Analog Appeal: Iron Beads

Sooo happy, that finally I’m able to share this with you! smile

This project had been stuck in my mind for at least two or three years before getting around to do it! Problem was, that I wanted to do it in the most efficient way possible. During my Christmas holidays I eventually began with my „iron beads project“ and it took me almost 40 hours from start to finish!

At some point just taking digital photos wasn’t enough for me. I needed to evolve my art and I’ve always been a big fan of iron beads, because you can easily put a smile on someone’s face with a cute pixelated gift (and it also reminds everyone of their childhood).

Here’s how I approached this work:

1. First of all I chose a photo, which would work well in pixelated form. I went for a portrait of my friend Sarah from my Disturbia-series.

2. I opened it in Photoshop and resized it to 100 x 150 pixels (Image > Image Size …). This would make an iron beads picture of approximately 40 x 60 cm.

3. Then I had to change the photo’s mode with Image > Mode > Indexed Color …

4. I chose Palette: Local (Selective) and reduced its colors to 15.

By now I know, that it would have been possible and easier to create a custom palette with all the available colors first. I’m definitely gonna try this on my next artwork!

5. It’s very important to flip the photo horizontally (Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal), otherwise the result will be mirrored.

6. With the color chart and my edited picture I went to the store and bought beads in 15 different colors, which would match my photo.

7. Then I zoomed into it in Photoshop and put every single bead onto the board. I needed almost one hour for five lines. Phew!

Above you can see my activity area on the floor! bigsmile One month later I was finally done! It’s such an amazing feeling when you’re ideas come to life! smile

Here you can compare the Photoshop-version to the reallife-version: