Okay, so I’ve been getting into making my own malas lately. It’s super relaxing, and you end up with something beautiful and meaningful. But figuring out how many beads you need for different lengths? That took some trial and error, let me tell you!
First, I had to decide what size beads I wanted to use. I went with the standard 8mm ones because they felt good in my hands. I grabbed a bunch of them and my trusty measuring tape, ready to go.
My First Attempt (and Fail!)
My initial thought was, “Okay, a mala is traditionally 108 beads, so I’ll just measure out how long that is and be done.” Nope! I strung 108 beads, and it was WAY longer than any mala I’d ever seen. I used my flexible measuring tape(It’s the one used to take body measurements). It turns out, I needed to account for the knots between the beads! Each knot adds a little bit of extra length.
Figuring Out the Knot Factor
So, I started experimenting. I strung a smaller section, like 10 beads, and tied simple overhand knots between each one. Then, I measured that section. I did this a few times to get an average. It looked like each knot added roughly 2mm of length. This might vary depending on the cord, I imagine, but it worked as a good starting point for me. My string is 1mm thick, so that’s what I used.
Doing the Math (Ugh)
The thing that will take you the longest is figuring out how many beads and how much string to use per necklace, so grab your calculator.
Armed with this knot-length knowledge, I had to do a little math. Here’s the breakdown of what I did:
- Desired Length: I wanted to make a shorter mala, around 28 inches. Which I then Converted it to millimeters (28 inches 25.4 mm/inch = roughly 711mm).
- Bead Length: 108 beads 8mm/bead = 864mm. Too long!
- Knot Adjustment: I had to figure out how many beads to remove to account for the knots. I kept playing with the numbers, subtracting beads and adding in the knot length (2mm per knot). Remember, you need a knot between each bead, so it’s always one less knot than the number of beads.
The Trial and Error Continues
Honestly, it took a few tries of stringing, measuring, unstringing, and restringing to get it right. I felt I was getting closer with each attempt.
I eventually landed on a bead count that, when combined with the knots, gave me the length I wanted. Here is a sample of what finally worked:
- 8mm bead x 69= 552mm
- 69beads means 68knots at 2mm average per knot= 136mm of knots
- 688mm is the final length. It’s about 27 inches(686mm).
It’s not an exact science, because the knots aren’t perfectly uniform, but it gets you in the ballpark! Using that information, here’s how I made a note of how many beads I would need to get the desired necklace length:
- 54 beads for an approximate length of 20 inches (508mm)
- 69 beads for an approximate length of 27 inches (686mm)
- 81 beads for an approximate length of 31 inches (787mm)
- 108 beads for an approximate length of 41 inches (1,041mm)
My Hard-Won Advice
My biggest takeaway? Don’t be afraid to experiment! String up a small section, measure, and adjust. It’s much easier to tweak a small sample than to restring a whole mala. And keep notes! Once you figure out the bead count and knot length for one size bead, you can use that as a basis for other projects. Write everything down in your notes so you can go back to it when you want to make more necklaces. Now, you can have a handy cheat sheet of your very own.
