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: 2265
Banded Mixed Stone 6-9mm Chips - Amethyst and Rose Quartz - 15-16 Inch
This banded strand of chips features Amethyst, Rose Quartz, and Purple Rose Quartz.
Labradorite 5x7mm Faceted Irregular Rondelle AA Grade - 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsLabradorite 3x4mm Faceted Rondelle AAA Grade- 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsLabradorite 10x13mm Irregular Tear Drop - 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsRed Black Super Seven 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Super 7, also known as Melody's Stone, is a rare, naturally occurring rock composed of seven specific minerals: amethyst, clear quartz, smoky quart...
View full detailsRed Black Super Seven 4x6-5x7mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Super 7, also known as Melody's Stone, is a rare, naturally occurring rock composed of seven specific minerals: amethyst, clear quartz, smoky quart...
View full detailsRed Black Super Seven 3mm Table Cut Cube A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Super 7, also known as Melody's Stone, is a rare, naturally occurring rock composed of seven specific minerals: amethyst, clear quartz, smoky quart...
View full detailsRed Black Super Seven 3x4mm Faceted Rondelle A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Super 7, also known as Melody's Stone, is a rare, naturally occurring rock composed of seven specific minerals: amethyst, clear quartz, smoky quart...
View full detailsRed Black Super Seven 6mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Super 7, also known as Melody's Stone, is a rare, naturally occurring rock composed of seven specific minerals: amethyst, clear quartz, smoky quart...
View full detailsRed Black Super Seven 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Super 7, also known as Melody's Stone, is a rare, naturally occurring rock composed of seven specific minerals: amethyst, clear quartz, smoky quart...
View full detailsRed Garnet 6mm Faceted Lantern - 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 detailsLabradorite 6mm Faceted Lantern A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsAfrican Turquoise 6mm Faceted Lantern 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 detailsAmazonite 4mm Faceted Lantern - 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 detailsLabradorite 4mm Faceted Lantern A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsYellow Jade 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Yellow Jade is not actually Jade, but a form of natural Serpentine which is commonly referred to as Yellow Jade in the stone industry. This semi to...
View full detailsWhite Howlite 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsUnakite 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Unakite is a granite composed of pink Feldspar and Epidote, creating a beautiful blend of pink and green in mottled patterns. The colors in this st...
View full detailsSardonyx 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsRhodonite with Matrix 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsNew Jade 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Jade is the industry name for this beautiful deep green stone. Ours is actually a Serpentine, but takes a trained eye and a microscope to discern t...
View full detailsNatural Agate 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Natural Agate is a variety of banded Chalcedony, prized throughout history for its beautiful colors and patterns. It has been called the Earth Rain...
View full detailsLepidolite 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
A particularly soft stone, Lepidolite has a glassy or lustrous sheen. It is the most abundant lithium-bearing mineral as well as a significant sour...
View full detailsLapis 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsKambaba Jasper 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Kambaba Jasper is a sedimentary stone comprised of microcrystalline Quartz interlaced with Stromatolites — ancient fossilized colonies of primeval ...
View full detailsGreen Aventurine 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Green Aventurine is a green translucent quartz with glimmering metallic inclusions. Green is the most common color for Aventurine, but it can also ...
View full detailsGraphic Feldspar 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, containing sodium, calcium, potassium or barium. The most common members of...
View full detailsCarnelian 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsBlue and Yellow Tiger Eye 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsBlue Agate 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Bronzite 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Bronzite is a brown stone with a bronze to colored metallic luster due to iron deposits within the stone. An orthoproxene mineral, it is believed t...
View full detailsAfrican Turquoise 6mm Hexagon - 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 detailsBlack Gold Amazonite 6mm Hexagon - 15-16 Inch
Black Gold Amazonite is a member of the Feldspar family and varies in hue from robin’s egg blue to blue-green to black, occasionally mingled with r...
View full detailsRose Quartz 2x4mm Thin Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch
Rose Quartz is a silicon dioxide crystal and one of the most common varieties of the Quartz family. It is a translucent to transparent stone with a...
View full detailsStrawberry Quartz 2x4mm Thin Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch
Strawberry Quartz is a translucent, milky to pink silicon dioxide mineral. Its needle to like inclusions of hematite are iridescent red. Quartz has...
View full detailsMixed Sapphire 2x4mm Thin Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch
Sapphires are precious gemstones, but unlike rubies, they come in a rainbow of colors besides red! They are all varieties of the mineral corundum,...
View full detailsDiopside 2x4mm Thin Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch
Diopside is a calcium and magnesium silicate mineral. It is transparent or translucent, and can display a nearly emerald green color due to the pre...
View full detailsTourmaline 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch
Tourmaline is classified as a semiprecious stone and occurs in a vast array of colors, everything from colorless to black, from pastel to bright to...
View full detailsSodalite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A 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 detailsGreen Rutilated Quartz 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 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 detailsRed Rutilated Quartz 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 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 detailsRed Garnet 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 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 detailsRussian Amazonite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch
Russian Amazonite is a translucent blue to green to green or light green stone, occurring with inclusions of white, black or yellow. It is named fo...
View full detailsPeridot 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch
Peridot (pair-uh-doe) is one of only two gems, the other being Diamond, that is not formed in the Earth’s crust. Rather, it is born in the molten r...
View full detailsOrange Garnet 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch
Orange or Hessonite Garnet is sometimes called “Cinnamon Stone” for its orange to orange to brown color as well as for its origin in the land of sp...
View full detailsNew Burma Jade 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch
New Burma Jade is the trade name for a semi-translucent serpentine stone available in a variety of green shades including olive, sea green, green, ...
View full detailsGrey Moonstone 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch
Grey Moonstone is named for its grey glow or chatoyancy, as well as a prismatic quality that differentiates it from other varieties of Moonstone. M...
View full detailsMalachite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch
Malachite is a copper carbonate with a bright green color and dark green banding. Usually found near copper deposits, it is formed through the comb...
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.