
Jack Shi
Founder of Clooms · Independent Developer
Boulder, Colorado, USA
Jack Shi is an independent developer and the founder of Clooms, an independent digital-product company built on one ethos — usefulness over noise, clarity over complexity. Under Clooms he builds and runs a portfolio of focused tools and web utilities, including BeadDraft and CPSKit.
He began his career at Alibaba’s International Commerce Business Unit (ICBU) in 2008, serving B2B companies in international trade. That experience led him to go independent and, on the business side, to build NexaPioneer, an AI-first B2B company.
His guiding principle across everything he builds: find a real, specific need and solve it as simply as possible.
Guides by Jack Shi

Perler, Hama and Artkal: what the difference means for your pattern
A fuse-bead pattern is a grid of colored cells, and that grid is the same in any brand. What differs is size and color names — here is exactly what each changes, and how to map colors to the kit you own.
Jack Shi··8 min read
How to print a bead pattern you can actually read
Export the PDF reading chart — symbols, board sections and counts, made to sit beside your pegboard. Here is what is on it, why it is not 1:1, and when the other three exports serve you better.
Jack Shi··7 min read
Reduce colors without losing the details
There are two levers, and they work at different moments. Simplify never forces a color count and never touches a bead you protected — here is the exact rule it uses, plus how to protect details first.
Jack Shi··9 min read
How to prepare a photo for a clean bead pattern
The photos that convert cleanly share three things. Here they are — plus an honest, mechanism-level explanation of what the background-removal toggle can and cannot do, and a pre-flight checklist.
Jack Shi··8 min read
How many beads wide? Choosing a pattern size
Start at 29 wide for a face, 58 for a scene, 87 when fine features must stay legible. Here is the full math — board sections, how fast the bead count climbs, and finished size by brand.
Jack Shi··8 min read
How to turn a photo into a bead pattern
Pick a width, let the tool sample your photo into a grid, then check the colors and counts. Here is what each of those steps actually does to your image — with a worked example.
Jack Shi··9 min read