Hama hearts

So okay, we need a little break from all this paper-scissors-glue-stuff. We need plastic! And no blogging about holiday crafting i Denmark without at least one post about Hama Beads. (but ok, we already covered snowflakes.... here!) Hama Beads are a part of growing up in Denmark.

I dare you to find one Dane between the ages of 5 and 75 that has not:

1. made at least a heart, a star, a kitty cat, a roaring dinosaur or
   a lovely multicolor necklace for an adoring family member. 
2. been presented, gift wise, with at least one of the above.

To me, the smell of melting plastic, is a happy one.

Making 'perleplader' has always been a great babysitting ploy with the slightly larger kids, and the work with selecting the colors, getting the beads organized on the tiny pegs, carrying the finished design, carefully, to the ironing board (manned by the Responsible Adult) are all skills that require concentration and focus, and are very developing for a five-year old. Don't underestimate the power of the Hama Bead.

And you can make lovely 'woven' hearts with the heart shaped thingy! I made these, the other day....

For the last couple of years they have had an absolute heyday (they are a danish invention, and date back from 1971, read here) as a medium for street artists and kitchy jewellery designers. Hama themselves have been busy in the development unit, and today all kinds of kits, beads in various sizes, tools and whatnot, are available. A few years ago, the beads and the pegboards were all you had, and I'm an old skool kind of Hama-girl: I stick to my basic shapes, and my larger 'freestyle' pegboard, for doing letters and such.

I like making hearts, stars, snowflakes, letters. What do you like? You can iron them, string them on wire and make cute things, or make 3D objects. Or you could be inspired by the Masai to make lots of multi-string necklaces in brilliant reds, blues, whites, yellows (a pet Hama-idea - haven't gotten around to it yet, though)

Hope this will inspire you. Happy beading to you all.

Here is a link to the authorised webshop - with worldwide shipping: www.hamabeads.com

Spring 2015 note: this is crazy! Almost four thousand people, and counting, have checked out this particular blog post. Fun that you found your way to it! We still love playing with Hama here in my house, and here are some other posts tagged 'hama beads', maybe you'll enjoy those as well.