Puffy Heart Basics: How to Master the Crystal Puffy Heart Pattern!

If you’ve been beading for a while, you’ve probably heard of the crystal puffy
heart pattern.

It has been around for a few years and remains very popular because it’s, well,
beautiful!

It’s also very versatile. By using different size beads and colors you can
create beautiful necklace pendants and charms.

I think the best beads to use for this pattern are Swarovski crystal 5301 bicone
beads. These beads have the ideal shape for this pattern. I prefer to use 4mm
beads and sometimes even 3mm beads, but I recommend that you start with larger
size beads like 5mm or even 6mm beads. This is because the smaller the beads,
the more challenging it is to weave the pattern.

The beaded puffy heart is a fairly advanced pattern so I wouldn’t recommend
it for those who don’t already have some experience at bead weaving with monofilament
string.

The pattern is difficult because it requires you to weave the beads into a
3-dimensional shape. Unlike easy weave patterns where you can see the weaving
quickly taking the form of the final shape, with this 3D shape it is not obvious
how the shape will turn out even in the middle of weaving the pattern and it
can make you feel like you aren’t doing it correctly, even if you are.

Making this design doesn’t require much in the way of materials and tools.
All you need is the following:

73 Swarovski 5301 bicone beads

55 inches of Size 0.25mm monofilament string (when using 5mm beads)

Flush Cutter

Once you have the hang of making the heart, you should be able to complete
it in about 30 minutes.

If you have a business selling your jewelry, of course, this motif is a favorite
on Valentine’s Day, but the heart never goes out of style year round.

For setting a sales price, I have seen a puffy heart necklace selling at Macy’s
for $75! And it wasn’t even that well made because I could see a lot of gaps
between the crystal beads.

If you sell your jewelry directly to customers, you probably won’t be able
to get that kind of price, but still you can make a nice profit with this piece.

If you are looking for instructions, there are some written patterns available
on the internet, but I have heard from some of my students that the written
patterns for this weave are difficult to follow. This weave doesn’t lend itself
very well to the world of 2-dimensional paper.

I have found that video instruction works better for this pattern. Below is
a preview of the video class that I offer for this design. The class is 35 minutes
long, and includes an additional 8 minutes bonus video showing two different
ways to make a necklace with your motif.

Jewelry Making Video: Puffy Heart