Bead Color Palette Planner — Color Counts and Materials

A sortable palette usually has a background, one or two structural colors, a dominant fill, supporting midtones, and accents. The number of colors matters less than whether each one has a job. If three colors are all trying to be the same shadow, the builder gets complexity without a visible gain.

Estimate large roles first, then check the small roles. The goal is to order and stage the build, not to make a perfect prediction before the mapper has seen the image.

Rare colors often carry eyes, whiskers, lettering, or the final highlight. Mark them as high attention even when the quantity is small. A small spare pack can be more valuable than another bag of the dominant color because a missing accent can stop the finish.

In the koi example, black is only 60 beads before spare, but it defines the outline and eye. Eight percent spare brings the planned black quantity to about 65; the orange body can tolerate a small substitution more easily.

Keep colors for the current row or block in a shallow tray and the reserve sorted separately. Label the tray with color name or code, not just a swatch. Similar colors become difficult to identify when they are loose and warm under a lamp.

The calculator is a planning lens. Replace its estimates with the creator's exported color table once the final pattern is approved, and keep the palette version alongside the shopping list.