Bead sizes
5mm vs 2.6mm beads: which size should you buy?
Two bead sizes, and the wrong one means buying the wrong boards, the wrong pattern scale, and a frustrating first project. Here is the actual difference.
Two sizes, two different crafts
Almost every fuse bead sold is one of two sizes, and the difference is bigger than the number suggests. A 5mm midi bead is the standard — it is the size Perler, Hama, Artkal, MARD and Nabbi all use, and it is the size every beginner tutorial assumes. A 2.6mm mini bead is half the diameter, which means the finished piece comes out roughly a quarter of the area for the same number of grid positions.
The practical consequence is that a mini pattern needs a completely different pegboard. A 29×29 standard board holds 841 pegs; a mini board of the same physical size holds a much denser grid, and no 5mm board accepts a 2.6mm bead or vice versa. Mixing the two on one board leaves beads that will not sit straight and will not fuse properly.
How much detail each one holds
Bead density per square inch is fixed by the diameter. At roughly 5mm pitch, a midi bead gives about 26 beads per square inch. Mini beads work out to about 95 per square inch, and the 10mm biggie beads used for chunky kid crafts sit at roughly 6.
So the same 6×6 inch finished piece takes about 936 midi beads, roughly 3,400 mini beads, or around 230 biggies. More positions is more fidelity, but also far more sorting, more placing, and a much longer session at the ironing board.
| Bead size | Diameter | Beads per inch | Beads per sq inch | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini | 2.6 mm | ~9.8 | ~95 | Mini pegboards only |
| Midi (standard) | 5 mm | ~5.1 | ~26 | Standard 29×29 and up |
| Biggie | 10 mm | ~2.5 | ~6 | Biggie boards only |
Which one should you buy
The honest answer: 5mm, unless you have a specific reason. The 5mm bead is large enough to pick up with tweezers, large enough that small hands can place them, and forgiving enough that a beginner gets a usable result on the first attempt. It is also the size with the widest range of boards and colors.
Mini beads reward patience that a 5mm build does not demand. At 2.6mm you are placing a piece roughly the size of a grain of rice, which is a different motor task entirely, and 16 is about the age where most people find it manageable. Artkal sells both a 5mm and a 2.6mm line with the same code system, and the mini line carries the wider color range.
Picking a size for one project
If you already own 5mm boards and 5mm beads, use them. Converting a pattern down to mini beads means buying a whole new set of boards, and the pattern you already have will fit as-is.
If you are buying from scratch and want to make portraits or anything with fine shading, 5mm at a 58-wide grid gets you most of the way there without the extra board and the extra precision. The free pattern library has both one-board and 58-wide charts so you can see the difference in detail before committing.
How the converter picks your colors
Bead size decides the board. Color matching decides whether the finished piece looks like the photo. The Studio matches each cell to real bead colors using the CIEDE2000 formula in CIELAB space, then dithers with Floyd–Steinberg so gradients break into a bead pattern instead of banding into stripes.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Plain RGB distance fails badly on skin tones and pale shadows, because the eye weighs red, green and blue differently. When a converter uses RGB distance, a face comes out as a flat beige blob. The pattern library has the same photo converted several ways so you can compare the results directly.
Questions
Can I use 2.6mm and 5mm beads on the same pegboard?
No. The peg spacing is different for each size, so a 2.6mm bead will not sit on a standard board and a 5mm bead will not stay on a mini board. Mixing them leaves beads loose on the pegs and the piece will not fuse evenly.
Is 2.6mm better quality?
It holds more detail in the same finished area, so a photo converted at 2.6mm looks closer to the original. It is not better in every way — placing the beads takes much longer, and a mistake is harder to pick out and fix.
Which size do beginners use?
5mm midi, without much argument. The beads are big enough to handle, the boards are widely available, and every beginner guide assumes that size. 2.6mm is a second or third project.
How many beads do I need for a 29×29 board?
841 beads fills the board completely. Real designs use less — a typical one-board pattern runs somewhere between 200 and 450 beads, because backgrounds are often left empty.
Can I print a pattern for mini beads?
Yes, but the grid needs to be much finer for the result to look right. In the Studio, a wider grid setting gives you more positions per finished inch, which is how the same picture gets finer detail. Your board size determines the grid width you need.
Do all brands sell the same 5mm beads?
The physical bead is the same size across Perler, Hama, Artkal and MARD, so the same pegboard works for all of them and the same pattern works for all of them. What differs is the color catalog and the codes, not the dimensions.