If you love wearing kandi or perlers at raves, you’ve probably had that “OH SH*T” moment when you realize that one of your pieces has broken. Take a moment to shed a tear (I know! It totally looked cute on you), but I’m here to show you how you can save or transform your beautiful creation.
Here are some tips for fixing your kandi and perler creations:
Iron it!
Truthfully, Perler creations are easier to save than cuffs and singles, in my opinion. Ironing is my go-to thing to do for peeler pieces that haven’t completely broken in any way. If it cracks a little during the rave, put it in your rave backpack for the night and fix it when you get back to your hotel. I’ve found that most of the places my crew and I stay have an iron, so I keep extra parchment paper with me for this purpose. Just fire the iron up, re-iron the piece, and you’re good to go!
Turn it into a keychain
A lot of medium to small pieces can be turned into keychains! It’s a fun way to show off your favorite creations even if you can’t wear them anymore. Sidenote: If it’s broken off the cuff or single, you might have missing pieces still attached to the bracelet. If you can safely remove the missing pieces without ruining the whole cuff/single, go ahead and do that and re-iron it back together.
If you’re okay with the creation having some missing pieces, that works just as well! I like to slightly heat up a large sewing needle with a lighter so it goes through the fused beads without having to force it too much (But be careful, the needle can get really hot). I like to make the hole somewhere near the edge of the creation, but not so close that it’s just in danger of breaking off again. You have to find that sweet spot where the hole is close enough to the edge where you can put the keyring through without too much trouble, but far enough to where it won’t break again.
And there you have it! Your new keychain is ready for action.
Hang it from your rearview mirror
This is one of my favorite ways to repurpose pieces by far. Just like before, go ahead and perform some surgery (aka re-ironing) if needed, poke a hole near the top, and use a lark’s head knot to attach the creation to string. Tie it off, and you’ve got yourself a fun, new rearview mirror dangler.
Turn it into a pin
You can find pins with flat backs at craft stores pretty easily. Just hot glue one to the back of a perler creation and now you have a new pin!
Try to re-tie it
Singles and cuffs are a little harder to fix. Sometimes if a knot isn’t tied securely enough (if this is a recurring problem for you, check this kandi-tying article out), it may come undone during the rave. No worries! You may lose a few beads, but in my experience, I’ve noticed the cuff getting looser and slipping more before I lose too many beads.
I’ve been able to save my cuff mid-rave by taking the end of the string that came loose and re-tying it to the string somewhere around it. If you try this, make sure to triple knot it at least. Third time’s the charm, right?
If all else fails, it’s perfectly okay to retire a piece. Just because you feel like you can’t wear it out anymore doesn’t mean that you love it any less. I keep some Kandi that’s gotten a little too much love displayed in my room. Finding little ways like these to keep adding positivity to your life is a great reminder that PLUR doesn’t need to end when the rave does.
These are just a few ways you can fix and repurpose creations. If you have other ways to fix perlers or kandi that are not listed here, leave us a line in the comments below. We’d love to hear!
