Thermomosaic volumetric figures. Why I love thermomosaic. Festive packaging for the New Year

Thermomosaics are small beads made of thermoplastic plastic, which can be laid out in interesting patterns on a special form. After heating the prepared pattern, the beads are soldered together into one whole craft! Thermomosaic is relatively inexpensive, and you can make patterns and figures of any shape from it. After purchasing a thermal mosaic from your nearest craft store or online store, you will very soon begin to successfully create your creations.

Steps

Part 1

Creating a pattern from thermomosaic

Prepare everything you need to work with thermomosaic. You will need a flat, stable surface to prepare your pattern. The special tablet base for thermomosaic has short enough pins for installing beads, therefore, due to an uneven working surface, the beads can jump off the pins. In general, to work with thermomosaic you will need:

tablet base for thermomosaic;
iron;
parchment paper (or tracing paper);
thermomosaic.

Choose the right tile base or thermomosaic mold. There are many forms for thermomosaic that you can use for your crafts. For example, you can make a figure of a dog, fish, shoes, make a hexagon and so on. Thermomosaic manufacturers produce a wide variety of ready-made forms, but you also always have the opportunity to use a regular thermomosaic flatbed base and lay out your own pattern on it.

Prepare beads of suitable colors. Small beads of thermomosaic are sometimes quite difficult to pull out of their containers. In order not to fight with the beads during work, each time trying to get the right one, it will be more convenient for you to arrange the beads by color in separate bowls or baking dishes.

Assemble the thermomosaic pattern according to the diagram. If you are working with a ready-made form for thermomosaic, for example, in the form of a cat, you can put beads on the pins of the form at your discretion. If you use a transparent tablet base, then before starting work, you can put a sheet with a diagram under it, or simply come up with and create your own design.

Part 2
Fixing the created pattern
1. Heat the beads on one side. Take parchment paper (or tracing paper) and cover the beads collected on the base with it. Be careful not to accidentally knock the beads out of place. Heat the iron to medium heat, and then slowly iron the paper in a circular motion with the iron. It will take you about 10 seconds to solder the beads together.
  
  Warm up the beads on the reverse side. After the beads and the base itself have cooled slightly, they can be turned over to the other side. As a result, the craft will be removed from the pins and expose the unheated side of the beads.
  
  Peel off the paper and let it cool. Grasp the corner of the paper and carefully remove it from the beads. The beads will be quite hot when you're done ironing them, so give them a few minutes to cool down before touching your thermomosaic creation.
  - Your work is now ready to be shown! Take it off the base and show your friends what you got.
Part 3
Additional creative tricks
1. Make your thermal mosaic work sparkle. This technique will allow you to give your crafts a magical touch and will be useful when making figurines of ponies, unicorns or fairies. Just take some small sequins and sprinkle them on the beads collected on the base before ironing them. When you solder the beads together, the finished craft will already shine!
  
  Create decorations from thermomosaic. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place oven-safe metal pastry cutters on it. Then fill the molds with thermomosaic beads. In this case, beads of the same color or different colors can be used. Just do not pour the beads into the molds to the very top, otherwise the plastic may overflow over the edge of the mold during the baking process.
  
  Make a thermomosaic cube. It is best to perform such crafts on a medium-sized square tablet base. Lay out two separate rows of beads on the basis of three pieces. Then lay out three figures in the shape of the letter "H" with sides three beads high. The central jumper of each letter should be one bead. All parts must be separated from each other by at least one row of empty base pins.
2. Keep unused thermal mosaic beads away from small children. They can create a risk of suffocation if a child chokes on them.

What is a thermomosaic, what is the use of it, at what age can a child play with it, what can be made of it, etc.

What is thermomosaic?

Thermomosaic is an interesting material for children's creativity. Especially for those who have not heard about it yet, or have heard, but still doubt whether it is worth buying it for their child, I will tell you what a thermomosaic is and answer some questions.

Thermomosaic- This is a mosaic, which is a plastic multi-colored beads of a cylindrical shape. These beads are put on a base - special plates with short pins (forms for thermal mosaics), and then ironed through thermal paper (tracing paper). At high temperatures, the top layer of plastic melts, and the beads are fastened together.

