Picture in, peg plan out. Opens at 29×29 because a common square board is 29 pegs per side, 841 pegs if you fill every cell. Eight colors, dither off, square locked, Perler Midi palette. Change width if your plastic differs. Leave Square on when the board is square, or a portrait becomes 29×40 and hangs off the edge.
Perler, Hama, and Artkal are trademarks of their owners. Pixelate Tools is not affiliated. Palette menu switches between community-measured brand lists (beadcolors, MIT license; site notices) and a plain 32-color reference set without product codes. Dye lot, lighting, and your monitor will disagree with the hex. Hold a bead next to the swatch, then write that bag's code on the printout if it differs. You can't iron what won't fit the pegs.
841 pegs, one board
Melty-bead crafters on square pegboards, parents sizing a birthday logo, makers with Perler, Hama, or Artkal stock who need symbols plus counts. Verify codes against beads in hand; the legend isn't an official product insert. If it's your kid's logo, you'll still want to hold a bead up to the screen.
Thread? cross-stitch. Resin drills? diamond painting. Game art? sprite converter with engine palettes, not bead lists. It's melty beads, not pixels for Discord.
Eight bowls, not twenty
Twenty-nine cells match a common single-board width. Eight colors keeps bowl count sane on a kitchen table. Square lock on preserves pegboard geometry. Dither off avoids two-color checker cheeks. Contrast at 12 helps flat phone photos before codes snap to brand lists. Don't turn dither on for cheeks; you'll regret it.
Perler Midi is the default list; switch palette if your drawer is Hama or Artkal. Plain reference set gives colors without SKU codes when you only need shapes. Don't assume the hex matches the bag sticker from 2019.
Row by row
Crop the subject before upload. Adjust contrast until the outline reads in the preview. Raise colors slowly if eyes vanish; eight is a start, not a law. Paint stray ×4 crumbs into neighbors when you won't pour a bowl for four pegs.
Make plan shows how many 29×29 boards a wider design needs. Copy shopping list after sliders settle. Download PDF for tiled pages with overlap, or print from the browser. One peg left shifts the whole face; use a straightedge. If you're tired, stop; you'll mis-count a row.
Setup and ironing safety: photo to fuse bead pattern. Board math: how many fuse beads and pegboard sizes. Brand honesty: Perler, Hama, Artkal palettes. Symbols like stitch charts: how to read a symbol chart.
Square lock matters
Square off on a square board gives a tall pattern that won't fit one plastic frame. Dither on creates alternating symbols you place bead by bead. Shopping from a screenshot taken before a width change undercounts hot pink and overcounts gray.
Community codes disagree with old bags in your bin. Write corrections on the printout. Very wide designs exceed the 64-cell live table; export PDF instead of scrolling a tiny grid. Merge crumbs ≤8 before you pour when the legend shows negligible counts. You won't regret folding ×3 into a neighbor before the first pour.
Muddy preview? Crop and contrast first, not width 60 on eight colors. See fix a muddy conversion.
Shopping list and PDF
Copy shopping list gives codes and totals for filled pegs. Download PDF is the durable archive for wide grids with tile overlap. Large PNG helps tablet marking beside the board. On-screen table caps at 64 cells per side; bigger patterns need exports.
Oversized hand-copy workflows: copy pixel art onto a grid. Follow the iron instructions that came with your beads. This site won't guess temperature or time.
Stitching instead?
Thread chart: cross-stitch. Drills: diamond painting. Game sprite? Don't use bead colors; open the sprite converter. Plain grid: image to pixel art. Leave dither off here; raise it on the pixel converter if you need photo skies.
Multi-board layouts from Make plan are math, not checkout. You still buy single-color bags yourself. Design spans three 29×29 squares? Label each board on the printout so ironing happens in order. Tape PDF tiles using printed overlap marks, not eyeball alignment.
Width above 58 on one square board usually means multiple linked squares or a smaller subject. Pegboards are physical limits; the preview can draw wider grids, but your table may not. Drop width before color count if the face still lacks eyes. Ridge sample compares counts before you pour the first bowl. Nothing uploads; bead planning stays on your machine like every other Pixelate Tools page. Label boards if you iron three; you'll forget which is which.
Questions
Are these official Perler, Hama, or Artkal colors?
No. They're community measurements from the MIT beadcolors project, not a scan of a bag in your drawer. Brand names are trademarks of their owners. Pixelate Tools isn't affiliated. Hold a real bead next to the swatch before you buy.
Why 29?
A common square pegboard is 29 pegs wide. 29×29 is 841 pegs when every cell is filled. Empty cells aren't beads.
Should I turn dithering on?
Leave it off unless you enjoy placing a checker of two colors across a cheek. Dithering is for screen pixel art.
What if my board is not 29×29?
Change width to match your plastic. Keep Square on for square boards. Make plan recalculates how many boards you need. You'll see the count before you pour.
Do empty cells use beads?
No. Empty means no peg on that spot. Shopping list counts sum filled cells only.
Updated 30 September 2026