Measuring your beads

When you are selling your beads this information is essential as your customers will want to know the width, diameter, hole size and in the case of non-round beads all the dimensions.

The following is the best illustration I’ve seen by far of how to measure your beads kindly provided by Jinx Garza.

So what options are available?:

Pop your bead on a mandrel, place the mandrel and bead on a piece of paper and draw around it. From this drawing you could then measure using a ruler. Not a very precise method.
Metal callipers – 55% of Wet Canvas people surveyed use metal callipers.
Digital callipers (as seen in the picture above) – 7% of Wet canvas people surveyed used digital callipers.
Ruler - 32% of Wet canvas people surveyed use a ruler.
Graphical circle template. Available in your local stationary supplier these act as a very simplistic means of determining the diameter of your bead.

To see Wet Canvas poll results on “What method useth thou to measure thine own beads?” ...click here.

It may be all very well to put the dimensions in writing but you might want to consider placing a coin in your photos to help those who are more visually responsive. The coin will help provide a sense of scale. Your next problem is determining whom you are selling to, as your international clients may also need to understand the size of the currency of coin you are using. One solution is to put an American coin and an Australian coin in the picture or perhaps a more practical comparison would be to use a rule instead. The latter make for a practical photo if not a very attractive photo.

June 2004

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