Monika Wiklund

 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.

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.

Here is another version of this purple seed bead necklace that I posted about a while ago, but in blue instead of purple. Of course, the pattern is not quite the same in this necklace, I used slightly smaller seed beads in this version and I selected the colors to match the hues of the blue resin pendant. The darkest of the seed beads are selected to match the color of the faceted glass beads and to contrast to the lighter blue shades of the pendant. A cute detail is the small apple blossom clasp that I picked because I think that it matches the flower pendant.

This is a close-up of the very cute blue flower pendant with the apple blossom clasp in the background. It is also possible to see the small faceted glass beads with dark blue filling that I used as spacers between the different sections of the seed bead patterns.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a necklace that I made a while back but that I have not had any pictures of until now. It is a fairly short chain necklace with faceted blue glass beads, a couple of blue window beads, and a millefiori star pendant. The chain is a thin silver-colored mother-son link with a simple hook clasp. I like the blue color of the beads, and the millefiori pendant is a bit different from what I normally use in my designs which makes it a bit more interesting than just another chain necklace.

Photography by Kristian.

Angel necklaces are very popular, and I think that this is my fifth or sixth variation of the theme. I think that I have only posted one of them here earlier, but the other ones are very similar except for the color and small variations of the beads. The one I posted earlier is blue, and the other variations are in different shades of pink and purple but are otherwise very much alike the blue one, except that I used angels instead of  glass-foil hearts in those necklaces.

The main differences between this necklace and the earlier ones are that I found a new version of angel wings with the cute little hearts in the middle, that I used another kind of seed beads that are larger than in the earlier necklaces, and I used bugle beads as well in this necklace.  also, as you might notice, the head of the pendant angel is different from the rest because I only had four of the red faceted glass bead, and I decided to go with a faceted blue gold-sand bead  for the pendant angel rather than try to find something of the same color.

This is a close-up of one of the matching earrings that I made for the necklace. Of course, since I do not have any holes in my ears I cannot use them myself, but I think that they are very cute anyway.

Photography by Kristian.

I am not sure if “desert sun” is the correct name for this kind of beads, but that is what they were called when I bought them. I think the name comes from the effect of the glittering pattern of the beads, but I am also pretty sure I have seen the same kind of beads under other names even though I can’t remember any other names at the moment.

It is a bit difficult to describe the colors of this necklace, the desert sun beads have a weird beige-pink hue that is almost skin-colored, and the larger cut beads vary a bit in color even though most of them are purple, white, turquoise, and in some cases copper or clouded glass as well.

The small metal beads are used as spacers between the two sizes of desert sun beads and the larger multi-colored glass beads to give it a lighter feeling and to add some contrast to the more discrete colors of the beads.

Photography by Kristian.

A beautiful purple seed bead mix is combined with the sparkling purple resin flower pendant.

Purple flower necklace

The seed beads are interspersed with small,purple, faceted glass beads and small metal beads, and the clasp is a simple silver-colored toggle clasp.

Photography by Kristian.

Matching set of necklace, bracelet and earrings made of silver-lined blue and crystal seed beads, small faceted glass beads with dark blue core, small blue silver-foil hearts, dark heart-shaped toggle clasps, and small angel charms.

Blue angel necklace

The bracelet and the necklace both have the angel charms and follow the same pattern with the seed beads and glass beads, although on a smaller scale with the bracelet.

Blue angel bracelet

The earrings are made from hat pins, silver-lined blue hearts and seed beads.

Blue silver-foiled heart earrings

The angel charms are made from flower-shaped glass beads, silver-colored metal wings, and blue faceted glass beads, that have been put together with a hat pin.

Close-up of angel charm

Photography by Kristian.

I think I have at least three variations of this necklace, all with different length and slightly different compositions. Looking through my collection, I have found two similar ones, but it seems I no longer have this particular necklace left.

This necklace was made from blue seed beads, small dragonfly metal beads, blue and crystal faceted glass beads, frosted blue and crystal pyramid beads, small blue glass beads with AB finish, and slightly larger blue glass cubes with AB finish.

In some cases, I have made more than one copy or version of the same necklace. For example this one.

I found this lovely blue heart pendant with an angel, and just had to have it. At first I made only the necklace and later added the bracelet, but after a while I received a question about making more of them for a friend. Another friend bought the original copy, and since I really liked the necklace myself I made a new version but had to change the design since I did not have exactly the same  materials available at that time.

The original design is based on blue and silver-lined crystal seed beads and small round, heart and star shaped metal beads, and some small blue glass beads with AB finish.

For the final version of the necklace, I kept the basic design but added some cloisonne beads, faceted blue glass beads, silver-lined crystal twisted bugle seed beads, and  a heart-shaped toggle clasp.

This post has been updated with a new picture of the final product, courtesy of K. Wiklund.