After that, the figure must be removed from the tablet, wait until it cools down a bit, and then separate the tracing paper from it. If everything is done correctly, there will be no harm to the iron :)

At what age can a child play with thermomosaic?

What are the benefits of thermomosaic?

Like any other mosaic, it develops fine motor skills (and a lot has already been said about its benefits for the development of the child), coordination of movements, trains perseverance and accuracy. It gives older children the opportunity to develop fantasy and imagination, choose the colors you want invent your own figurines and make crafts and souvenirs from plastic.

How are ready-made thermomosaic crafts used?

Unlike the usual mosaic, the pictures of which exist only until the next lesson, the child can play with the results of his work, or he can hang them on the walls to decorate the children's room (you can stick them on colored cardboard before that).

These crafts can also be used as:

pendants,
Christmas decorations,
fridge magnets,
key chains, souvenirs,
volumetric figures for postcards, etc.

You can lay out a photo frame or a whole picture from such a mosaic.

The scheme of such a cat in pdf format:
www.eksuccessbrands.com/uploadedFiles/Perler_Beads/Projects/TWKittenintheCovers.pdf

What should be in the set?

The set should contain plastic beads, tablets with pins on which these beads need to be put on, thermal paper, it looks like tracing paper, and diagrams.

If you already have tablets, you can buy beads separately. They are sold in large jars and containers in which beads of different colors are mixed, or in containers with separate cells for different colors. There are transparent or matte, there are even glow in the dark.

In these photos there is a jar with beads for thermomosaic and a cat figurine made from these beads.

As it turned out, during heat treatment, beads from different manufacturers behave differently. Some beads remain round (this can be seen in the photo of the cat), while others become square (pay attention to the multi-colored beads that play the role of toys on a voluminous Christmas tree, the photo of which will be later in the article). But when buying it is impossible to determine.

Tablets can also be purchased separately. You just need to look to match the diameter of the tablets and beads.

They come with the usual arrangement of pins (like cells for cross-stitching, in the photo - the top two tablets), with mosaic (brick), with circular (in the photo - at the bottom right) and with arbitrary (in the photo - a heart at the bottom left).

For large paintings, there are tablets that connect to each other like puzzles.

On tablets with regular and circular arrangement of pins, it is most convenient to invent your own figures and plots.

Arbitrary arrangement usually occurs on tablets for composing figures of a certain shape (on such tablets you can make hearts, figurines of a cat, horses, etc.). In this case, you can’t invent your own figure, you can only change the colors of the beads - it looks like a coloring book.

Color schemes for thermomosaic they are on separate sheets so that they can be placed under a transparent plastic tablet - this is the most convenient and easiest option for a child (a coin in the photo is for scale, beads with a diameter of 5 mm).

And there are schemes designed in a book - it is more difficult for a child to use them, but this trains attentiveness, forms the ability to work according to the scheme.

Where can I get diagrams for thermomosaic?

If it doesn’t work or you don’t want to come up with schemes, then The easiest way to find them is on the Internet. Even small cross-stitch patterns (without half-crosses), patterns for knitting patterns and patterns by cells will do.

It is not necessary to look for specific schemes. If there is a good quality photo of the figurine, then you can collect your figurine by looking at its image on the screen of your phone, tablet or laptop. In the beginning, we did a lot of crafts just like that.

My daughter and I came up with schemes (the schemes and the resulting figures can be viewed by clicking on the link).

And they did the following:

Fairy, goose and duckling schemes are in my other blog, in the article “Thermomosaic figures”.

On the site “Toy House” has pictures from the sets of the company "Era":

"Princess". Schemes of a prince, princess, castle, carriage, horses and even a voluminous peacock: igrudom.ru/obrazcy-dlya-sborki-termomozaiki
“Zoo”: igrudom.ru/mozaichnyi-zoopark
Figures for the fairy tales "Teremok", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Kolobok" and "Turnip":
http://igrudom.ru/skazki-iz-termomozaiki/

Different schemes can be viewed on the website of a foreign company selling thermal mosaics by clicking on the craft you like, and then on each link from the column below, if the craft is complex and consists of several elements:
www.eksuccessbrands.com/perlerbeads/creative/projects.htm

On the same site there is a gallery of works sent by buyers, arranged by month. Without diagrams, but can be used as a source for inspiration:
www.eksuccessbrands.com/perlerbeads/gallery

And of course, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times. A set from one of the manufacturers of thermomosaic.

