16-Inch Gemstones
The 16-inch strand is the industry standard—and no one stocks more of them than Dakota Stones. Browse more than 200 stone types across every color and pattern, from everyday staples like Amethyst and Jasper to collector favorites such as Red Garnet and rare Turquoise mine-runs. Because the strands measure a full 15 – 16 inches, you get enough beads for matching earring pairs, stretch bracelets, or a necklace focal and still have extras for accents.
Need to drill down fast? Use the filter bar to sort by Stone Type when you know the gem you want, or by Color when you’re building a palette first. Shapes range from classic rounds and rondelles to cubes, heishi, chips, and rare designer cuts—each strand calibrated for even sizing and smooth stringing.
Whether you’re a hobbyist replenishing a bead board or a pro assembling a full production run, this category is the workhorse of our catalog: reliable lengths, vast variety, and new additions arriving every month. Dive in, filter your way to the perfect strand, and keep your design queue flowing with Dakota Stones’ biggest collection.
Products: 2264
Blue Apatite 6mm A Grade Round 15-16 Inch
Blue Apatite ranges in color from light teal to blue to bright blue to dark blue to green. It can be easily confused with other minerals due to its...
View full detailsSodalite 6mm Round AAA Grade - 15-16 Inch
Sodalite is named for its sodium content and may be classified as a feldspathoid. Blue Sodalite is sometimes referred to as “poor man’s lapis” beca...
View full detailsAfrican Jade (A) 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
African Jade is a complex Calcium Aluminum Silicate and is a Nephrite Jade. Its bright green coloration is due to traces of chromium. Metaphysicall...
View full detailsAfrican Petrified Wood Agate 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Petrified Wood Agate is formed from the petrifaction process of primeval trees over the course of many years. Petrification occurs when the wood is...
View full detailsAfrican Turquoise (AAA) 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
African Turquoise is not actually Turquoise, but rather a speckled teal Jasper found in Africa and often treated to simulate the beautiful blue to ...
View full detailsAfrican Turquoise 6-7mm Table Cut Cube Bead - 15-16 Inch
African Turquoise is not actually Turquoise, but rather a speckled teal Jasper found in Africa and often treated to simulate the beautiful blue to ...
View full detailsAmethyst 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
Amethyst is a beautiful purple stone, known as a “Gem of Fire” by ancient cultures. It has been greatly sought after throughout history and was at ...
View full detailsAncient Cellar Red Agate 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Ancient Cellar Red Agate is a natural agate that is dyed and heated to give it the unique color and pattern we call Ancient Cellar.
Angelite 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
A natural blue form of calcium sulfate, it raises the state of conscious awareness and facilitates contact with your angels. It is mined in Peru. I...
View full detailsAquamarine (multi) 6mm Star Cut Round 15-16 Inch
Aquamarine is a transparent to translucent stone ranging from cerulean blue to light blue in higher grades. In lower grades it can be transparent t...
View full detailsAquamarine 4x6mm Rondelle Faceted A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Aquamarine is a transparent to translucent stone ranging from cerulean blue to light blue in higher grades. In lower grades it can be transparent t...
View full detailsAquamarine 6mm Faceted Double Heart Star Cut - 15-16 Inch
Aquamarine is a transparent to translucent stone ranging from cerulean blue to light blue in higher grades. In lower grades it can be transparent t...
View full detailsAustralian Chrysoprase AA 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Chrysoprase is a bright apple green, translucent stone, whose color often caused ancient jewelers to confuse it with Emerald. A cryptocrystalline C...
View full detailsAzurite Malachite 6mm Round - 15-16 inch
Azurite is a Copper carbonate mineral that forms in masses, stalactites, botryoidal, and short prismatic crystals. Azurite in crystal form is extre...
View full detailsBayong 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Bayong is a hardwood native to the Philippines with a natural red-brown color, and is similar to Mahogany.Like all of Dakota Stones items, our wood...
View full detailsBiotite 6mm Round Orange - 15-16 Inch
Biotite is a name used for a large group of black mica minerals that are commonly found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. These include annite, phl...
View full detailsDZI Agate 6mm Round Black Line Pattern - 15-16 Inch
These Dakota Stones "DZI" style agate beads are made to resemble beads first found in India between 1000 and 2000 BCE. These reproductions are desi...
