OK, here’s the problem. I’m working on a necklace made up of multiple strands that are graduated in length. The shortest strand is 18". The longest strand is 25".
I have approximately 675 total inches of pearls to string. I want to end up with a total of 20 or so strands.
Is there some way to figure out what the increase in length of each strand should be so that I end up with 20-ish strands graduating from 18" to 25"?
My goal is to use as many as the pearls as possible, so it really doesn’t matter if it works out to 18 or even 15 total strands, for example.
I would put all the pearls into a single pile, and then randomly apportion them out into as meny sets as there will be strands. You would probably want to increase the number of peals in each set to correspond to the increasing lengths. Then pair the like sizes within each subset, and string them.
At least, this is if you want the average size of the pearls to be the same in all strands. If the average pearl size is supposed to increase with the length of the strand, then there still ought to be some variation of this that would work.
ETA: Is it possible that a hobby shop sells some kind of device for sorting beads by size?
Therefore, you have enough pearls to make 33 strands at 20 inches each, or 20 strands of 33 inches each. In other words, more than enough for 20 graduating strands of 18-25 inches.
If you want the strands to be evenly graduated and you’ve got pearls that are all the same size, you take the difference between your longest strand (25) and shortest strand (18), which is 7 inches, and divide that by the total number of strands (20)
7/20=.35
Each strand should be just over 1/3 of an inch longer than the last one. Just shy of 9mm, if metric is easier for you.
I bow to you, Why Not. Using your method, I just figured out that I can make 14 double strands and increase each double strand set by 1/2", which is a heck of a lot easier to measure than 1/3".
You’re quite welcome! Of course, you know, as a jewelry maker, that math is math and beads are quite another thing entirely, so I suggest you not crimp your ends until you’ve threaded all your strands and made adjustments as required.
