Rainbow bead pattern

A rainbow is one of the most satisfying simple bead projects: six clean arcs of color, each one bead thick, with a small cloud tucked under each end. Because it is all bold, saturated color and no fine detail, it reads clearly at this size and is forgiving to build. Keep the band order (red on the outside, purple on the inside) and you cannot really go wrong — or swap in pastel shades for a softer look.

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Perler colors & exact bead counts

This page shows the full chart and exact color counts — 162 beads on a 23×13 grid. Read the chart beside your pegboard. Colors are matched to the real Perler color list in our community palette dataset.

What you need for this bead pattern

• 162 midi (5 mm) fuse beads in the 7 colors listed above. Perler beads are sold as midi beads.
• A square pegboard of at least 23×13 pegs; a large square board has 29×29 pegs.
• Ironing paper and a household iron. An adult should do the fusing.

How to build the rainbow bead pattern

1. Use a square pegboard with space for 23×13 beads and place the colors above by counting the grid. Leave empty cells empty; the decorative margin is not part of the design.
2. Check the color changes and empty spaces against the full chart before fusing.
3. Fuse with ironing paper and an iron, as in our step-by-step Perler ironing guide, and let it cool flat under a book.

Print or save this bead chart

This page is a reading chart: keep it open beside your pegboard, or use your browser’s print function. The chart image is not printed at bead size, so count the grid rather than laying beads on paper. To keep a copy, open the full chart image and save or print it from there. To change colors, size or add a name, open the maker, where a new design can be exported as a PDF (A4 or Letter), PNG, CSV or JSON.

Want something different? Start your own design from a photo or a word in the maker.