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When making beaded jewelry, one wants to make sure they have enough beads as well as what to do when they have too few or too many. Here are some handy tips that may help you with your planning and design.
Bead Calculations
When you calculate beads needed, you need to know the size of beads as well as the length of earring, bracelet or necklace you are planning on making. For each inch of jewelry you will need the following amount of beads:
- 4mm: 6.25 beads per inch
- 6mm: 4.25 beads per inch
- 8mm: 3.25 beads per inch
- 10mm: 2.25 beads per inch
You then multiply the length of jewelry (ie: necklace) you want to make. So a 16″ necklace of 8mm beads needs 50.75 beads. As a clasp takes space, 50 beads would be about right.
Handling Too Few Beads
What do you do when you have too few beads? You have several choices:
- Add in filler beads (ie: metal beads or different types of beads)
- Knot the necklace between beads
- Make the necklace into a floating necklace where you see the stringing material between beads
- Make a shorter piece of jewelry
Having Too Many Beads
Having too many beads is easy — either make a matching piece of jewelry such as earrings or save them for your next project! (Of course you could also donate them to another beader if you doubt you will ever use them.)
I hope you have as much fun beading as I do! If you need ideas, watch our free Jewelry Making Videos!
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