a great guide for Perler beads. To create the beaded character, you’ll want to count the number of squares on the pattern, and place your beads in corresponding spaces.

So for example, we can see that in the pattern, Felix has three black squares at the top of his head; on the next line, he has two black squares, three dark blue squares, and three more black squares. Since the image is on a grid, it makes it easy to follow along and build the character bead by bead.

Since the beads are small, tweezers make it easier to place the beads on the pegboard.

Continue placing the beads in their corresponding spots based on the grid pattern until the character is filled out.

Once you’ve filled out the entire character, you’ll want to transfer the pegbords to an ironing board. We started this project on the floor and then carefully transferred each pegboard to the ironing board, but next time I would just start the project on the ironing board at the beginning so as to not risk having to move it.

Place a piece of parchment paper over the beads and heat up your iron.

Run the iron over the parchment paper. Once the beads have melted enough to firm up and stick together, flip your creation over and repeat the process on the other side; this will help make it sturdy and stay together.

And hey presto! You’re done!

Handy tip: For best results, we recommend Perler brand beads. Jessie made this Wreck-It Ralph about 5 years ago using a combination of Perler and off-brand beads, and she’s noticed that the spots with the generic brand have warped slightly over time. Ralph has still held up nicely, but to make sure your creations are as sturdy as possible, we’d recommend opting for Perler brand beads.

Finished decorations on the shelf

These decorations are perfect to place under shelves, since it resembles the retro gameplay aesthetic of Ralph and Felix climbing up a building! We used tacks to hang Ralph on the shelf – since Felix is smaller, you can just prop him up against the wall. This craft is a lot of fun for beginners and experts alike – and it makes the perfect rainy day activity to do while watching Ralph Breaks The Internet on Blu-ray!