Labels · sources · color matching
How pattern labels and colors work
Learn what the collection labels mean, where the bead and floss references come from, how images are matched to colors, and what to check before using the result with physical materials.
Last reviewed:
01 · Data principles
Identifiers and screen colors are different data
A catalog identifier and name tell you which product entry a row refers to. A hexadecimal value is only a digital approximation used for previewing and computation. mybeadpattern does not treat an sRGB hex value as an official physical color measurement.
Catalog reference
Brand or product line, code and common name. These fields identify an item or floss reference.
Display approximation
An sRGB hex value maintained for browser previews and nearest-color calculations.
Practical rule: use codes to gather materials, but compare difficult shades with the physical bead or floss under the lighting where you will work.
02 · Pattern selection
What the pattern-library labels mean
The current library contains 7 original designs and 76 traceable reference rebuilds, across 63 small-pattern records and 20 animal-pattern records. Airplane, candy corn, heart, unicorn, gingerbread man, lemon and dragonfly were designed from blank coordinate grids, rather than traced or recolored from reference patterns. Their construction records document the new geometry and matrix checks; this is not a claim of exclusive copyright or a worldwide originality search. Each reference-rebuild record keeps a public reference URL or recorded research page, selected candidate position and image identifier. Reference images are used as reconstruction input and are not published as site assets; the site publishes the checked grid and generated SVG, chart and preview. A provenance record documents where reconstruction began. It does not claim that mybeadpattern owns source artwork, that a source site endorses a rebuild, or that commercial permission has been granted.
Animals, Food, Nature, Seasonal, Symbols
Editorial subject categories used only by the collection filter. They do not represent search demand.
Collection pick
A manually chosen hero example. It is not a popularity, download or search-volume ranking.
Grid, bead total, color total
Counts computed from each published pattern grid: occupied cells become beads and distinct nonempty values become colors.
76 reference rebuilds
A current source classification, not an originality claim, popularity rank or statement of commercial permission. Pages must keep this count aligned with the generated pattern records.
No card publishes “community hits,” marketplace volume, autocomplete volume or a similar demand number. Keyword research can guide which collection page to build, but it does not rank the individual patterns shown on this page.
03 · Fuse-bead reference data
Bead palettes and source policy
The editor currently carries 648 rows across five product lines. Codes and names are catalog references. Browser colors are community-maintained approximations assembled from the public beadcolors dataset and public Bitbead color charts, then checked for valid unique codes inside each palette.
| Product line | Rows | Print pitch | Use in editor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perler | 102 | 5 mm | Standard fuse-bead palette |
| Hama | 80 | 5 mm | Standard fuse-bead palette |
| Artkal A | 145 | 5 mm | A-series standard palette |
| Nabbi | 30 | 5 mm | Standard fuse-bead palette |
| Mard 291 | 291 | 2.6 mm | Mini-bead palette |
Browse the full chart: Search all 291 MARD codes and compare the closest Perler, Hama, Artkal A and Nabbi screen-space matches. The chart uses the same palette registry and CIE76 calculation documented below.
| Product line | Code | Name | Screen approximation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perler | P01 | White | #EAEFEE |
| Hama | H18 | Black | #141315 |
| Artkal A | A01 | White | #F7F7F7 |
| Mard 291 | A1 | Mard 2001 | #FAF4C8 |
04 · Fuse-bead matching
How pixels become bead colors
- Hexadecimal palette values are interpreted as sRGB and converted to CIE Lab using a D65 white point.
- Photo mode reduces the image with a deterministic median-cut quantizer. Pixel-art mode preserves hard edges with nearest-neighbor resizing.
- Each resulting pixel is assigned to the allowed product color with the smallest squared Euclidean distance in Lab space—equivalent to ranking by CIE76 distance.
- “My bead box” filters the candidate list before matching, so unchecked colors cannot appear in the result.
This method gives the same result for the same image, settings and selected palette. It is a practical screen-space match, not a spectrophotometer measurement.
05 · Bracelet floss references
DMC planning palette
The Alpha Pattern Generator uses a curated 26-color planning set selected to cover common light, dark and saturated bracelet colors. It is not the complete DMC catalog. Codes and common names are maintained as product references and checked against DMC’s public six-strand embroidery floss listing. The hex values are mybeadpattern screen approximations rather than DMC color calibration data.
Image-to-DMC method
- Pixels with alpha below 48 are ignored while dominant colors are selected.
- Every remaining sRGB pixel is compared with the 26 planning colors using a red-mean weighted RGB distance.
- Matched occurrences are ranked and the requested two-to-eight most-used planning colors are retained.
- The final knot grid is remapped to that retained palette; transparent cells use the selected background reference.
| Code | Common name | Screen approximation |
|---|---|---|
B5200 | Snow White | #F9FAF7 |
310 | Black | #111111 |
666 | Bright Red | #E31D42 |
06 · Limits and verification
What can change the physical result
- Displays, color profiles and browser rendering can make the same hex value look different.
- Bead and floss dye lots, age, finish, translucency and production changes can alter physical appearance.
- Ambient light, neighboring colors, knot density and ironing change perceived color.
- Transparent, glow, metallic, pearl and fluorescent products cannot be represented faithfully by one opaque sRGB swatch.
- Brand availability and catalogs change. A listed identifier does not guarantee current stock in every region.
Before buying a large quantity or cutting all working threads, compare a small physical sample and print-scale test with the current pattern.