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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: 1502

Hubei Turquoise 2mm Microfaceted Round AA Grade - 15-16 inch

Original price $21.00 - Original price $21.00
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Hubei Turquoise is sourced from Hubei Province in Northern China, one of the most recognized turquoise-producing regions in the world. This materia...

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Original price $21.00 - Original price $21.00
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Prehnite 3mm Round Faceted A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $12.00 - Original price $12.00
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Prehnite was the first mineral to be named after a person: its discoverer, Dutch Colonel Hendrik Von Prehn. Von Prehn discovered the stone in South...

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Black Spinel 3mm Natural Round - 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Large Hole

Multi Tourmaline 10mm Round Large Hole Beads - 8-inch

Original price $27.00 - Original price $27.00
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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...

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Artistic Jasper 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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Artistic Stone has beautiful, intricate patterns of minute black flecks, bands, and veins within the tan, cream, gray and mauve stone. It is made u...

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Rhodochrosite 4mm Round 15-16 Inch

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Rhodochrosite is a bubblegum pink to rose red stone, with occasional inclusions of creamy white and dark grey. A manganese carbonate material of th...

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Blue & Yellow Tiger Eye 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Red Garnet 6mm Round Faceted 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Large Hole

Sodalite Natural 6mm Round Large Hole Beads - 8 Inch

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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...

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Shungite 4mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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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...

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3mm Sapphire Faceted Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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Sapphires are precious gemstones, but unlike rubies, they come in a rainbow of colors besides red!  They are all varieties of the mineral corundum,...

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Unakite 4mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Large Hole

MATTE Red Jasper 8mm Large Hole Round - 8-Inch

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Large Hole

Mixed Stone 10mm Round Large Hole Bead 8-Inch

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Tiger Eye 8mm Round 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Hematite Dark Gold Plated 2mm Faceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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Hematite is an iron oxide and one of the few gemstones with a metallic luster. When tumbled it can have the look of polished steel. Hematite is bla...

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Elephant Skin Jasper 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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Elephant Skin Jasper, also known as Calligraphy Stone or Miriam Stone, features intricate light brown patterns on dark brown stones. Each stone is ...

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African Turquoise (AAA) 8mm Round 15-16 Inch

Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
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African Turquoise is not actually Turquoise, but rather a speckled teal Jasper found in Africa and often treated to simulate the beautiful blue to ...

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Tiger Eye Rainbow 14mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
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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...

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Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
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Fluorite Banded 4mm Round - 8-Inch

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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-afte...

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Mixed Stone 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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Pink Tourmaline with Pink Lepidolite 4mm Round 15-16 Inch

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Pink Tourmaline ranges in color from light pink to deep magenta, with inclusions of white to colorless translucent or transparent. Tourmaline occur...

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African Turquoise (AAA) 6mm Round 15-16 Inch

Original price $24.00 - Original price $24.00
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African Turquoise is not actually Turquoise, but rather a speckled teal Jasper found in Africa and often treated to simulate the beautiful blue to ...

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Graywood 10mm Round Bead - 15-16 Inch

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Like all of Dakota Stones items, our wood beads are top quality and sourced from the best ethically produced manufacturers. Natural wood beads have...

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Mookaite 6mm Round -15-16 Inch

Original price $9.00 - Original price $9.00
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Mookaite is a variety of Jasper in colors of red, burgundy, pink, mauve, purple, yellow and white. It takes its name from Mooka Creek, near the Ken...

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Moss Agate 8mm Round 15-16 Inch

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Moss Agate is a variety of Chalcedony, clear to milky white to dark green, with inclusions that appear in patterns similar to moss or lichen. The i...

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Hematite Dark Gold Plated 4mm Faceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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Hematite is an iron oxide and one of the few gemstones with a metallic luster. When tumbled it can have the look of polished steel. Hematite is bla...

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Golden Sunstone 6mm Round - 15-16"

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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...

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Pink Tourmaline 4mm Round Faceted A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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Pink Tourmaline ranges in color from light pink to deep magenta, with inclusions of white to colorless translucent or transparent. Tourmaline occur...

