These are hairlike strands bundled into 4 groups of approx. 39 strands. You can use the group together or separate out strands, much like you would with embroidery floss. This means a single package can be stretched to many different projects. ,/br> 9/20/11: We have seen a large increase in the price of metallics imported from Japan. Whether this is due to the tsunami or the overall Japanese economy is unknown. It was a surprise to see such a big jump in product price. Whether we stock this in the future will be dependent on the response of our customer base.