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Buying Beads by Size
Buying beads can be complicated. With hundreds-of-thousands of different materials, sizes, shapes, colors, and prices. Often buyers purchase the wrong size because they don't know millimetres - and purchasing too many beads is a waste of money. However, armed with a little knowledge and common sense, it's not so difficult.
Seed beads
Seed beads range from 1mm to 3mm or size 11/0. The most common seed beads are Chinese, Czech, or Japanese. Traditional Czech beads are sold on hanks, mostly round, but can be uneven. Chinese and Japanese seed beads are more uniform, come in many different colors and are sold loose in bags or tubes.
Remember that 1,000 (or read more even 4,000) seed beads will come in a little bag - don't expect them larger than they are! However, some of these tiny beads can be tricky to make, so are only a little cheaper than bigger beads.
Large beads
Larger beads are sold either loose or in strands. Buy beads in strands if you want the best quality and uniformity of holes - they will hang better on a necklace. However, loose beads are great if you want a lot cheaply for a large project or for many different works. Beads over 14mm get heavy, so expect to pay more shipping.
Measuring Beads
I often get letters telling me the 8mm beads we mailed are not 8mm. Some people say our 4mm beads look bigger on the picture! Others insist we've sent them the wrong size strand of pearls because most are smaller than listed. Size of beads can either be exact or approximate depending on the type of bead:
Simple round bead sizes should be exact: 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm etc.
Chip beads, being varying size, will not be exactly the size quoted - some will be longer, but most will be shorter.
Bead sellers usually quote the largest size in the strand. This is especially true with natural pearls - where less than 25% in a strand may be the full size quoted.
A Choker necklace measures 16-inches, a Princess necklace 18-inches long, a Matinee necklace 24-inches, and an Opera necklace 32-inch.
A bracelet is usually 7-inches - and an anklet 9-inches.