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Sodalite 4mm Faceted Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $17.00 - Original price $17.00
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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...

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Large Hole

6mm Birds Eye Rhyolite Natural Round Large Hole Beads - 8 Inch

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Bird’s Eye Rhyolite is named for its circular color formations of deep reds, light tans and earthtones. Rhyolite was named "streaming rock" because...

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Dragon Blood Jasper 10mm Round - 8-Inch

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Dragon Blood Jasper is a variety of Quartz with veins of blood red that run through the predominantly light green to dark green stone. Legend has i...

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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) Pink 3mm Round Faceted - 15-16 Inch

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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Mixed Stone 2mm Round 15-16 Inch

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Fancy Jasper 6mm Faceted Round - 8-Inch - CLEARANCE

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Fancy Jasper, also known as Rainbow Jasper, ranges in color from light to dark green, deep red, tan, cream, pink and mauve. It is a chalcedony beli...

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Large Hole

Bloodstone 6mm Round Large Hole Beads - 8 Inch

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Bloodstone most commonly refers to green Jasper with red inclusions consisting of Hematite. Naturally occurring in hues of blue to green to green w...

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Amethyst 4mm Round Faceted A Grade Beads - 15-16 Inch

Original price $23.00 - Original price $23.00
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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 ...

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Lemurian Aquatine Calcite 6mm Round- 15-16 Inch (Blue Onyx)

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This unique stone is named after a now debunked theory of a continent called “Lemuria” thought to have sunk into the Indian Ocean. Though it is wid...

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Fossil Coral 6mm Round 8-Inch

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Fossil Coral is the prehistoric fossilized remains of the invertebrate reef builders that live in tropical oceans. Silica-rich waters create harden...

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Large Hole

Rhodonite Large Hole Faceted 8mm Round - 8-inch - CLEARANCE

Original price $14.00 - Original price $14.00
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Rhodonite, whose name is derived from the Greek word for Rose, “rhodon,” is known for its pink, red and magenta hues. A Manganese inosilicate (...

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Botswana Agate 4mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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Botswana Agate displays highly defined parallel banding, usually in white on hues of brown, gray, pink, tan, apricot and purplish red. Botswana Aga...

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DZI Agate 8mm Round Black Line Pattern 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Fluorite 10mm Round - 8-Inch

Original price $17.00 - Original price $17.00
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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-afte...

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Original price $17.00 - Original price $17.00
Original price $17.00
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Orange Garnet 8mm Round Beads - 15-16 Inch

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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...

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Eagle Eye Stone (A) 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $48.00 - Original price $48.00
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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 ...

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Large Hole

Fossil Coral Large Hole Faceted 8mm Round - 8-inch

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Fossil Coral is the prehistoric fossilized remains of the invertebrate reef builders that live in tropical oceans. Silica-rich waters create harden...

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Black Tourmalinated Quartz 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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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 ...

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Bayong 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch

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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...

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About this cut

Round bead shape diagram
Cut name
Round
Drill style
Center-drilled
Typical sizes
8mm6mm4mm10mm3mm2mm12mm5mm
Stones in this cut
AgateJasperQuartzTurquoiseGarnetTourmalineMoonstoneOpalDZI AgateTiger EyeAmazoniteSapphire
Common uses
stretch braceletsmala and prayer-style strandsclassic beaded necklacesmulti-strand layered designsknotted silk or cord necklacesuniform color-block sections in mixed-cut workmen's beaded bracelets in 8mm and 10mm
Related cuts
Faceted Round, Microfaceted Round, Oval
Design notes
Round is the most forgiving cut to design around — predictable diameter, predictable drill, predictable drape. Scale by wrist or neck: 6mm and 8mm cover most adult bracelet work, 4mm reads delicate on a necklace, 10mm+ carries as statement scale. Rounds pair cleanly with faceted rondelles, heishi, or metal spacers when you want textural contrast without breaking the silhouette. For stones with strong pattern, smooth round shows the material better than the faceted-round sibling cut; for uniform-color stones, faceted rounds add sparkle the smooth cut can't.

Frequently asked questions

  • 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.