View full detailsBlack Eye Agate 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
Black Eye Agate is a variety of Sardonyx which has a Sard base, typically of brown or black, with bands of white Onyx running through it. Sard is n...
View full detailsBlack Silver Leaf Jasper 6mm Round 15-16
Black Silverleaf Jasper is a rare form of Jasper, characterized by its color range of black, gray and white and its swirling, leafy patterns. It is...
View full detailsBlack Spinel 4x6mm Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch
Spinel is a hard vitreous magnesium aluminum oxide, and comes in a range of other colors, but those varieties are transparent. Black Spinel not onl...
View full detailsBlack Spinel 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Spinel is a hard vitreous magnesium aluminum oxide, and comes in a range of other colors, but those varieties are transparent. Black Spinel not onl...
View full detailsBlack Tourmalinated Quartz 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
Tourmaline naturally occurs in a full color spectrum and is used as both a trade name and as a gemological name for a group of minerals of varying ...
View full detailsBloodstone 6mm Star Cut Round - 15-16 Inch
Bloodstone most commonly refers to green Jasper with red inclusions consisting of Hematite. Naturally occurring in hues of blue-green to green with...
View full detailsBlue & Yellow Tiger Eye 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Blue Tiger Eye is a naturally occurring dark stone with chatoyant layers that create a flash which seems to emanate from within the stone as they c...
View full detailsBloodstone 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
Bloodstone most commonly refers to green Jasper with red inclusions consisting of Hematite. Naturally occuring in hues of blue-green to green with ...
View full detailsBlue Apatite 4x6mm Rondelle Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Blue Apatite ranges in color from light teal to blue to bright blue to dark blue to green. It can be easily confused with other minerals due to its...
View full detailsBlue Chalcedony (Marbled) 6mm Round 15-16 Inch
Blue Chalcedony is a naturally occurring soft blue translucent stone. It is a member of the Quartz family, a form of silica with a cryptocrystallin...
View full detailsBlue Moonstone 6mm Coin Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Moonstone naturally occurs in a broad spectrum of colors, but is most commonly associated with white, gray and peach. It's soft chatoyancy is remin...
View full detailsBlue Moonstone 6mm Double Heart Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Moonstone naturally occurs in a broad spectrum of colors, but is most commonly associated with white, gray and peach. It's soft chatoyancy is remin...
View full detailsBlue Moonstone 4x6mm Rondelle Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Moonstone naturally occurs in a broad spectrum of colors, but is most commonly associated with white, gray and peach. It's soft chatoyancy is remin...
View full detailsBlue Ocean Agate 6mm Round 15-16
Botswana Agate 6mm Natural Energy Prism Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Botswana Agate displays highly defined parallel banding, usually in white on hues of brown, gray, pink, tan, apricot and purplish red. Botswana Aga...
View full detailsBotswana Agate 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Botswana Agate displays highly defined parallel banding, usually in white on hues of brown, gray, pink, tan, apricot and purplish red. Botswana Aga...
View full detailsBrazilian Amazonite 6mm Coin Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue to green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally tran...
View full detailsBrazilian Amazonite 6mm Double Heart Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue to green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally tran...
View full detailsBrazilian Amazonite 6mm AAA Grade Round - 15-16 Inch
Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue-green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally translu...
View full detailsBrazilian Amazonite 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue to green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally tran...
View full detailsBumble Bee Jasper 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Cacoxenite 6mm Energy Prism Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Cacoxenite is the trade name for this naturally occurring blend of seven stone types. It was originally named for the visible inclusions of the min...
View full detailsCacoxenite 4x6mm Rondelle Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Cacoxenite is the trade name for this naturally occurring blend of seven stone types. It was originally named for the visible inclusions of the min...
View full detailsCacoxenite 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Cacoxenite is the trade name for this naturally occurring blend of seven stone types. It was originally named for the visible inclusions of the min...
View full detailsCacoxenite Natural 6mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Cacoxenite is the trade name for this naturally occurring blend of seven stone types. It was originally named for the visible inclusions of the min...
View full detailsCat's Eye A-Grade, Banded 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Cat’s Eye is a quartz stone that appears in a range of colors including white, gray, green, yellow and brown. The fibrous asbestos inclusions in th...
