C-Lon Bead Cord - How to Identify Colors

As the collection grows, it is getting more and more difficult to keep track of some of the colors without some kind of reference. Here are some suggestions that might help to keep track of your colors.

At first, here is how you will receive your order if you place it with marion jewels in fiber online store:

… in plastic bags with a label with cord type and name tags

… in a cardboard box

When ordering 5 spools or more, you will get them in a box. The back row of the box is packed first from left to right, then the front row also from left to right. If the colors are obvious no label will be included. You will need to figure out which color is which based on your packing slip.

… in a cardboard box with a label

If the colors are too close to be easily identified, a label is affixed with color names codes. These codes are listed on your packing slip or invoice, the website, and the color chart.

So now, you know what colors you just got, but the challenge is how to keep track of these colors especially with a group such as the one above once you start playing around with them…

Get an Official Color Card Set

C-Lon Bead Cord Color Sample Cards

104 cards have actual samples of each color of the C-Lon Bead Cord. Plus 4 cards are size comparison cards with Micro Cord, Tex 135 Fine Weight, standard or regular Bead Cord and the heavyweight Tex 400. Each card has about a yard of cord.

They are organized in alphabetical order by codes and bound in 4 sets. Each group is attached by a plastic tie.

Actual cards are 2 1/4 inches by 2 1/2 inches (5.7 cm x 6.3 cm). $45.00 a Set > Get one

These color sample cards represent a tremendous amount of work by C-Lon and minimal mark-up all around, well a labor of love at the $45.00 price for 108 cards. New colors get added, but with a bit of a delay... The Neons are in. The New Colors as of June 2015 have not been added in yet.

Print a Color Chart and Add Actual Samples

Printed C-Lon Color Charts

Photographed with customer right at the show. Thank you!

A customer came to a show armed with these color charts. This way she had a record for the colors already had, plus she had marked the one that needed to be re-purchased…  Actual samples of the cord stapled in a butterfly fashion is a brilliant idea!

Spools can be compared to the chart and the actual cord sample for identification. All the C-Lon Bead Cord sizes have now a printable version of the color chart. Just look for the 'Print Color Chart' link, then print them and overtime as you add more colors to your collection fill in the squares. Haha, that sounds like lotto.

These were printed on photo paper and placed into clear sheet protectors. If you do not have a printer, the color charts could be printed at a copy place from the PDFs online. Most copy/printers nowadays can access a file online.

Add Tags to the Spools

Tags for C-Lon Bead Cord

Another customer sent me this picture a few weeks back… She described how she did it and I duplicated the mini-tags below. Thank you for the fabulous idea!

Code on one side

Take an address label. Cut it in 1/2 length-wise, leaving it attached to the back of the label paper. Write the color name in the top quarter facing the top edge. Write the code on the next quarter facing the long side. Remove it from the backing, fold the top quarter back onto itself. Fold the label into a small tube and insert inside the center hole of the spool. Once in, flatten the label with a knitting needle, crochet hook handle or whatever you have on hand with a thin long cylinder. Hey it sounds way more complicated than it actually is. It really is very easy to do. Just wait for the ink to dry before folding the label. I smeared mine… 

Full name on the other side

The spools can be stored with their little tags sideways in the boxes, on wood rack, or in plastic boxes, I tried them on my wood rack, and yes it works. The actual length of the tags could be fine tuned to minimize their heights.

The large bobbin box I carry for C-Lon Bead Thread Size D & AA,  plus KO or Miyuki Beading Thread will hold 12 spools of C-Lon Bead Cord in ant for the 4 sizes with enough extra space for the name tags on the spools. I will add a picture of the box filled with C-Lon Spools as soon as I can.

In addition to these solutions,  I have also encountered customers with notebooks with snippet of cord attached with names and date of purchase. I am very fond of all these homegrown solutions. 

Let me know if you have any other suggestions. The professionals thus far early on thought of complicated and expensive solutions such as plastic canisters for each spools. Or a longer plastic tube for several spools, so each time you needed a color, you had to dump everything out to get the color you needed…. I found all of these attempts to be a waste of time and money, plus they were not environmentally friendly. 

Please reuse or recycle plastic bags, and/or cardboard boxes sent with your order. Grocery stores have recycling for plastic bags. Most places nowadays have curb recycling for cardboard. Thanks ;)

Other post you might be interested in...

> C-Lon Bead Cord - Comparing Sizes

> Storing C-Lon Bead Cord

> C-Lon versus S-Lon (SuperLon)