How to store and organise Hama bead craft supplies

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Regular readers will know just how much we love Hama beads, both the more popular midi Hama beads which are great for all ages, and the mini Hama beads which are perfect for older children and adult crafters and can be used to create some really intricate designs.

Whether you start out your Hama beading with a kit or a large tub of mixed beads, if you get into the hobby you'll soon find that you amass quite a collection of different colours, and you'll want to find a way to organise them that makes it easy to work on your projects.

Why sort Hama beads by colour?

My preferred organising method for Hama beads is definitely to sort and store them by colour. You can find official Hama bead colour charts here and you can also end up with many other different colours and styles of beads if you purchase beads from different brands such as Perler beads.

Sorting by colour has lots of benefits. You can work more quickly when you don't need to sort through the beads as you go. You can also easily see how many of each colour you have left before you begin a project, so you can work out whether you need to restock and avoid the risk of running out.

Sorting Hama beads by colour - some tips

It's best to colour sort your Hama beads in natural daylight, especially if you have similar colours to sort. I like to spread the beads out in a large tray and sort one colour at a time, starting with the darker and more distinctive colours. I use temporary storage containers while I'm sorting, like plastic bowls or cups, so I can see how many of each colour I have. I also find that my children love helping me to sort, at least for a little while!

I discovered this blog post with a tutorial for making a brilliant Hama bead gadget sorter using a straw, which looks like it would save a lot of time and effort and I'll definitely be trying next time I have a Hama bead sorting session!

Storing midi Hama beads

I like to store these medium sized Hama beads in compartmentalised storage boxes like these (affiliate link). It's best to look for ones with adjustable dividers that you can change to fit the number of beads that you have, as this may change depending on what you are working on. Stackable ones are great too so that you can keep them neatly on a shelf, and if you buy popular branded ones you have a good chance of finding matching ones in the future as your collection increases.

If you have a lot of beads and want something that is nicer to look at when on a shelf, you could opt for a drawer organiser (affiliate link), or for something even prettier you could arrange your coloured Hama beads in a series of small glass jars (affiliate link).

Storing mini Hama beads

I've found it even more important to sort the tiny mini Hama beads by colour, as they are fiddly enough to work with even without having to pick out different colours as you go along. I've also found that it's more difficult to differentiate between the different colours, so it's a job best done in advance in good light.

I store my mini Hama beads in these Weekly Pill Boxes (affiliate link). They each fit many of the tiny beads, and a strip of four can be removed from the larger frame to make it easy to work from them.

Storing the Hama bead boards

I have found the Hama bead peg boards quite challenging to store, because they are a variety of different shapes and sizes and because of the pegs they don't stack easily. I use a high sided plastic container and store them upright so that you can flip through them to find the one that you want. The empty large Hama bead tubs (affiliate link) boxes work well, as they are very sturdy. It's also a good idea to use this box to store your spare sheets of ironing paper and any design leaflets and books that you may have collected.

Hama bead crafting inspiration

If you enjoy crafting with Hama beads you can find all other my Hama bead posts here - Hama bead crafts - and I've also shared some helpful tips for ironing Hama beads.

I've also shared projects to cover an entire year of Hama bead crafting inspiration which contains designs to suit both children and adults.

Happy Hama beading!