Finally, a little trick: if the figurine is intended for playing, then it is better to iron it on both sides (of course, only through thermal paper) - this way you get a more reliable fastening of thermomosaic beads to each other.

Attention! Observe safety precautions when working with an iron and be sure to explain to the child that only adults can use the iron (for older children - only in the presence of an adult and under his supervision).

Where to buy thermomosaic?

You can buy a thermal mosaic in a store with children's toys, creative kits, or order it online.

___

Do your kids love thermal mosaics? If so, where do you usually get the schemes (from a set, invent yourself, from the Internet)?

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Most often, the public condemns adults who fall into childhood. But, you see, sometimes it's so nice, forgetting about everyday problems and troubles, with rapture to plunge into the wonderful world of children's games and entertainment.

The other day I was lucky enough to briefly return to a carefree childhood. And it came about quite by accident.

Late in the evening, wandering around Pinterest in search of interesting ideas for New Year's crafts, I stumbled upon photos of works made from thermal mosaics.

The IKEA set, which was presented to my daughter for her birthday, consisting of plastic beads, thermal paper and special plastic bases with pins for laying out thermal mosaics, has been lying idle at our house for several months.

And suddenly I realized that I definitely need to test the thermomosaic in action, and immediately make something out of it. I had to spy into the room to the sleeping children and get from the shelf a jar with treasured beads.

Thermomosaic is laid out according to the same principle as regular mosaic. The only difference is that the beads are not inserted into the holes of the base, but are strung on special pins of a plastic mold.

In addition, thermomosaic beads can be fused together by ironing the laid out picture with an iron through thermal paper, and as a result, you get a solid figurine for games or interior decoration.

So, everything is ready for work. It remains to decide on the image to be laid out from the thermomosaic.

Like most adults, it didn’t even occur to me to turn on my fantasy, which was sleeping due to the late time, and I decided to look for ready-made schemes for thermomosaic. There are more than enough of them on the Internet.

That is why my choice may surprise you. Why? Yes, because I decided

make your own Minion - the character of the cartoon "Despicable Me"

The fact is that my children are delighted with the contemplation of this creature on the computer screen, and after watching the cartoon they play “minions” for a long time.

These three schemes inspired me to create my own thermomosaic minion:

1. Having made some minor adjustments to the sample diagram, I laid out my minion from thermomosaic beads on a special plastic form.

2. Having covered the laid out image with thermal paper included in the thermal mosaic kit, I ironed it with a very hot iron for 3 minutes.

The top edge of the plastic beads melted and the beads joined together.

3. Then I carefully removed the paper and laid the thermomosaic minion figurine on a flat, hard surface so that the melted side of the figurine was at the bottom, and the edges of the beads that were not ironed were on top.

I again covered the figurine with thermal paper and ironed it.

Many lovers of thermomosaic crafts iron only one side of the figurine. However, the beads melted on both sides hold on tighter, and the figurine is stronger and more durable.

4. After letting the minion figurine cool down a little, I took off the thermal paper and placed the finished figurine under the press for several hours so that the thermomosaic craft would not lose its shape during the solidification process.

I'll tell you a little secret: in fact, the little minion is not alone. He has a twin brother (well, almost a twin) - the first, in my opinion, not a very successful experimental copy. As they say, find ten differences:

In general, the process of creating thermomosaic crafts turned out to be fascinating, and perhaps you will see our new products in this technique on the blog for creative mothers and grandmothers.

And now the answers to some questions that you may have during the manufacture of thermomosaic crafts:

What can replace the special paper for thermal mosaics?

In the presence of such a huge jar of beads, like mine, 2 sheets of thermal paper are unforgivably small. In particular, if the skill of working with thermomosaic is not yet available.

Thermal paper can be replaced with tracing paper. But it is best to iron the thermomosaic beads through baking parchment. Proven: it does not stick to the melted figurine and can be easily removed.

