Beads / Jewellery Arts / Crafts
Offers
Reviews
 |
Charmies Hello Kitty Magic Beader
by emmad5689 ==Purchase= My eldest daughter Sophie loves making things and when I saw this for sale on the Boots website I expected it would be something she would really like, the set currently costs £12.18 n Amazon with free delivery although the RRP is £19.99 which I would say is far too expensive. ==Packaging== ... The set comes packaged in a pretty pink cardboard box, the ends of the box are sealed simply with a piece of sellotape and then there is a Hello Kitty shaped hole on the front for you to be able to see inside. The box shows a little girl on the front with a number of creations around her and then a couple of little pictures indicating how the system will work. The box states that the set is for ages 6 and up which I would say could be about right as Sophie has had a problem with the set and she is 5. ==What You Get= Inside the box you get the magic beader system itself, 2 metres of stretchy string, 2 key chains, 21 large beads, 28 small beads, 7 end beads and some instructions. The instructions are A5 in size and are printed on thick glossy paper, the instructions are really good as they are seperated into sectiosn of what you get, how to use the beader, how to make a bracelet, how to remove a stopper and how to make a keychain. each of the sections has a number of different pictures to show you exactly how to work the set as well as explaining it with words and makes them very easy to follow which I think is great as if your child is a poor reader they can see easily what they have to do. ==Setting Up== The beader is a circle shape and made of pink plastic, there is a small handle for turning which you need to slot into the top of the beader, this is realler easy to do and you will use this to turn the circle later. You have to place the threader which will help you to thread the string through the beads into place on one side of the circle and this can only go in one way so this is also easy to do so far so good. You get a number of different beads in the set with which you can make your bracelet or keychain, in the large beads you get, 2 x Red Hello Kitty 1 x Pink Hello Kitty 1 x Hello Kitty standing 1 x Hello Kitty sitting 2 x Pears 2 x Apples 2 x Strawberries 2 x Bows 4 x Lollies 4 x Buttons with hello Kitty written on them. Personally I find the large beads pretty poor and even Sophie said why wasn't there more Hello Kitty characters, considering how much the RRP for the set is I think that only getting 5 beads of the actual character is a rip off. The small beads you get in the set are, 4 x round pink beads 4 x pink flowers 3 x orange hearts 3 x orange stars 4 x purple round beads 4 x purple flowers 3 x yellow hearts 3 x yellow stars The beads overall are great quality, the Hello Kitty beads have plenty of detailing on them and they don't look at all cheap. You have to make a design in the sections of the circle beader, there are so many small gaps and then so many large gaos and your child can choose which beads to put in which place. Placing the beads can be a little fiddly as each bead has a very small amount of cylinder shaped plastic at the either side of it and thse bits have to balance perfectly on the beader otherwise you are unable to thread them. Once your child has made there design which with Sophie can take quite some time as she isn't the most decisive of children you then use the handle which you attached earlier and turn the circle at which a plastic round rod will come round and slot through all of the beads in the design and finish up at the threader, there is a small hook like a crochet hook on the end and you have to try and catch the string from in the threader with the hook and this is really not easy. Once you have managed to get the hook to catch the thread you have to turn the handle the opposite way to pull the thread through all the beads in the sequence. ==Finishing Off== Once you have got the thread through all the beads you hold onto both ends of the string and lift the design off the beader and at this point your child has to decide if they want to make a keychain or a bracelet. To make a bracelet you get a top without a hook on it and a bottom piece, you have to lay the two ends of the string in opposite directions across the bottom piece and pull tight so that there is no string showing before puttin the top part on and pushing down hard to clip into place. once you have clipped the two parts of the stopper into place you simply have to snip off the ends and the bracelet amazingly stays together, Sophie was amazed by this and loves the fact that she can out the bracelet on and off wthout it breaking which we have had happen with cheaper jewellery making kits. if you choose to make a keychain then the top part of the stopper has a little loop on it to which you attach the keychain to other than this it is finished off in exactly the same way as a bracelet. ==Opinions== Adult help is certainly needed with this set which is a shame really as it has meant we have had limited time in which to play with it as Sophie has a younger sister who tends to be a pain in the bum when we do things like this and tries to run away with pieces. The set makes decent items and Sophie is really happy with what she has made from it so far, the set includes plenty of string so I don't feel this has been scrimped on however the character beads most certainly have and this I feel is a con for what they want to charge for the set. Sophie has enjoyed making bracelets with the set and she loves to give her creations to people although obviously the standard bracelet on this kit is child size but you can always line it up a second time and put more beads on it to make it bigger. The idea of the set is really good and Sophie really loves making the bracelets however for full sized bracelets you need 5 large beads and there are 7 bits to finish them off so if you do the maths to make the full amount you would need 35 large beads alone and considering you only get 21 I think it's a con and I bet somewhere they will be selling refill kits to make you spend more money. Read the complete review |
 |
Pack of 5 Small Pegboards
