Round Beads
Round beads are the workhorse—and showpiece—of jewelry design. Our All Rounds collection spans more than 100 natural stone types, each offered in graduated sizes from 4 mm to 12 mm so you can build seamless strands, stackable bracelets, or accent rows without hunting for a match.
What sets Dakota rounds apart is the one-batch method: we cut every size you see from the same parcel of rough, then sort by diameter in a single production run. That “Dakota Way” means a 6 mm lapis bead and its 10 mm big brother share identical hue and pattern, giving finished pieces a professional, color-true flow.
Every sphere is diamond-ground to perfect symmetry, hand-polished for a glassy finish, and visually graded to Dakota Stones standards before it ships. Stock up on crowd-pleasers like Amazonite, Kyanite, Jasper, and Quartz—or branch into rarities such as Variscite or Shattuckite—confident that each round will string, drape, and wear with the consistency designers trust.
Products: 1647
Rocky Butte 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Rocky Butte Jasper is mined in Oregon and may have either dendritic or landscape qualities. It may also be called Rocky Butte Picture Jasper. The c...
View full detailsUnakite 10mm Round - 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 detailsWhite Porcelain Agate 10mm Round - 15-16 inch
Porcelain Agate is a natural agate that is dyed and heated to give it a pattern that resembles porcelain.
Citrine 10mm Round (Natural) AA Grade - 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 detailsSelenite 10mm Round 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 detailsShungite 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Shungite is a black, lustrous, non-crystalline mineraloid consisting of a high percentage of carbon. It was first found in a deposit near Shunga vi...
View full detailsMulti Tourmaline 8mm Round - 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 detailsTiger Eye Rainbow 10mm Round - 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 detailsCrystal Quartz 10mm Round - 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 detailsAmethyst 10mm Round - 8-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 detailsCarnelian 10mm Round - 8-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 detailsLava 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch
Lava is rock from the molten center of the earth, once spewed through fractures in the planetary crust or from a volcanic eruption. Once cooled, th...
View full detailsKambaba 10mm Round 8-Inch
Kambaba Jasper is a sedimentary stone comprised of microcrystalline Quartz interlaced with Stromatolites — ancient fossilized colonies of primeval ...
View full detailsDog Teeth Amethyst 10mm Round 8-Inch
Dog Teeth Amethyst has a purple and white striped appearance due to its combination of Amethyst and White Quartz. The name derives from the recurri...
View full detailsMATTE Onyx 10mm Round - 8-Inch
Onyx is a black and white banded Chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline Quartz. It is often thought of as an all-black stone, and much of the black Onyx o...
View full detailsAmazonite 10mm Round - 8-Inch
Amazonite is a member of the feldspar family, Amazonite, also known as Amazon Stone, ranges in color from blue-green to green. It is an opaque ston...
View full detailsLabradorite 10mm Round A Grade - 8-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 detailsWhite Howlite 10mm Round 8-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 detailsRose Quartz 10mm Round - 8-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 detailsCacoxenite 10mm 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 detailsSodalite 10mm Round - 8-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 detailsApple Jasper 10mm Round 8-Inch
Apple Jasper carries the deep red to bright red hues of apples, frequently complemented by tans, ochre browns and deep greens. Jaspers are consider...
View full detailsMATTE Blue Crazy Lace Agate 10mm Round - 8-Inch - CLEARANCE
Blue Crazy Lace Agate is actually Mexican Crazy Lace Agate that has been color enhanced with blue to bring out the beautiful patterns in the stone....
View full detailsGreen Aventurine (AAA) 10mm Round 8-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 detailsAbout this cut
Frequently asked questions
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What is a smooth round gemstone bead?
A round bead is a sphere cut from gemstone rough and polished smooth — no facets, no flat edges. Standard rounds are center-drilled straight through the bead so the hole runs pole-to-pole. The geometry makes them the most predictable cut to design with: they sit cleanly on flex wire, stack uniformly on stretch cord, and read as a clean color block without the light play of a faceted surface. Rounds are typically calibrated to nominal sizes (4mm, 6mm, 8mm) within standard trade tolerances, though softer or more fractured stones can vary a half-millimeter strand to strand. -
What sizes does Dakota stock in round?
Round is Dakota's deepest cut by volume. Current stock concentrates in 8mm (554 strands), 6mm (477), 4mm (353), and 10mm (342) — the four sizes that cover most beaded jewelry work. Smaller 2mm and 3mm rounds (54 and 140 strands) work for accent spacers and fine-gauge stringing. 12mm (50) and 5mm (28) are stocked in narrower stone selections. Sizes are nominal; actual diameter can run ±0.3mm depending on the stone and lot, so for tight calibration work pull from a single strand where possible. -
What stones come in round cut?
Almost every stone Dakota carries is available as round somewhere in the range. The deepest selections are agate (195 strands across varieties), jasper (149), quartz (134 — clear, smoky, rose, rutilated, and more), and turquoise (107). Garnet (68), tourmaline (64), moonstone (58), opal (55), DZI agate (53), and tiger eye (48) all hold meaningful stock. Less common stones may only appear in one or two sizes — if you need a specific stone-size pairing, filter the collection or check the size tags on individual products before ordering. -
What jewelry work are round beads best for?
Rounds are the default cut for stretch bracelets, mala-style strands, classic beaded necklaces, and anywhere you want the stone's color and pattern to read without faceted sparkle. They sit predictably next to metal spacers, knot cleanly between cord, and don't catch on fabric the way faceted edges can. 6mm and 8mm are the workhorse sizes for adult bracelets; 4mm suits layered necklaces and children's pieces; 10mm and 12mm carry as statement strands or focal sections. For mixed-cut designs, smooth rounds pair well with faceted rondelles or heishi as a textural counterpoint. -
Smooth round vs faceted round — how do I choose?
Smooth rounds emphasize the stone itself — color, pattern, inclusions, chatoyancy. Faceted rounds (a separate cut in the catalog) cut small flat planes across the sphere to add light return, which reads as sparkle but slightly mutes the underlying pattern. For stones with strong figure — ocean jasper, dendritic agate, picture jasper, moss agate — smooth round shows the material better. For uniformly colored stones — garnet, amethyst, smoky quartz — faceted rounds add visible movement. Both drill the same way, so they swap cleanly in a design if you want to test the difference on a sample strand.