To what temperature do you need to heat the iron to make thermomosaic crafts?

Personally, I prefer to heat the iron to the maximum in the "cotton" or "troika" mode. So the beads melt faster.

Do not overdo it by melting the plastic beads of thermomosaic with a hot iron! Otherwise, you will get a thin melted pancake (see above: Minion #1 - experimental).

How many minutes to fix thermomosaic beads with an iron?

The image, laid out of plastic beads, is melted with an iron heated to the maximum temperature for 2-3 minutes on each side (or on one side if desired). It all depends on the iron and on the quality of the figurine you want to get.

For example, I prefer figures without holes, so I iron the image from the thermomosaic with an iron for longer.

Where can I get diagrams for thermomosaic?

Look for schemes for thermomosaic on the websites of manufacturers. There, the pictures on the ready-made sets are presented in good resolution, and when enlarged, you can easily see the diagrams of the figures.

As patterns for laying out thermomosaics, you can use simple cross-stitch patterns.

Where to buy thermomosaic?

Sets of thermal mosaics, beads and base forms for it can be purchased at creative goods stores, in the departments of children's toys or stationery, or you can order thermal mosaics in an online store.

Forget about household chores - remember how great it is to be a child with HobbyMama!

When we , we got once again a thermomosaic. Well, of course, they began to actively play with her after the weekend.
Therefore, I decided to show and tell why I love thermomosaic

So, let's start with what a thermomosaic is in general, in case you have not met such a toy yet.
You have a tablet - a base with pins. These tablets are very different. The simplest is a square. If this is a Hama thermomosaic, then the square will have grooves for connecting with others of the same kind. This is necessary to create large pictures.
If you bought a Ses, Lori, Ikea tablet, then your square will not connect to anything even in distant plans

As you can see in the picture, there are other options. The circle is a very useful shape, only a little more would be better. The heart is almost a square, only it has specific small roundings. You can make more than just hearts on this tablet!
And very cool - a hexagonal tablet. It can take a lot of great pictures.
I specifically bought this set for the sake of the tablet. Although, of course, they are sold separately, you just need to find where exactly. Now I already know where :)

There are also such attractive at first glance tablets - ready-made figures. But, experience has shown that they are just the least used. Because nothing else, except for a given figure, can be assembled on them.

The beads themselves are also different. The size is basically the same for all manufacturers - 5 mm in length. And there are also super-small beads of 3 mm and 2.6 mm! Their trick is that the resulting figure will be flexible. But of course, it's not for kids anymore.
It seems that Hama has large beads for babies. I have not seen such, but I think that if such exist, then it's cool.

The only thing to remember is that each size needs its own tablets !!!

But, oddly enough, something depends on the manufacturer.
If you plan to make ordinary flat pictures, key chains, earrings, etc. - then any will do. There will be a question only in color. There are a lot of flowers in a cheap IKEA jar, but there will be no more shades

In ready-made sets there will be beads that match the colors, but they are enough for 1-2 figures. And if you yourself want to buy a specific color - then this is Hama again - I have seen up to 60 colors, but I think that there may be more.

When else might Hama be needed - if you decide to make a large project. Unfortunately, Ikeia beads, etc. if they are weakly melted, they do not hold well, and if they are strongly melted, then they do not join. And such a plan a miracle can no longer be created

But let's get back to the mosaic itself. What is actually so unusual about it that distinguishes it from other mosaics
And the thing is that first we collect a picture of colored beads. And then we iron it through a special paper (baking paper is perfect). And in our hands is a flat colored contraption :)

See these flowers? They are from thermomosaic. They were made by a caring brother for his little sister for the new year.

Why is it interesting and useful?

Let's start with the fact that it is bright, simple pictures are collected quite quickly, and a 3-year-old child, after a little effort, can get a bright and cute result - a flat figurine for play or just beauty.

What is useful in this?
- Well, of course, fine motor skills. Taking beads 5 mm in diameter with your fingers, putting them on a small pin is a great job.

And you can also master the tweezers! In fact, in large and complex works without tweezers it will be difficult. And it is very useful for kids to master this tool.

