Well it's no where near Halloween just yet but here we have a rather spooky and a little scary set from the Revell "My Arts" range.
It looks simple enough from the outset with a small box contain a few hundred tiny clear and black beads plus some string, plastic bead mounts and a few other bits along the way. But once you get going its not quite as easy as it looks.
The idea of this being that we build up ghostly figures using the beads which then need a quick iron over to set. Yes you heard that right I said iron. Therefore this set is certainly not one for the younger ones (especially not with the inclusion of tiny beads). There are 3 to make in total which if done correctly make a ghost, cat and skeleton.
Heed the words- "Done correctly" because this is bloody hard. Although it can be fun on a rainy day. The beads are very tiny and go on the plastic mould tray thing which fits over one of the pictures and we follow the diagram with beads, if that makes any sense.
The main problem we found is that the bead builder moves about too much and goes off the picture too often. It's best doing it on a hard flat surface but it still moves. Then the beads pop out half war through so if you are an impatient person then this probably is not for you. If you love puzzles with thousands of pieces then maybe you will enjoy it.
Once all the beads are in place it's time to iron. Sheets of rice paper are also included. This bit is easy but obviously must only be done by an adult. The trick here is to iron over on a high heat, without steam until the plastic beads start to melt, it can be hard to tell, unless you smell burning plastic so I just poked them and they felt squishy.
Then leave them to cool and press them out of the tray. On our first attempt 2 beads fell off one of the parts but it didn't really make much difference. This by the way is the skeleton which needs making in several parts and therefore very time consuming too so this kit certainly requires time and patience.
Once made the figures can be hung up and they do glow in the dark too. It seems a good thing closer to Halloween and perhaps something to do in the colder weather but Ryan did find it quite difficult.
There are many other similar art and craft kits in the "My Arts" range and all can be viewed at the Revell Website. The kits should be available at most good toy stores.