Back to Learn

Fuse-bead pegboard size guide

Grid size decides how much detail you can keep, how many beads you will place, how large the finished piece is, and how the printout is split across pages. Mandolin Handmade does not invent extra sizes beyond the list in the Designer. Every size below is rows × columns.

What changing the grid actually changes

Detail is the obvious effect. More cells give the pattern more room for interior colors and a clearer silhouette. A face that is a few beads on 14 × 14 can hold eyes and a mouth on 29 × 29. The same photo on 87 × 87 can keep still more of the original shape, if you are willing to place thousands of beads.

Bead count scales with area. The theoretical maximum is rows × columns, and empty cells do not count as beads. A sparse silhouette on a large grid can still use fewer beads than a fully filled small grid. Physical size scales with the number of rows and columns at a fixed peg spacing. Printing complexity scales with how many 29 × 29 tiles the pattern needs; the PDF never shrinks the grid to fit one page. Editing time usually grows with size: more cells to clean after a photo import, more chances for stray beads, more time to place on the board.

Choose the smallest size that still looks like the thing you want to build.

Supported sizes

The Designer template list, including Import Image, currently supports the eleven sizes below. Labels such as “1 × 1 Board” are the names shown in the size menu. They describe how the grid is grouped in 29-cell board units, not a different measurement system.

Print page counts assume the current Print PDF rule: each page holds at most a 29 × 29 tile at actual size. A 14 × 14 design still uses one page. There is no 15 × 20 option, no 30 × 30, and no freeform custom size in the current Designer.

How to think about physical size

Mandolin Handmade uses 5.0 mm center-to-center peg spacing. That is the distance from the center of one bead to the center of the next, matching the print template.

Two measurements are easy to mix up. Center span is the distance between the first and last bead centers along one side: (number of beads − 1) × 5.0 mm. For 14 beads that span is 65 mm. For 29 beads it is 140 mm. For 58 beads it is 285 mm. For 87 beads it is 430 mm.

Printed coverage is slightly larger because each bead is drawn as a 4.5 mm circle around its center. Edge-to-edge coverage along one side is (beads − 1) × 5.0 mm + 4.5 mm: about 69.5 mm for 14 beads, 144.5 mm for 29, 289.5 mm for 58, and 434.5 mm for 87. That is the printed footprint of the circles, not a claim about a particular brand of pegboard’s outer plastic frame.

When you join boards for a 58 × 58 or 87 × 87 design, line them up so the 5.0 mm spacing continues across the join. Match the rows × columns choice to the orientation you will actually build.

Small, medium, and large in practice

14 × 14 is useful for icons, simple shapes, letters, and tiny characters. It is a good size for a first project and for testing whether a silhouette reads at all. Many photo imports look muddy here unless the source is already a bold graphic.

29 × 29 is the square “one board” size. It is the usual choice for a single sprite, a small portrait, or a logo that needs to be recognizable without becoming a wall piece. One printed page covers the whole grid at actual size.

Rectangular sizes exist in both orientations. 29 × 58 is one board tall and two boards wide (29 rows, 58 columns). 58 × 29 is two boards tall and one board wide. 29 × 87 and 87 × 29 are the three-board strips. Use a wide rectangle for a landscape, a banner, or a subject that is naturally horizontal. Use a tall rectangle for a standing figure or a vertical logo.

Larger multi-board sizes—58 × 58 up through 87 × 87—are for photos, crests, and complex forms that still look unfinished on one board. They also mean more print tiles, more pegboards, and a longer build. If you are converting a photo, try 29 × 29 or a matching rectangle first; jump to 58 × 58 or 87 × 87 only after the smaller preview still looks under-resolved. The photo-to-pattern guide covers that conversion path.

Portrait vs landscape

29 × 58 and 58 × 29 are not the same design rotated. Mandolin Handmade does not automatically rotate rectangular designs to fit the screen, the printer, or your pegboards. Rows run top to bottom. Columns run left to right. If you import a tall photo onto 29 × 58, the extra width will be filled by cropping or empty space, not by turning the picture.

Pick the orientation that matches the subject before you convert or draw. If you already have a design in the wrong rectangle, changing the template size does not rotate the beads into the new shape. You would be starting a different grid.

Detail vs recognizability

Recognizability is whether a person can name the subject from a step or two away. Extra cells help only when they add structure: a cleaner outline, a distinct color block, a feature that was previously one bead. Extra cells that only add speckles make the piece harder to build and harder to read.

That is why 14 × 14 works for icons and simple shapes, 29 × 29 is enough for many characters and logos, and the larger grids are for cases where the smaller version still cannot hold the form. A photo of a person usually needs more cells than a cartoon apple. A word mark with thin strokes may need a wide rectangle so the letters do not collapse.

Bead count

Theoretical maximum beads equal rows × columns. 14 × 14 can use up to 196 beads, 29 × 29 up to 841, 58 × 58 up to 3,364, and 87 × 87 up to 7,569. Your actual count is the occupied cells. A tree with empty sky around it on 29 × 29 might use a few hundred beads even though 841 cells exist.

Check the Designer’s bead-count list before you buy supplies. If you are building more than one pattern, Projects can combine counts from saved designs on this device.

Printing large patterns

Print PDF keeps 5.0 mm spacing and splits anything larger than 29 × 29 across US Letter pages as actual-size tiles. A 58 × 58 design prints on four pages; 87 × 87 prints on nine. You assemble those pages; the pattern is not scaled down to one sheet.

Printer settings and page order are covered in How to print fuse-bead patterns at actual size .