Short answer: a diamond painting at 2.5 mm per drill uses 16 drills per square centimeter, so a 30 × 40 cm canvas takes 19,200 drills. A standard 29 × 29 pegboard holds 841 beads, and four boards together hold 3,364.
Diamond painting drills
Our charts assume square drills 2.5 mm wide, so 4 fit in each centimeter. If your canvas or kit lists a different drill size, use that size instead: the count changes quickly, because it depends on the area.
| Canvas | Drills (width × height) | Total drills | With 10 % spare |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 × 30 cm | 80 × 120 | 9,600 | 10,600 |
| 30 × 40 cm | 120 × 160 | 19,200 | 21,200 |
| 40 × 50 cm | 160 × 200 | 32,000 | 35,200 |
| 50 × 65 cm | 200 × 260 | 52,000 | 57,300 |
| 60 × 80 cm | 240 × 320 | 76,800 | 84,500 |
A full-coverage kit uses the whole canvas, so the math is exact, and our diamond painting pattern maker counts each color for you. The 10 % spare covers the drills that roll away or come out misshapen, and it is what our color keys add.
Perler and Hama beads
A large square pegboard has 29 pegs per side, so it holds 841 beads. Midi beads sit about 5 mm apart.
| Pegboards | Beads wide × high | Total beads | Finished width |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 × 1 | 29 × 29 | 841 | 14.5 cm (5.7 in) |
| 2 × 2 | 58 × 58 | 3,364 | 29.0 cm (11.4 in) |
| 3 × 3 | 87 × 87 | 7,569 | 43.5 cm (17.1 in) |
| 4 × 4 | 116 × 116 | 13,456 | 58.0 cm (22.8 in) |
Designs with a clear background use fewer beads than the total, because you can leave that part of the board empty. Set Leave the background empty in the bead pattern maker and the key counts only what you place.
The total is not the hard part: the split between colors is
A bag of beads or drills is one color, so what matters is how the total divides. We ran the same sample sunflower through our makers to see this:
| Chart | Total | Most used color | Least used color |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond painting | 14,400 drills | 519 Sky Blue: 3,527 | 19 Autumn Gold medium Light: 23 |
| Perler beads | 841 beads | C21 Mist: 225 | C59 Slime: 3 |
The largest color in the diamond chart needs 153 times as many drills as the smallest. Check the key before you buy, and do not split your budget evenly between colors.
Before you order
- Round each color up to the pack size the shop sells.
- Bead colors vary between brands, so choose Perler or Hama in the maker to get the right color names.
- Bigger is not always better: for help choosing, see how many colors a chart really needs.
Pegboard size checked against retail listings for the Perler 29 × 29 board. Check your own board, because other brands differ.