And if the beads are all in one jar - a bowl, then they also need to be sorted, to find the right one. You can, of course, look for the right bead every time during work. But this, as you understand, is not very rational. It's a constant distraction. So we will select the desired beads in advance. Thus, on the one hand, we teach the child the correct, rational organization of their activities. On the other hand, we train attention - looking for the right color among many is another task, especially for a baby.

When you collect a beautiful picture that you like, you can be a little patient, try ... In general, we slowly develop concentration, a strong-willed sphere.
For example, Alyonka couldn't put together this picture at once - it's too big. We divided it into 2 approaches. At what, I honestly was going to collect it in general for 3 times. But when the finale was already visible, the baby gathered herself and finished the work with an effort of will.

Work according to the scheme.
Read the diagram, count the details, navigate on your tablet, put it, check it. ABOUT! This is a very difficult job not only for the baby, but also for older children. This is a skill, a very important skill that we can develop just by playing with the puzzle.

You can work with the scheme even deeper.
The network has a lot of photos of works and pictures. We take a high-quality picture, make it large on the monitor and ask the child to draw a diagram in a notebook. A very good task for both 5 and 7 years old. If a rectangular tablet is mastered quickly enough, then here are circles, hexagons ... there are more questions here.

Here in the photo you can see a box with pencils. First, Alice drew a diagram for herself, now she collects

By the way, here is an interesting observation along the way. Alice first copied the schemes with color - she painted over the necessary squares. And only over time, she saw that it was more rational not to paint over, but to put just a colored icon, or even a non-color one. And more recently, she herself realized that you can simply designate the desired color with a letter or number. And this little discovery of hers is worth a lot.

You can fantasize and collect your own pictures, patterns. And then sketch them for yourself
- By the way, yes, with the help of thermomosaic you can perfectly work out what is done on a regular mosaic: symmetry, sequences, similarity.

But such pictures are an excellent material for various gifts, decorations, holiday decor, they can become elements of a postcard or directly play material.

Well, or better

We have such a varied food lives in toys for 7 years. Slava once did for Alice, and we are slowly updating as needed.

But Slava made such cars as a gift for children in kindergarten. Just? Yes, sure. But for a person 4.5 years old - that's it. And how happy the boys were. And how happy the speech therapist and teacher were! After all, they had a competition. Blow on the cars so that they move to the finish line! Great workout :)

But you can make such beauties

And, most importantly, such a project is within the power of a 4-5 year old child! You see, probably no other material gives such freedom. Doesn't make it easy to get results. The minimum help of parents, and the child gets a truly beautiful, bright contraption that gives him joy, with which he can play, which can be used.

From this photo you can immediately see what book Alenka has recently read. Well, of course, about the elephant Elmer. But she did not make a multi-colored elephant, but a dog

Well, as beads, we, of course, use a mosaic.
- this is just food that we pour - pour in games
- cargo that can be loaded into the body of a dump truck and brought in the game
- these are beads for the doll
- this is also a replacement for large beads in weaving plain crafts. Something with which it is easy enough to start weaving for a baby
Well, it’s nice for kinesthetic learners to just put their hands in a bowl of beads and sprinkle them from palm to palm.

I myself at leisure, when he suddenly appears, or next to the children, I collect pictures with pleasure. I like both the process and the result.
In general, I think it is already clear that I love thermomosaic, and my children too :)

Do you have a thermal mosaic at home? Show what you make of it? Children like? And you yourself?

Thermomosaic is an excellent material for creativity with children over 3 years old. It is a set of colored plastic beads of a cylindrical shape, which are laid out in the form of a pattern on a special base with pins, and then ironed through thermal paper (parchment). When heated, the top layer melts and the beads are connected to each other, forming a solid figure. Thus, together with the child, you can create various crafts from thermomosaic: jewelry and accessories, home decor, toys and gifts for the holidays.

Instructions for working with thermomosaic

You will need:

beads for thermomosaic (in, in, on);
basis for thermomosaic (in, in, on);
a set of forms for thermomosaic (in, in, on);
thermal paper (in, in, on) or replace with baking paper;
tweezers (on);
iron;

or use a ready-made set for thermomosaic (in, in on).

