As you can see, I’ve been a busy beader this week! I tried my hand at making open beaded hearts. This is a great beading project for Valentine’s Day, or at any other time of the year!
Out of all the beadweaving stitches I’ve learned (so far), my favourite is peyote stitch. Usually, I stick to flat even or odd count peyote, as you’ll probably know if you’ve come across my peyote bracelet patterns before.
One of my goals for this year, however, is to develop my beading skills. That means doing more of what I’m not good at – in this case, increasing and decreasing peyote stitches to form different sizes and 3D shapes!
Open heart beadweaving tutorial
So as I was browsing YouTube earlier this week, I came across an excellent beaded heart video tutorial from bead artist, Leslie, from Seed Bead Bliss. I made one beaded heart and I was pretty hooked, so then I made a couple more!
In the video, Leslie uses Miyuki Delicas, which work very well. I decided to use Preciosa seed beads for one of mine to see how the heart would turn out. See the above image – I’m happy with the result!
So what can you do with these little beaded hearts? Well, they measure around an inch tall, so they’d be ideal to use as bracelet charms, pendants or even earrings. You could simply add a beaded loop to the top of them and attach them to chains or jump rings.
For Valentine’s Day, I think these would look great as wine glass charms, or champagne flute charms. You could even make several as table decorations and mix them up a bit with some rose petals for the ultimate romantic table setting!
If you’d like to make these, do head on over to YouTube to check out Leslie’s tutorial. It’s easy to follow, even for beginners, as long as you know how to do peyote stitch.
What do you think to my beaded hearts? Let me know in the comments below!
Before you go, you might like to check out some of my other posts:
- Nail Polish Heart Design Champagne Flutes
- Crystal Heart Glam Earrings Tutorial
- Beadwork Tutorial – Flat Even Count & Odd Count Peyote Stitch
*Images © Craftaholique.
I love the look of these little hearts! And what a great idea using them as table decorations mixed with rose petals! I’m going to remember that come VDay.
Your Preciosa seed bead heart looks awesome too. Is there an advantage in using Preciosas vs. regular seed beads? Are the Preciosas more uniform in size?
Though I’ve only ever beaded bracelets and an envelope necklace pendant with delicas done in odd and even count, the first five minutes I scanned of the video make me want to grab my beads and jump right in. If I can manage it this last weekend before Valentine’s Day, I’m going to try this.
Hi there, sorry for the late reply to your comment! Did you get around to making one of these little hearts? In answer to your question about Preciosa beads, they are very uniform in size, plus the quality of them is just awesome. I’m just about to order some more for a tubular peyote project I want to do, so hopefully, I’ll be able to showcase them on the blog soon. 🙂