Rainbow Fruit Mobile

I found a pack of hama beads at a charity shop for only £2 so I just had to buy them- and I'm glad I did. After browsing for design inspo I decided to make a rainbow fruit mobile. It's colourful fruity fun and child friendly, as long as there's an adult to do the ironing. I adore the bright rainbow vibes and hope you had as much fun with this craft as I did!

• Hama, Perla, or any iron beads
• Coloured thread in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white
• The cardboard part from a kitchen roll
• Acrylic paint in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white
• An iron

Choose a fruit that's red, orange, yellow and so on. Bonus points for how unique the fruit is. Oh, and let me know if you think of any blue fruits other than blueberries!

Design your fruits on the peg board. You could freehand like I did or follow a pattern online- there are hundreds to choose from, I attached a video for if you're too lazy to search (no judgement here). Try to make each fruit roughly the same size. Important: to be able to hang your fruits add a loop using transparent beads to the top of each design. This is way easier than stabbing a hole into a melted bead- believe me.

Iron your designs to your brand's specifications.

Measure the length of your tube and divide by six. Mark on the tube the six segments, this makes painting a lot easier. In rainbow order paint your tube. I chose to do a gradient but if you prefer clean lines then by all means stripe it!

Once your tube is dry it's time to Julius Caesar that sucker. In each colour segment stab a hole using a balllpoint pen or sharp pencil. Support the inside of the tube with your other hand so it doesn't cave in on itself.

Cut each colour of string to your desired length. I chose to vary the length of each fruit because I like the way it looks, but you do whatever floats your boat. Next, tie one end of the string to the corresponding coloured fruit. Then poke the other end through the hole you made in the tube, again aligning the colours. Reach into the tube to grab that end you just poked in and tie a knot in it so it doesn't slip back out. I did two knots for safety. Continue with each fruit.

Finally, take your white thread and cut it to be three times the length of the tube. Thread it through the tube all the way and tie the ends together. Twist the string round so the knot is hidden inside the tube.

Your project should look something like this! While this mobile isn't weather proof I like to hang it by a window so it catches the sun and shows off all the brilliant colours. I hope you've had fun, this was my first time playing with Hama beads and I loved it. Thanks for crafting with me :)