How to Calculate Number of Beads Needed for Bead Crochet Rope?
This is just my rule of thumb on how to calculate the number of beads needed for bead crochet rope but it seems to work pretty well.
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- Calculate Beads for Bead Crochet Rope
Calculating for Same Sized Beads
- Determine your desired finished length; e.g. 200mm
- Ascertain sizes of beads you will be using. For example:
a) all 2mm or
b) mixed (e.g. 2mm and 4mm per row) - Calculate number or rows:
Example for 2a) all 2mm:
final length/bead size = 200mm/2mm = 100 rows.
So you will be looking to crochet about 100 circular beaded rows to achieve your desired length. - Calculate number of beads.
Determine how thick you want your bead crochet rope – i.e how many beads per row?
Say you want 4 beads per circular row.
Therefore for 100 rows => 100 rows x 4 beads = 400 beads - Include Safety Margin (10 rows):
Personally I always add a few more rows in the calculation as a buffer in case I want it longer later or in case the calculations come up a bit short to achieve the desired finish length.
I usually add about 10 rows to my calculations. In this case, that would be 10 rows x 4 beads per row = 40 additional beads.
That will give my an overrall of 440 (2mm) beads to be threaded before I begin the bead crochet rope.
Calculating for Mixed Size Beads
If you are using mixed size beads, then you will need to calculate the average “height” per row.
For example, for a 4 bead per row rope made up of [2mm – 4mm – 2mm – 2mm],
the average “height” per row is (2+4+2+2)/4 = 10/4 =2.5mm (ave. height per row).
So to get the desired finished length of 200mm:
200mm / 2.5mm = 80 rows
Therefore you will need 80 of the 4mm beads and 80x (3x2mm) = 480 of the 2mm beads.
As before, it would be prudent to calculate for an additional 10 rows to ensure you don’t come up short.
Do you have your own tried and proven method of calculated the number of beads you will need to create bead crochet rope? Please do share!
The rule I learned from some Bead crochet tutorial online, don’t remember which one, is to multiply the number of beads in the circumference with the number of inches you want the end product to be. Such as, if it’s a six inch bracelet made of a six bead circumference, I have to string on 36 inches of beads. You might end up stringing slightly more than required, but definitely not less.
How do you determine how many beads per row (beads around) for a specific design you are creating? Is there a rule of thumb for determining beads per row? I know on a simple spiral, for instance, it would not matter, but if you’re putting in diamond shapes, etc. how do you know what to set the circumference to? I can’t seem to find this information anywhere. Perhaps it just doesn’t matter, as long as you design fits (I’m using jbead software).