View full detailsChakra 6mm Energy Prism - 15-16 Inch
Our Chakra strands are comprised of Amethyst, Lapis, Blue Apatite, Green Aventurine, Citrine, Carnelian, Red Garnet and Crystal Quartz.Amethyst is ...
View full detailsChakra 6mm Faceted Coin Bead Strand 15-16 Inch
Our Chakra strands are comprised of Amethyst, Lapis, Blue Apatite, Green Aventurine, Citrine, Carnelian, Red Garnet and Crystal Quartz.Amethyst is ...
View full detailsChakra 6mm Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch
Our Chakra strands are comprised of Amethyst, Lapis, Blue Apatite, Green Aventurine, Citrine, Carnelian, Red Garnet and Crystal Quartz.Amethyst is ...
View full detailsChrysocolla 6mm Round A Grade 15-16
Introducing a brand NEW Chrysocolla from Congo. Dakota Stones is offering this small batch of first run beads from a brand-new material. The Congo ...
View full detailsCitrine 6mm Double Heart Faceted - 15-16 Inch
Citrine is a transparent Quartz, ranging in color from pale yellow to golden yellow, honey or brown, giving it a similar appearance to Topaz. It ma...
View full detailsFrequently asked questions
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What is a 16-inch strand and why is it the trade standard?
A 16-inch strand is the working length most US jewelry designers buy for design-grade work — necklaces, multi-strand layouts, and bulk component sourcing. It gives enough beads to lay out a full 18–20 inch necklace with clasp and findings, or to cut down into shorter assemblies without running short. The 16-inch length has been the trade default for decades because it standardizes pricing and bead-count math across stones and cuts. Dakota's 16-inch hub covers the full catalog at this length, across rounds, rondelles, faceted cuts, cubes, coins, and shape work. The bracelet counterpart is the 8-inch strand. -
How many beads per 16-inch strand at common sizes?
Approximate bead counts per 16-inch strand assume snug-strung beads with no spacer drift. At 2mm you get roughly 200 beads, at 3mm about 135, at 4mm about 100, at 6mm about 66, at 8mm about 50, at 10mm about 40, and at 12mm about 33. Faceted cuts, rondelles, and irregular shapes (pebble, nugget, coin) vary — count is driven by the bead's drilled axis, not its widest dimension. Exact count should be disclosed; ask before buying if a piece-count is critical for your design and isn't specified. -
16-inch vs 8-inch — which length for which project?
16-inch is the necklace and design-strand length: enough material for an 18–20 inch finished necklace, multi-strand torsades, long earring drops, or component cutting. 8-inch is the bracelet length: pre-cut to the wrist standard, sized for stretch-cord bracelets and single-wrap pieces. Designers running production bracelet lines typically buy 8-inch to skip the cut-down step; designers doing necklace work, statement pieces, or mixed assemblies buy 16-inch for the bead count and pricing efficiency. Both lengths share the same stones and cuts where stocked — the choice is about finished-piece geometry, not material grade. -
What stones and cuts does Dakota carry in 16-inch?
The 16-inch hub spans the full catalog. Most-stocked stones include agate, turquoise, quartz, jasper, tourmaline, moonstone, garnet, labradorite, opal, and amazonite, with deeper coverage across feldspar, chalcedony, and silica varieties. Cut coverage runs from smooth round and faceted round (the largest categories) through rondelle, microfaceted round, pebble and nugget, cube, table-cut cube, faceted cube, and coin. Standard sizes are 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm, with 2mm and 3mm in microfaceted work and 12mm in larger statement rounds. Filter by stone, cut, or size to narrow the grid. -
How does Dakota measure 16-inch strand lengths?
Strand length is measured end-to-end along the drilled axis, beads strung snug with no gaps. A 16-inch strand can run 15.5 to 16.5 inches depending on bead shape and how the cutter finished the temporary string — irregular shapes (nugget, pebble, raw-faceted) sit at the looser end because the drill points don't always center on the bead's midline. Bead count per strand reflects this variance. Length and approximate count should be disclosed; if you need a tight tolerance for a calibrated production run, ask before buying so the team can pull and measure before shipping.