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.