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June 14, 2019

2 Drop Peyote Heart Pattern and Ring Tutorial

Did you ever make something that was destined to become one of your favorite designs, but you couldn't fathom it at the time?  That's pretty much the story of this two drop peyote heart ring.

Free jewelry making tutorial - peyote heart ring

The original peyote heart ring pattern was a free tutorial that I made when I was writing for The Spruce Crafts. The peyote heart ring word chart can be found at the link at the end of the post, but is no longer available at The Spruce Crafts site, because they have been slowly removing all the great content that they used to have. (haha - me casting a little shade, but being totally honest!) The first version was regular peyote, which made the heart shape a little square.

jewelry making tutorial - beaded heart ring

When I discovered two drop peyote, it became a little quicker to make and the heart became rounder.

free beaded heart ring instructions

I still never imagined that I would make many more of them though.  Fast forward a few years and it is one of my most requested designs.

This year, I made quite a few of them in my son's baseball team colors of blue and yellow (UCSB Gauchos). I try to never make two exactly the same - and Miyuki is very accommodating by providing a wide variety of blue and yellow delica beads.

beaded ring tutorial - free instructions

This neon pink one was fun too. It was made with a friend in mind, but it wasn't something she requested. When she finally did ask for one, I showed her the one I made with her in mind, and it was perfect.  Nice that it worked out that way.

free tutorial for making a peyote stitch heart ring

More recently, I've started trying to vary the band or heart. This one works great as a pride ring - but it's also great for someone who just likes rainbow colors.

free tutorial for making a peyote stitch heart ring

Here is the palette for the rainbow peyote ring.

instructions for peyote beaded ring

And for the heart portion.

peyote stitch beaded ring instructions

I lost this white ring in Las Vegas. I hope who ever found it felt lucky.

how to make a peyote stitch heart ring

Unlike a lot of beadwork, peyote rings need to be knotted when the threads are tied off in order to stay true to size. Most will stretch a little anyway, but without knots, they become so loose that they slide off. This white/red heart ring was the ring that I learned that on.

These rings are made using even count peyote - which means there is no difficult turn every other row. Some day I will start tackling odd count peyote.

Are you ready to make your own?  I made the pattern using BeadTool.  This ring pattern is not to a particular size. You will have to either use a strip of paper or wrap your ring around the finger to figure out how much of the colored band you need to make.

peyote stitch beaded ring

And this is the word chart. The A beads are the background color and the B beads are the heart color.

free peyote heart ring instructions word chart by Lisa Yang Jewelry

If you are not familiar with 2 drop peyote, here are instructions to get you started. It is pretty easy.

Start with a full arm to arm's length of the thread of your choice. That's your arms outstretched from one side of your body to the other (your full wingspan) - and then add another foot to be safe. Adding thread while making this ring isn't a good option.

 I am using wildfire for this ring, but over trial and error, I have found that I prefer 10 lb weight fireline for my peyote rings. I find that it fills the bead holes and creates a ring with some body - not too soft and floppy. I prefer to use size 12 tulip beading needles.  The beads are delica cylinder beads. You must use cylinder beads to get the results like my rings.  Round beads have a totally different look since they don't snap together as evenly.

I recently found these little square plastic appetizer tasting dishes that I have been using for beading. I like that I can pour the beads back into the containers from the corners. I think they are super economical. I used the small plastic forks from the set to feed my cats their canned food. My daughter can't stand the thought of me using a fork that she would eventually use to touch the cat's food. (everyone is entitled to their quirks).

Let's get this ring started!

Add a stop bead. Then pick up 12 beads in your background color (white). The twelve beads are the first two rows of 2 drop peyote.

beaded heart ring tutorial materials

Then pick up two beads for your first turn. Skipping the last two beads, put your needle through the next two beads from the twelve you first picked up (beads 9/10).

free peyote beading instructions

Pull your thread and adjust the beads so the there are two stacks of two beads side by side on the end. Note that I flipped my beads around from the picture above.

free peyote beading instructions

Continue picking up two beads, skip two beads and stitch through the next two beads for the rest of the row.

free peyote beading instructions

When you get to the end, pick up two more beads and go back the other way. For each stitch, pick up two beads, skip two beads, stitch through two beads.

free peyote beading instructions

Follow the pattern or word chart when it is time to start the heart.

When should you start the heart? I usually get a decent size strip of the background color done first but I try not to get to the center. I like to have it so that when I zip the ends together, the join is off center. It seems less likely to rip open if it gets caught on something while I am wearing it.

free peyote beading instructions

Test the ring size by wrapping it around your finger (it should be snug) or by comparing to a piece of paper that is the correct size.

In order to join the ends of the ring, the in and out beads must align as shown below. Then instead of adding beads, you will stitch through the two beads on one side, then the two on the other.

how to zip up peyote beadwork
Add caption

Then back through the two beads on the first side, etc.

how to stitch together peyote ring

Pull the thread tight and continue to weave through a few more rows of beads to reinforce before tying off the ends using half hitch knots.

2 drop peyote ring tutorial

And there you have it.  Enjoy!

And if you didn't really want to make one, eventually I may list a few on my website... someday.

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3 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa. First, I want to say I LOVE your jewelry and I enjoy making it. I really like the 2-drop heart peyote heart ring and I was wondering if you had a video for it.

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  2. I would like a copy of the peyote stitch heart ring. I have made the 2 drop heart ring but would love to do the other one also.

    ReplyDelete