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: 2262
Sardonyx 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Sardonyx has a Sard base, typically of brown or black, with bands of white Onyx running through it. Sard is not Onyx, but rather a dark variety of ...
View full detailsShattuckite 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Shattuckite is a rare copper silicate hydroxide mineral. It occurs in bright turquoise blues and darker blues as well as rust reds, commonly with i...
View full detailsTiger Eye 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Tiger Eye is a macrocrystalline Quartz stone with bands of rich golds and browns. Its chatoyant layers that create a flash which seems to emanate f...
View full detailsPink Mica Quartz 8mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Mica is a mineral name given to a group of minerals that are physically and chemically similar. They are all silicate minerals, known as sheet sil...
View full detailsMixed Moonstone 7-8mm Irregular Cube - 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 detailsLapis 7-8mm Irregular Cube - 15-16 Inch
Lapis is a semi to precious stone and one of the most sought after throughout history. It is highly regarded for its beautiful blue color flecked w...
View full detailsPeruvian Turquoise (Chrysocolla) 6-8mm Irregular Cube - 15-16 Inch
Peruvian Turquoise is also known as Turquoise Chrysocolla. It’s attractive blue-green provides a unique color to the mineral world. Peruvian Turquo...
View full detailsBlack Moonstone 6-8mm Irregular Cube - 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 detailsSelenite 8mm Round Pastel Rainbow (Dyed) - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
View full detailsBrazillian Amazonite 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 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 detailsRed Garnet 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Red Garnet is the most commonly known type of Garnet, which occurs in many colors. Garnet has been used for adornment and spirituality by myriad cu...
View full detailsAfrican Turquoise 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 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 Petrified Wood Agate 8mm Star Cut Coin - 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 detailsDZI Eye Agate 8mm Round Dark Green - 14-15 Inch
“DZI” Agate is made to resemble beads first found in India between 1000 and 2000 BCE. These reproductions are designed in the traditional color, pa...
View full detailsIndonesian Crazy Lace Agate 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Crazy Lace Agate is a banded Chalcedony that naturally occurs as golden brown with layers of pink, red and gray in swirling circular patterns. It h...
View full detailsChocolate Selenite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
View full detailsOrbicular Rhyolite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Rhyolite is a volcanic, igneous rock with high silica content. Its name is taken from the Greek word “rhyax,” meaning “a stream of lava.” It is che...
View full detailsGreen Imperial Jasper 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Imperial Jasper occurs naturally in a beautiful range of colors including pinks, mossy greens, burgundy and milky white, with striking patterns of ...
View full detailsEudialyte 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Eudialyte is a complex silicate mineral that most commonly forms in granular patterns. It is usually found within coarse grained rocks and contains...
View full detailsBlue Moonstone 8mm Round A Grade - 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 detailsWood Rhodonite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Rhodonite, whose name is derived from the Greek word for Rose, “rhodon,” is known for its pink, red and magenta hues. A Manganese inosilicate (or c...
View full detailsPetrified Wood Opalite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Wood Opalite is a type of petrified wood that has been impregnated with the Silicon Dioxide commonly known as Opal. Wood Opalite occurs in a range ...
View full detailsWhite Howlite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
White Howlite is named for Canadian mineralogist Henry How, who first discovered the stone in Southern California in 1868. It is typically white or...
View full detailsSunset Dumortierite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Sunset Dumortierite has a much brighter palette than regular Dumortierite, from light blue to lapis blue to cobalt, as well as some occurrences of ...
View full detailsRainbow Rutilated Quartz 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Rutilated Quartz is a silicon dioxide mineral with unique needle-like inclusions of Rutile. These “needles” usually appear golden, but can also app...
View full detailsRhodonite with Matrix 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Rhodonite, whose name is derived from the Greek word for Rose, “rhodon,” is known for its pink, red and magenta hues. A Manganese inosilicate (or c...
View full detailsPicture Jasper 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Picture Jasper is a form of brown Jasper characterized by its unique banding and flow patterns created by petrified or silicate mud and occasional ...
View full detailsMushroom Rhyolite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Mushroom Rhyolite is named for the naturally occurring stone pattern which often resembles mushrooms or other fungi. It may also be call Mushroom P...
View full detailsIron Zebra Jasper 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Iron Zebra Jasper displays streaks or stripes of colors ranging from dark, rich browns and grays to lighter golden browns and creams. It has charac...
View full detailsFlower Obsidian 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Essentially a volcanic glass, Obsidian ranges in color from opaque black, to green, brown, mahogany, black with rainbow colors, black with snowflak...
View full detailsEagle Eye Stone 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Similar to Tiger's Eye, this gemstone in its polished state looks like what it would be like to capture smoke in a stone -- bottomless black mixed ...
View full detailsDumortierite 8mm Round AAA Grade - 15-16 Inch
Dumortierite is an aluminum borosilicate mineral that varies in color from blue, green and brown to the more rare violet and pink. First described ...
View full detailsCrystal Quartz 8mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Crystal Quartz is a naturally occurring clear and colorless Quartz. It is a crystalline form of Quartz said to have many divine properties includin...
View full detailsCarnelian 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Carnelian is a glassy, translucent stone that can appear with such bright orange hues that the ancient Egyptians called it “the setting sun.” Most ...
View full detailsGreen Chalcedony 8mm 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 detailsYellow Calcite 8mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Calcite is a rock-forming mineral that is extremely common and found throughout the world in sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Calcite i...
View full detailsBlack Obsidian 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
African Green Jasper 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
African Green Jasper is a single to colored opaque stone, ranging in color from a deep olive green to a pale spring green with brown banding or str...
View full detailsAfrican Blood Stone 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Bloodstone most commonly refers to green Jasper with red inclusions consisting of Hematite. Naturally occuring in hues of blue to green to green wi...
View full detailsPurple Flower Fluorite 8mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Fluorite is a luminous, soft and glassy stone, sometimes referred to as “the most colorful mineral in the world.” It is one of the most sought to a...
View full detailsVariscite 8mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Variscite is a hydrated aluminum phosphate is formed when phosphate-rich water reacts with aluminum-rich rocks near the surface. In its purest form...
View full detailsTrolleite 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Trolleite is an extremely rare aluminum phosphate mineral that crystallizes in the form of masses and small prismatic crystals. It is made up of qu...
View full detailsCopper Sunstone 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Sunstone, a variety of Feldspar, is aptly named for its shades of gold, orange, red and brown, as well as its iridescent sparkle. As the stone catc...
View full detailsSelenite 8mm Round Purple Pink (Dyed) - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
View full detailsSelenite 8mm Round Green Yellow (Dyed) - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
View full detailsSelenite 8mm Round Green Pink (Dyed) - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
View full detailsSelenite 8mm Round Green Blue (Dyed) - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
View full detailsSelenite 8mm Round AA Grade - 15-16 Inch
Selenite is a crystal formed from the mineral gypsum, which comes in many forms and color variations, but has been used historically to describe th...
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.