Letter Beads For Jewelry

A square alphabet bead is the most well known of the letter beads. There are 3 general sizes. One is a very small bead size of 4.5 mm with a 2mm hole and a 4.5mm bead with a slightly larger 3mm hole. The 3mm hole is better if you are using leather cording or of course whatever you are using to thread it with has a larger diameter.

There is also a square 5.5mm bead with a 4mm hole.

Rounded letter beads simply put, are just Plain Cute! In fact the smallest size which are 4.5mm with a 3mm hole are called baby rounded. It even has a cute name! Because the edges are rounded they seem much smaller than their square counterpart, but they aren't..(I know...I measured them just to prove it to myself) HA!

The other size of which is the most widely used in the rounded alphabet beads are the 6mm with a 4mm hole.

What do you think about the Oval alphabet bead? This subtle bead is loved by many for it offers a kinda steel magnolia feeling with the soft shape and then comprised with sterling silver. The standard size for oval beads are 8.6mmx 2mm and a 1.6 hole size.

The heart shaped alphabet bead is adorable. You can't look at it without feeling some "heart" felt emotion. The dimensions of this bead are 7mm x 6mm with a 1.8 hole size.

Gold Plated letter beads are a wonderful alternative if sterling silver is not your thing. The standard size used with these beads are the 4.5mm with a 3mm hole. One tip when purchasing gold plated jewelry; make sure that it has as it's base sterling silver, not some base metal.

Pewter Alphabet Beads are yet another alternative to the traditional sterling silver alphabet letter beads. The upside is they are less expensive, the downside is the quality isn't as good as that of sterling silver.