by jrh2 When I was younger I always used to make different things with Hama beads. I had loads of different shapes including people, cats, lions, butterflies etc. but the ones I used most were the simple shapes in this pack. The five shapes included are a heart, circle, hexagon, square and star. Each shape is made from a ... strong white plastic and has small sticky up bits. These are where the hama beads go to keep them in place. They are the only beads which will fit there but there are a wide range to choose from, my favorite beads were always the glittery hama beads. When the hama beads are placed on the spikes they are about twice the height of the spike. This means that somettimes they can be knocked and you may have to start again. It requires good hand eye coordination and some patience. When the beads are placed where you wish the board has to be covered with paper and ironed. This was always a job for my mum. When it has been ironed the beads melt a little and therefore stick together. If you iron too much you can melt the board. The design comes off the board easily and you can then reuse the board again and again. Other than melting some of the spikes the board is still as strong as ever. The shapes are fantastic and very versatile. The heart is my most used, some have been stripy, spotty, and every colour imaginable. The circle is brilliant for faces. The star has been used a lot as well, I used glow in the dark hama beads and put the stars on my ceiling. The square is nice for houses or making letters, you don't have to fill the whole board up. The hexagon is nice to have but I never used it much. These shapes can be bought for a few pounds at my local toy shop. They make many different shapes with a bit of imagination. The only problem is where to put them all!o Read the complete review |
 |
Hama Beads Ben 10 Gift Box
by cha97mw For Christmas this year I knew that I wanted to get my sons some craft stuff to add to our collections as we do like craft but they get a bit fed up of painting and drawing thanks to doing so much at school these days. Both my children are quite into Ben 10, so when I saw this Ben 10 Hama beads kit I thought it looked quite ideal as we ... would be learning some new skills alongside an existing interest. The kit comes in a slightly larger than A4 size box, so the parcel looked quite impressive under the tree and my sons were very pleased to open this. It is aimed at children age 5 plus - my sons are 4 and 6, with my youngest being just short of 5, and I think this is an adequate age suggestion for the product. My 6 year old was really taken by the kit, whereas my almost 5 year old found it a little bit fiddly and a bit too hard to be careful and concentrate. We had never experienced working with hama beads before, so it really was a case of me learning how to go about it with my children. Inside this kit there was a plastic bag with 4000 beads in it. There were then 2 peg boards, a sheet of ironing paper to use with the finished designs, and a set of instructions which consisted of a colour diagram of the 3 models on the box shown in the picture above. If I had thought a bit better, I think I would have opened the kit on my own first, as we realised quickly that there were 14 colours of beads in the big bag, and once we put a hole in the bag, they were going everywhere, and it was very difficult to find out just the one colour you want when there were 3 different shades of green alone, alongside a couple of yellows and some peach and light brown that were also similar. So I set about sorting all of these beads into some different plastic pots we already had with lids, so that the beads were organised by colour. This was no mean feat - I must have been on with the task for a couple of hours at least until we were done. My son in the mean time started the smaller model of the omnitrix - Bens magical alien watch from the show. He quickly grasped the concept of working from the diagram one row at a time, and as it only required 3 colours he could do this alone as I sorted the beads. The two larger models required clipping both peg boards together to work on, and so as soon as the first model was made I needed to iron it straight away so he could continue on with it. The ironing part was relatively easy. I found that the sheet of paper provided was more than ample to cover all of the models, and as I ironed the beads became really visible through the paper. The beads melt a little under the heat and as they cool again they fuse together creating your model. The bit I found hardest was that there were not really any decent instructions about how to go about it. On the box it shows that you put the diagram under the plastic peg board and then you copy the image on to the top. My son found it easy enough to work through a line at a time to do the design. I could have done with knowing a bit more about the ironing though, as at first I found that I didn't do it long enough and only some beads had fused together. Then, with the larger models, I found that I did it so long that in one place on Ben 10's leg, the beads had melted too much and the leg is really thin. The best result for me seemed to be that the beads were melted enough to go slightly flat and go more of a square shape than a round one. My next problem was getting the finished model off the peg board. I found that it was not just a case of it lifting off - I had to get a kebab skewer, and gently push this between the pegs under the model to lift it up a bit at various points on the model so I could get some room to gently lift it up. The plastic boards seemed a little poor quality to me. I don't know if it was my lack of experience and over exuberance with the iron, but each time I ironed them, they got a little bit more bent. This then made it a bit tricky to make your model in the first place as it wasn't sat flat to the table and the beads were not flat so they would not sit nicely. The kit was extremely good value in my eyes as it did occupy my eldest son for a good few days of the recent half term holiday while he created his designs. There was then a lot of spare beads so he could have a go at creating some ideas of his own. We made a lamp post and a monster. I found that he was very patient with it, and it kept him really engrossed in the activity for a long time. He got a lot of satisfaction in creating models he could recognise, and he felt like he had done it himself as I let him get on with it with only a bit of help. I would certainly buy more hama beads after this experience, and I think this set is a good way to get boys involved in being creative. The RRP on this is £16.99. It is currently £15, and I got it even cheaper at £13.24 which I think was a bargain for the hours of entertainment he got from it. Read the complete review |
Beads / Jewellery Art / Craft |
||
|---|---|---|
|
1 review Brand: Hama / Art / Craft / Age: 5+ / Type: Beads |
|
|
1 review Brand: Charmies / Art / Craft / Type: Beading |
|
|
1 review Brand: Hama / Art / Craft / Type: Beads |
|
|
Brand: Hama / Art / Craft / Type: Beads |
|
|
Brand: Hama / Art / Craft / Size: 2,5mm |
|
|
Brand: Chad Valley / Art / Craft / Type: Beads |
|
|
1 review Manufacturer: Hama / Art / Craft / Type: Beads / Jewellery - Pegboards |
|
|
1 review Brand: Tesco / Art / Craft / Type: Beads / Jewellery |
|
|
1 review Brand: Hama / Art / Craft / Type: Beads - Gift Set |
|
|
1 review Brand: Melissa and Doug / Art / Craft / Type: Beads/Jewellery - Heart-themed beads make this set with more than 70 wooden beads a lovely activity. A variety of colours and patterns jazz up your heartfelt designs. Handy wooden storage tray with compartments, keeps the beads and colourful stringing cords ... |
|
| Beads / Jewellery Art / Craft Recommendations 1 2 3 next | ||
| dooyoo Results 1 - 10 of 34 | ||