Thermomosaic is suitable for children 4-5 years old, but there are also sets for children over the age of three - they differ in the size of beads, in sets for the smallest they usually have a diameter of 10 mm.
Standard sets for children from 5 years old are equipped with beads with a diameter of 5 mm, and for older children - very small, 2.5 mm in size.

Different sets of thermomosaic are completed with different plates with pins. They can be in the form of a butterfly, a horse, a bunny, etc. There are also universal bases - square, round, oval. The former are easier to use, the latter are more practical and give more room for creativity. It is best to have both, start with blanks and move on to free creativity. If the child is old enough, then you can only get by with universal tablets.

How to do

1. Let the child independently lay out the pattern on the form, putting the beads on the pins (use tweezers for convenience). You can assemble the mosaic according to the schemes, or you can voluntarily, relying on your imagination. It is very convenient for kids to use a transparent tablet, under which you can put a template and collect on it.

2. Heat the iron to medium temperature.

3. Then put the thermal paper on the finished image and carefully iron the surface of the mosaic with a hot iron in a circular motion. (This stage is allowed to be done only by adults or children under the supervision of parents). It will take about 10 seconds in time.

4. Remove the resulting figure from the tablet, turn up the untouched side. Lay on a flat wooden surface. Cover with paper and iron for another 10 seconds.

5. In order for the figurine not to deform after cooling and remain even, it is necessary to put a load on top for several minutes.

What does thermomosaic develop?

Classes with thermomosaic provide many opportunities for shaping the personality of the child. In addition to the development of fine motor skills of the hands, it gives the opportunity to play with color, which helps to develop artistic abilities, imagination and creativity. The ability to lay out drawings according to diagrams develops the ability of visual-motor coordination of movements, which is important for preparing children for writing. Counting the number of necessary details and rows in the drawing will certainly help in the development of the child's mathematical abilities, his intelligence. When laying out figures from thermomosaic, in addition to developing abilities, children develop such qualities of character as patience and concentration, accuracy and attention.

What to make from thermomosaic: ideas for crafts, schemes

Bookmarks

Together with your child, create colorful bookmarks for books from thermal mosaics and large paper clips. Lay out the thermomosaic according to the scheme (download), iron it through the thermal paper, glue the finished figures with hot glue to the paper clips.

Source: perler.com

Bookmarks "Fruits" from thermomosaic and wooden sticks for ice cream (diagram).

Source: perler.com

Accessories and decorations for children

Thermomosaic bracelets

Option 1. Put thermal beads on the base in any color combination. It is important that the ends of the future bracelet are made at different angles for proper alignment. Iron through the thermal paper. Take the strip while it is still warm and wrap it around the glass, completing the bracelet. Run the iron over the surface of the bracelet again to secure the ends.

Source: diycandy.com

Option 2. Even a child of 4 years old can make a simple bracelet from thermal beads. First, flatten the beads with an iron, wait until they cool down and invite the baby to string them on an elastic thread.

Source: craftandcreativity.com

Option 3. Weave a bracelet from thermal beads in the same way as beaded jewelry is weaved according to the patterns.

Source: diycandy.com

Thermomosaic headbands for girls

Source: perler.com

For manufacturing, you will need: a simple rim (on), a thermal mosaic (diagram) and a thermal gun for gluing jewelry to the rim. Source: perler.com

Source: eighteen25.com

Summer earrings made of mini thermal beads

Source: perler.com

Thermo mosaic necklace

Source: thecraftedsparrow.com

Invite your child to draw their own design for the future necklace.

Source: blog.modcloth.com

Buttons for children's clothing

You can make bright buttons for children's outfits from thermomosaic.

Source: makermama.com

Molten thermal mosaic hairpins

Cover a baking sheet with baking paper, lay out a pattern from thermal beads and place in preheated to 200 gr. oven for about 10 min. When the beads are melted, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let cool. Glue the finished figure to the hairpin with hot glue. A bright hair accessory is ready!

Source: the36thavenue.com

Carnival masks

Thermomosaic mask for a girl (scheme).

Keychains "Fruit"

Source: mypoppet.com.au

Phone case decor

Gift wrapping

Creating festive packaging is a very exciting process that will appeal to adults and children. With thematic figurines from thermomosaic, you can make original gift wrapping for any occasion.