Pony beads guide

Pony beads are the whole reason kandi works. They are cheap, they come in every color, they are very hard to break, and the hole is big enough to pass cord through several times. Here is what to know before you buy a bag.

The size

A standard pony bead is a plastic barrel about 9mm across and 6mm tall, with a hole roughly 4mm wide. That hole is the important part. It lets you pass cord through the same bead two or three times, which is how cuffs hold together, and it is wide enough to swallow a knot.

They are not the same as perler or other fuse beads, which are smaller and get ironed flat on a pegboard. If you are not sure which you have, the pony beads vs perler beads guide explains it. KandiCon is built for pony beads only.

The kinds

• Opaque: solid colors. The backbone of most patterns, because pictures read best in solid color.
• Transparent: see-through, looks great in sun or stage lights, but harder to read in a detailed picture.
• Glitter and pearl: sparkle or a soft shine. Good for accents and singles.
• Neon: very bright, and many glow under blacklight at night shows.
• Glow in the dark: charge them in light and they glow. Usually pale green or white in daylight.
• UV color-changing: white or pale indoors, colored in sunlight.
• Letter beads: flat or cube beads with a letter printed on. For word and name bracelets.
• Spike, star and heart beads: shaped beads for adding texture to a cuff.

Brands vary slightly in size and color, so if you are doing a detailed picture, try to buy all of one color from the same bag.

How many beads you need

These are the numbers the KandiCon build guides use, for a 15 cm (6 inch) wrist:

• A single: about 28 beads. Add or subtract about one bead for every 6mm of wrist.
• A multi-stitch cuff: around 32 beads per round and as many rounds as you want it wide. Ten rounds is about 320 beads.
• A ladder cuff: the number of stacks times the height of each stack.
• A two-layer X-base: about 140 beads on a 30-bead base.
• A rotator: the X-base, plus a spinning single of about 45 beads.

Always buy about ten percent more of each color than the pattern needs. Beads roll under things, and the odd one cracks. The bead list KandiCon makes for every pattern adds that spare in for you, color by color.

What to buy first

A mixed tub of around a thousand beads costs a few dollars and will make dozens of singles. After that, buy single colors in bags as you need them: black and white go fastest, because almost every picture uses them for outlines and highlights. A small spool of 0.8mm or 1mm stretchy cord, and a pair of scissors, and you are set.

For cuffs, buy more of fewer colors. A multi-stitch cuff of a cartoon character might use five colors but need 100 of one of them.

Colors in the KandiCon pattern maker

When KandiCon turns a photo or an emoji into a pattern, it only uses colors you can actually buy as pony beads. The palette has 40 of them, from white, black and gray through reds, pinks, blues and greens to glow green, gold, copper and off white. So the pattern on screen is the bracelet you will actually get, not a color you cannot find. More on how that works in photo to bead pattern.

Storing them

A craft organizer or a fishing tackle box with little compartments, one color per compartment, saves hours. Keep letter beads in their own box. Keep beads away from little siblings and pets, because small beads are a choking hazard.

Where to go from here

Start with a single, then read kandi stitches explained when you want a cuff. In the app you can also see what other people have made with the same beads: the feed is full of photos of finished pieces, and makers post their bead hauls too. If you heard about it as Kandycon, you are in the right place.

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More guides: How to make a kandi bracelet · Kandi stitches explained · Kandi cuff patterns · 3D kandi and charms