Monika Wiklund

Pink and purple usually go well together, and this necklace is made of rose quartz, amethyst, and garnet beads combined with a mix of other pink and purple beads that have been left over from earlier projects. The necklace is based on the RAW stitch, but in the final row I added one extra bead to each group of four to create the flower patten that you can see in this picture.

I like the flower pattern effect, but there are a bit to many extra beads in the final row, which causes the necklace to curl up a bit instead of lying flat around the neck. As usual when I use the RAW stitch with semi-precious stone beads, I choose to use illusion cord rather than thread since the thread tends to break more easily if the edges of the holes in the beads are a bit sharp.

Photography by Kristian.

This is yet another variation of a chain necklace using a rough silver-colored chain, purple silver-foil beads, and faceted amethyst beads. The colors are very similar to this earlier necklace, but the composition and materials is more similar to another pair of earlier necklaces.

Photography by Kristian.

I have already mentioned this bracelet in an earlier post, but since I did not have a picture of the bracelet at that time I decided to post this now.

This bracelet is made using the same technique as the earlier post, but this bracelet is wider with three rows of beads of varying sizes instead of only one as in the first necklace. Using larger beads in the middle row gives the bracelet a slightly rounded contour, and I think that it adds a lot to the overall impression. Of course, it is possible to use the two bracelets together and I think that they also fit pretty well together with the stone necklace I posted about a few posts back.

Photography by Kristian.

These blue and gold dice beads have been lying around waiting to be used for some time now. I bought them because I thought they were kind of cute, but then I didn’t get around to actually using them until recently when I was trying to figure out what to do with some other left-over beads.

This is the result, a combination of round and dice-shaped blue and gold glass beads, small tube-shaped gold colored spacer beads, round dark blue glass beads and gold-sand beads, round blue cloisonne beads, and some rectangular lapiz lazuli beads. The beads I had were just enough to make this necklace and a matching bracelet, but I only have pictures of the necklace.

The round and dice-shaped beads are not quite as transparent when you look at them in normal light, but I like the way the flash lights them up in these pictures.

Photography by Kristian.

 I made this collar necklace as a variation of this stone necklace that I posted about a little while back. The earlier necklace was made almost entirely of round stone beads, and I figured it would be a good idea to try out the same technique with beads of different shapes as well.

For this necklace, I used hematite cube beads, matte round onyx beads, faceted hematite-colored glass beads, and some round black and silver desert sand beads. I think that the combination of round, faceted and cubic beads works perfectly together, and I especially like the contrast between the matte onyx beads and the shiny hematite. 

As with the previous necklace, I used the RAW stitch for this neckalce and the different sizes of the beads also helped create the rounded shape that fits perfectly around the neck.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace represents my first try at using the african helix stitch, but I do not think that it turned out very well. It is possible to get an idea of what it is supposed to look like, but the seed beads I used were too uneven to make a very good result with this technique. I think that it would look really cool if I used a better quality of seed beads, so I am pretty sure I will try it again but it takes a while to make a necklace like this, so I am not sure when I will get around to it.

Photography by Kristian.

As I have mentioned earlier, chain necklaces are ever popular and I have made several variations of these kind of necklaces. This is my latest version, for which I have created the chain by using links from three different chains, one with large round links, one with large oval links, and one with smaller slightly twisted links.

For this necklace I used champagne-colored round silver-foil beads, faceted rock crystal nuggets, and a champagne-colored silver-foil heart pendant. It is a bit different from other chain necklaces that I have made because of the lighter color scheme, but I think that it should look pretty good together with dark clothes. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope that I will get the chance soon.

Photography by Kristian.

When I bought the metal parts for this necklace, I had not noticed the position of the holes and as a result they have been lying on my desk for quite some time before I finally came to think of this design. I used illusion cord and the RAW stitch to make this bracelet using the metal spacers, small purple faceted glass beads, three large purple faceted glass nuggets, and seven large faceted rock crystal nuggets.

Since I only had six of the metal spacers, I had to use more of the nuggets to make the bracelet fit around my hand without having to add a clasp, and this is why I decided to use the purple glass nuggets to avoid having to put two rock crystals next to each other. I like the way the light reflects and shines in this bracelet and since I am pretty fond of purple, I think that I will be using it fairly often.

Photography by Kristian.

I think that lava stone beads work very well in combination with different semi-precious stones and I have made several necklaces using this theme. The earlier necklaces have been in more discrete colors, but I really like this combination of bright red coral and matte black  lava stone together with the heart shaped cinnabar pendant.

For this necklace, I used three different sizes of coral beads and two sizes of lava stone beads together with some cute metal spacers and a simple round toggle clasp. I really like the colors and the beautiful flower pattern of the pendant, but for some reason I haven’t used this necklace very much so far.

Photography by Kristian.

A very nice and slightly different stone necklace made from three different kinds of stone using the RAW technique. I started working on this necklace after I made a bracelet using similar beads, and I thought that it might make a cool pattern with the black/gray snowflake obsidian and brown/black mahogany obsidian beads in lines radiating out from the middle while the shiny hematite beads are mostly used as spacers between the rows.

What creates the rounded shape of the necklace is the increasingly larger beads. The inner rows have 4 mm beads, the middle rows are made from 6 mm beads, and the outer rows are made from 8 mm beads and large snowflake obsidian chips.

Unfortunately, I made the necklace a bit too large to fit around my neck without tying a knot before locking the ends with the toggle clasp, but since my hair is long enough to cover the clasp I guess it doesn’t really matter. It took quite some time to make the necklace so I do not wish to rebuild it unless I have to. I also made a simple RAW bracelet from the leftover 4 and 6 mm beads, but I do not have any picture of it.

Here is also a picture of me when I am wearing the necklace with a brown and gray summer dress, which I think makes a pretty nice combination.

Photography by Kristian.