Bead color codes, and how to choose a palette

What a color code is

A code identifies one specific bead color within one manufacturer's range — for example a two-digit number on a Hama bag or a longer article number on a Perler bag. Codes are only meaningful inside their own brand: the same number means a different color elsewhere, and there is no shared standard behind them.

This tool prints the code in every cell of the pattern rather than a color name, because the code is the thing you can search for in a shop and read off the bag while you are sorting.

Which palettes this tool supports

The selector contains nine fuse-bead brands — Perler, Hama, Artkal, Nabbi, Mard, Coco, Kaka, Panpan, and Manman — plus a separate DMC thread reference. The counts below are the distinct colors this tool matches against, not a manufacturer's full catalogue and not every finish or special edition.

The matching data is generated from the public palette-research CSV published by BeadsCanvas. It is an independent compatibility reference for image conversion, not a manufacturer-maintained record. This page summarizes only each name and color count; it does not reproduce a manufacturer's color chart, product photograph, or product description.

How to pick one

Pick the brand you can actually buy locally, and pick it before you convert. Changing the palette re-matches every cell in the pattern, so a pattern generated for one brand is not a shopping list for another.

A larger palette is not automatically better. More colors mean a closer match to the photograph, but also more codes to buy, more sorting, and more color changes per row. On a first project, a smaller palette often produces a piece that reads better from two metres away.

If you own a mixed tub without codes, match by eye instead: convert against any palette, then use the finished preview to substitute the closest bead you have. The pattern still tells you where the color boundaries are, which is the part that is genuinely hard to judge by eye.

Why there is no cross-brand conversion table

Tables that claim one brand's code equals another brand's code circulate widely, and they are approximations at best. Pigments, opacity, and batch variation differ, so two “equivalent” beads often sit visibly apart in a finished piece.

Rather than publish another approximate mapping, the tool re-matches the source image directly against whichever palette you select. That produces a better result than translating a pattern from one brand to another, because it compares against the actual image instead of against an already-rounded color.

When a color in the list is out of stock

Open the materials CSV and sort by quantity. Colors used only a few dozen times can almost always be replaced by their nearest neighbour without a visible difference — those cells are scattered detail, not areas.

The colors near the top of the list are the ones to get right. If a dominant color is unavailable, it is usually better to convert again with a different palette than to substitute it, because that color defines the piece.

How the ten choices are grouped

Perler, Hama, Artkal, and Nabbi are grouped as brands that are commonly available internationally. Mard, Coco, Kaka, Panpan, and Manman are offered as additional fuse-bead brands, but availability varies by country. Choose one only when you can buy that brand's coded beads, because codes are not interchangeable between brands.

DMC is deliberately separated from the bead brands. Its codes identify embroidery floss used for cross-stitch and are also used as color references in diamond painting; they do not identify fuse beads. A DMC conversion can guide a thread or color-matching project, but it is not a bead shopping list and cannot tell you which beads to place on a pegboard.