How Many Beads Do You Need? - Charts of Bead Counts

Sometimes you really need to be able to estimate the number of beads you will need for a project! I often find myself with a strand of pearls and a customer who wants to know whether a longer hand-knotted necklace can be made using the single strand. I can make an estimate of the finished length based on the usual size of my knots, the size of the pearls, the average number of 'defective' pearls, and the length of the clasp. You can estimate the number of beads you will need to a project, too, and you can predict the size of a project knowing the size of your beads. These charts and tables will help you, but I recommend you also make swatches of your work using your favorite beads. Small differences in bead sizes and thread tension add up to big differences in finished dimensions! One last thing... beads of a stated size aren't all the same size or weight. These charts are approximations, not hard and fast facts.

How Many Beads Per Gram?

Type of Bead	# per Gram
15/0 seed beads	290
cylinder seed beads	190
11/0 seed beads	110
8/0 seed beads	38
6/0 seed beads	15

How Many Beads Strung in a Line?

Type of Bead	# per inch	# per cm
15/0 seed beads	24	9
cylinder seed beads	20	7
11/0 seed beads	18	7
8/0 seed beads	13	5
6/0 seed beads	10	4

How Many Beads Per Square Inch or Centimeter?

Type of Bead	Beads/inch2	Beads/cm2
15/0 seed beads	330	54
cylinder seed beads	285	42
11/0 seed beads	216	35
8/0 seed beads	108	20
6/0 seed beads	70	12

How Many Beads to Make a 16" Necklace?

Type of Bead	Approx. Number
2 mm	203
3 mm	135
4 mm	102
8 mm	81
6 mm	68
8 mm	51
10 mm	41
12 mm	34
14 mm	29
16 mm	20
18 mm	19
20 mm	19
6x5 mm teardrop	67
6x5 mm teardrop	67
6x5 mm teardrop	67
8x7 mm teardrop	50
10x9 mm teardrop	40
11x7 mm teardrop	36
9x6 mm oval	45
11x8 mm oval	36
15x10 mm oval	27

How Many Beads Do You Get?

Look how many more Delicas you get per gram than other seed beads! They have larger holes, so each bead weighs less, and they are really a bit closer to a size 12 than a true size 11.

Type of Bead	Amount	Bead Count
11/0 seed	20 g	2000
11/0 Delica	5 g	1000
3.3 mm Delica	5 g	150
13/0 seed	20 g	3000
14/0 seed	20 g	5150
15/0 hex	20 g	5880
20/0 seed	3 g	2800
8/0 hex	20 g	960
6/0 pony	10 g	150
11/0 triangle	20 g	2000
4 mm cube	20 g	215
3 mm bugle	20 g	1770
5 mm bugle	20 g	770
9 mm bugle	20 g	500
12 mm bugle	20 g	250

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