Khatam Perler Coin Dish {Tutorial}

We love using Perler beads because you don’t need a canvas to make art.  Simply place them together on mini boards, some even come in letters, and iron them together. Yalla, your creative work is ready to give out as a gift or keep in your home.

 

Khatam is the Arabic word for 8 point star and is used a lot in Islamic architectural design. At the bottom of this post are other khatam diy tutorials we’ve made.

 

Today’s craft will stay in our front hall table, ready to catch the change that usually falls on my wood surface. I love that the plastic of the beads will not only save my furniture, but also announce to those entering our house that art lives here!

 

Supplies

Perler beads
Metal bowl
Olive oil

 

Place a layer of olive oil in the metal bowl. This is to ensure the beads will be easy to take off once out of the oven.  Lay a square down of one solid color, seven across. Add one more bead in the middle to help count the triangle in the next color.

To make one triangle, place one bead over the central extra bead and then count out beads towards the outer later: 3, 4, 5. Mirror this triangle seven more times around the first color.

Add a third color. To be honest, we didn’t do so good counting this layer and just started placing because the bowl surface and olive oil made them hard to stay put. Our white triangles keep shifting and little hands were getting too frustrated, so we just decided to stop counting and just and our third layer until it looked good.

Finally, added a forth color as a rim.   Place in a 350 oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Let it cool in the bowl completely before taking it out. Wash it gently and it’s ready to go.

To learn more about the khatam, visit

Kirigami Khatam Tutorial

Hanging {Paper Bag} Khatam

To see our other dish projects, visit

Morocco Flag Candy Dish Tutorial

Or check out A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to learn more about the Arab world.

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acraftyarab

I am a Libyan American who creates art to promote a positive image of Arab and Islamic culture.