How to make a fuse bead pattern
Make a chart you can actually follow: start small, check which beads you need, then print one board at a time or track rows on your screen. The fuse bead pattern maker, full PDF and local row tracker are free. Your original photo stays on your device. Compare the approximate colours with your own beads before buying.
The tool is unofficial and is not affiliated with Perler, Hama, or Artkal. Those names are trademarks of their owners. Use images you have the right to use. The page does not ship character or brand artwork. A generated sample image is included so you can try the controls.
Related: Perler bead pattern maker — photo to Perler beads, with a worked example. Hama pattern generator uses the same maker. Ready-made grids: free perler bead patterns, Halloween patterns and perler bead patterns PDF.
Choose a manageable first project
| Your image | A starting point | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| A simple icon or flat drawing | 1 × 1 board, 8–12 colours, dithering off | Can you recognise the outline at this size? |
| A photo with a clear subject | Start at 1 × 1 and 10 colours. Move to 2 × 2 and about 20 only if the subject disappears | Are the important details still visible? |
| A project using your existing beads | Select your brand, mark owned colours, then enable Only use colours I own | Does the limited palette still look right? |
These are starting points to compare in the preview. More boards add detail, beads and time. Fewer colours reduce sorting. The tool shows counts rather than a promised completion time.
Make my pattern →Prepare the image
Drop a PNG, JPG, WebP, or GIF. Two fit modes decide what happens to the edges:
- Crop to fill the boards keeps the grid full. Parts of the picture that do not match the grid shape are cut off, equally from the long sides.
- Fit whole image keeps the entire picture and leaves empty margins where the photo does not cover a cell.
Treat white / transparent background as empty is optional. Cells that are mostly transparent are already left empty. With the option on, cells whose red, green, and blue are all very high (near white) are empty too. Use it for a logo or icon on a white field. Leave it off for a photo that has real white beads in it, such as eyes or clouds, or those whites become holes.
Simple shapes with a few flat colours survive a small grid. A detailed photo on a 14 by 14 board mostly becomes noise. Start with a tight crop of the subject, then add boards if you still cannot read it.
Grid size
You set boards across and boards down, each from 1 to 4. A new visit starts at 1 by 1. If you already saved pattern settings in this browser, those are restored instead. Board size, in beads, is 29 by 29 (the default), 14 by 14, 16 by 16, or 25 by 25. The pattern size is boards times board size. One board of 29 is 29 by 29 beads. Two by two boards of 29 is 58 by 58 beads. The preview stats show the size, the board count, the bead count, and the colour count after each change.
We have not measured every brand's pegboard. Count the pegs on the board you own and pick the matching size. A 29-peg board will not match a pattern made for 14. Preview zoom only changes how large the plan looks on screen. It does not change the bead count.
More boards mean more beads and a longer build. If you are sorting a new picture, drop to 1 by 1 and a smaller board first. When the shape is recognisable, raise the grid.
Palette and brand matching
Pick the brand you will actually use. The lists are separate, and a code from one brand is not the same bead as a similar name in another brand.
| Brand in the tool | Colours in the built-in list |
|---|---|
| Perler (5 mm standard) | 103 |
| Hama Midi (5 mm) | 92 |
| Artkal S (5 mm) | 199 |
The numbers come from a community dataset (maxcleme/beadcolors, MIT licence), not from the manufacturers. A current catalogue can differ, and names or codes can be out of date. Screens, printers, and ironing all change how a colour looks. The PDF prints a symbol as well as a colour swatch so you can match a code without trusting the printed hue.
If you mix brands in one project, the tool will not remap a finished pattern from one list onto another. Make the pattern for the brand you have the most of, then try a few physical beads before you commit to a substitute.
Max colours, dithering, contrast, and saturation
Max colours runs from 4 to 40, and the last step on the slider is labelled no limit. A new visit starts at 10, inside the 8–12 range that keeps a first chart easy to sort. Fewer colours are easier to buy, and they drop small details. No limit uses as many palette colours as the match needs, which can be a lot of nearly identical beads. On a larger board, try something nearer 20 if important details disappear, then compare the preview. Those are starting points, not a measured optimum.
Dithering is off by default. When it is on, neighbouring colours are mixed to imitate a smooth gradient. On a small pattern that mix looks speckled. Leave it off for flat icons and text. Turn it on for a sky or a photo, and turn it off again if the board looks noisy.
Contrast runs from 0.6 to 1.8 and starts at 1.0. Saturation runs from 0.5 to 2.0 and starts at 1.0. Raise contrast when the subject blends into the background. Lower saturation when the match is jumping between loud colours the photo only hints at. Both are applied before the palette match, so the preview updates immediately. Hover a bead to see its x and y, the board number, the symbol, the code, the name, and how many of that colour the pattern needs.
Colours you own and missing beads
My colours is a list for the brand you have selected. Tap a swatch to mark it owned. The list stays in this browser's local storage and is not sent anywhere. Mark colours used here as owned ticks every colour in the current pattern. Clear this brand forgets the ticks for that brand only.
Only use colours I own limits the match to the ticked colours. If the picture then looks wrong, you either need more colours in stock or you should untick the limit and see what the pattern wants.
The colour table has a symbol, a swatch, the brand code, the name, how many beads you need, an owned tick, an optional quantity, and a status. Leave quantity empty when you own the colour and have plenty. If you type a quantity, the status compares it with the number needed. The summary above the table lists colours you do not own and colours you own but not in a high enough quantity.
Copy shopping list, or download it as a .txt file. Download colour usage (.csv) if you want the same counts in a spreadsheet. The tool does not turn counts into bags or packs, because package sizes differ by brand and shop. Save my-colours.json and load it on another browser if you want the same stock list there. The file stays on your device.
Reading and printing the pattern
The PDF is an A4 plan, not a 1:1 overlay of a 5 mm pegboard. It is laid out to fit the page. Do not try to iron beads by placing them on the printed sheet as if each square were one peg.
The file has three kinds of page:
- A cover with the brand, the bead size, the board layout, the bead count, and the colour count. The overview numbers the boards from left to right, top to bottom.
- One page per board. Columns and rows are numbered. Each filled cell is a coloured circle with a symbol. Heavier lines mark every fifth cell. A legend under the grid lists the symbols on that board, with the code and the count for that board only.
- A usage table for the whole pattern, including the Have and Short columns from the quantities you entered.
Match the symbol to the code, then match the code to a real bead. Printed colour is only a hint. The footer on the PDF repeats that the colours are approximate and that the pattern is for personal use.
Build one board at a time, in the numbered order on the cover. Empty cells are holes, not white beads, unless a white palette colour was actually chosen. If you turned on the white-background option, check that intentional whites are still present before you print.
Keep your place between making sessions
Use the free row tracker to work on one board at a time. Tick each row after placing its beads; finished rows fade on the chart. Progress stays in this browser. Download a local project backup before clearing browser storage or moving to another device.
To continue on another device, choose Save project file, transfer the file, then choose Open project file in the tracker. It includes your chart, project name and completed rows. Save a separate file for each project you want to keep.
No account, payment or cloud service is needed. The browser remembers your current project; project files let you keep as many as you like.
Explore the row tracker →Before you start placing beads
- Load the image or the sample. Choose crop or fit, and decide whether white should be empty.
- Select the brand you own. Set a small grid first, then raise boards across, boards down, or board size.
- Set max colours. Try dithering on and off. Nudge contrast and saturation only if the preview is muddy or too loud.
- Tick the colours you own, and turn on Only use colours I own if you do not want to shop.
- Read the missing-bead summary, copy the shopping list if you need it, and export the PDF.
Frequently asked questions
How do I prepare an image for the grid?
Use a PNG, JPG, WebP, or GIF. Crop to fill the boards cuts the picture to the grid. Fit whole image keeps the whole picture and leaves empty margins. Treat white / transparent background as empty leaves holes where the background is transparent or near white. Leave that option off when the picture contains real white areas you want as beads.
What grid sizes can I make?
Boards across and boards down are each 1 to 4. A new visit starts at 1 by 1. Board size is 29 by 29 (the default), 14 by 14, 16 by 16, or 25 by 25. The pattern is boards times board size, so 1 by 1 board of 29 is 29 by 29 beads, and 2 by 2 is 58 by 58. Count the pegs on your own board; these sizes have not been checked against every brand.
How do I match Perler, Hama, and Artkal?
Choose the brand you have. The lists are Perler 5 mm standard (103 colours), Hama Midi (92), and Artkal S (199), taken from a community dataset, so a current catalogue may differ. A pattern for one brand does not map onto another. Codes and on-screen colours are approximate; compare them with your beads. The PDF uses symbols as well as swatches.
What do max colours and dithering change?
Max colours runs from 4 up to a no-limit setting, and a new visit starts at 10. Fewer colours are simpler to buy and lose detail. Dithering mixes nearby colours to imitate gradients and can look noisy on a small board. Contrast (0.6 to 1.8) and saturation (0.5 to 2) adjust the image before colours are chosen. Both start at 1.0.
How do I use only the beads I already have?
In My colours, tick the colours you own for the selected brand. Only use colours I own limits the pattern to those ticks. The list is stored in this browser. You can save or load a my-colours.json file to move it. In the colour table, an optional quantity is compared with the number needed. Empty quantity means you have plenty. The summary lists missing colours and short quantities. Counts are not converted into bags.
How do I read and print the pattern?
Download the full PDF for free: the original grid, one A4 page per pegboard, symbols and a colour usage table with Have and Short, without a watermark. No account, email or payment is needed. It is not a life-size 5 mm overlay. Match symbols to codes, then check the beads in your hand.