Kandi Pattern Maker

One cell is one pony bead. The width is how many beads go around the cuff, and the height is how many rows tall it is. Pick the stitch first, because it changes how the chart is drawn: in ladder the beads sit in straight rows and columns, while in multi (peyote) every other column hangs half a bead lower. That zigzag is not decoration. It is where the beads actually sit on a peyote cuff, so what you see on the chart is what you'll see on your wrist.

Under the chart, the written pattern turns the drawing into instructions. For ladder it lists each row left to right as color runs, like “4 Black, 2 Hot Pink, 4 Black”. For multi it starts with the base loop and then lists every round of add one, skip one. Each round fills every other column, so two rounds finish one chart row. You can bead straight from that list without counting squares on a screen.

Size comes from the bead. A pony bead is about 9 mm across and 6 mm along the hole, so each bead adds about 6 mm around the cuff. Kandi has to stretch over your hand, so measure around the widest part of the hand rather than the wrist. Most adult singles end up around 30 beads, and the default 28 is a common starting base for a multi cuff. Multi needs an even number of beads around, or the base loop will not close, and the tool warns you if the width is odd.

Start from a photo when you have a logo, a character silhouette or a symbol in mind. The image is cropped to the grid, shrunk to your width and height, and every pixel is matched to the closest pony bead color with the same CIEDE2000 color matching the main ArtPatt generators use. Strong shapes with a few flat colors come out best. A detailed face at 28 beads wide will not, so simplify the picture before you import it, or clean up the result with Draw and Fill.

Kandi and Perler are both square-grid crafts, so a Perler chart can be beaded as a ladder cuff one cell per bead, and a ladder kandi pattern can be fused on a pegboard. The picture stays the same and only the size changes: a pony bead is about 6 mm per cell, while a Perler midi bead is 5 mm. Multi (peyote) charts are different because of their half-bead offset. A design drawn for multi keeps its shape only in multi.

The palette has 30 opaque and neon pony bead colors under the names shops sell them by, like Black, Hot Pink, Neon Green and Royal Blue, so you can match a bag by name. Translucent, glitter, glow-in-the-dark and UV beads aren't in it, because no flat color on a screen shows what they really look like. Draw with the nearest opaque color and swap in the special bead when you string it.