Monika Wiklund

A while back, I got the idea to make rings by plaiting leather or silk or cotton cord and attaching the ends together using a bead with a large hole as a focus for the ring. For my first tries I used some large metal beads, for example a heart-shaped spacer bead and a slider with a rectangular “spiral” pattern, but when I found this cute little turtle bead I knew it would be perfect to use for a ring. The flat underside of the turtle fits perfectly on my finger, and the hole is just the right size for attaching the plaited silk cord and leather.

When I had tried this version I of course had to try some other animal-shaped beads, and I started to look for similar beads. So far I have found a really cool little crocodile that I have used for a ring, but for some reason most of the beads I have gathered so far have their holes positioned wrong for making this type of ring. I guess I have to keep looking for ideas for using them in similar ways.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace was made at about the same time as the necklaces I made as preparation for going to Visby this summer. It is a very simple necklace made of white clay and porcelain beads interspersed with metal tube beads. I am not sure how well it is visible in the picture, but the larger beads also have a flower pattern on them.

Photography by Kristian.

As you might have noticed in some of my earlier works, I like to use contrasting colors in my necklaces and this is no exception. I also like to work with semi-precious stones and in this case I have used a combination of onyx, turquoise, and hematite beads that contrast very nicely with each other.

It is a very simple pattern with the different colored beads moving between the three strands between the large ornamented sliders, but I think that the result is very stylish and elegant if a bit large and with a slight medieval touch to it.

Photography by Kristian.

Even though this necklace and bracelet are similar to each other they are not part of a set but I decided to fit both in the same post anyway. Both the necklace and the bracelet are very simple with a mix of hematite beads and faceted glass beads but as you can see, the color of the glass beads are not the same.

For the necklace I used light yellow faceted glass beads, and I also varied the number of hematite beads between each glass bead to make it a bit more interesting. It does not show very well in this picture, but the toggle clasp is also hematite colored and in the shape of a small heart. Perhaps the necklace could have been slightly larger, but I it should fit very well for a smaller person or a child.

I suppose that the bracelet is the beta version of the necklace since I made it first to see what the combination of hematite beads and faceted glass beads would look like. I think that it turned out very well and even though I changed the pattern for the necklace, I think that both the necklace and the bracelet are simple yet elegant.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a very simple variation of a peyote stitch necklace using beads of different sizes to create the spiral pattern along the necklace. Earlier, I have made a peyote stitch bracelet with equal sized beads, but the spiral pattern is more striking when using larger beads to edge the spiral like in this necklace.

I used small light purple seed beads for the parts between the spiral, slightly larger white seed beads on either side of the spiral, and for the spiral itself I used dark seed beads with a rainbow shine close to the clasp, then a small section of 3 mm magnetite beads, and in the center I used flat circular magnetite beads with rainbow finish to make the spiral pattern stand out even more.

This necklace is definitely my favorite among the seed bead torc necklaces that I have made so far, and I think that it it very cool in its simplicity.

I found this picture of me wearing the spiral torc necklace and thought it might give a better illustration of what it looks like. It fits very well  together with this black dress with a pattern of pink and purple flowers.

Photography by Kristian.

Here is a necklace that I have made from rhodonite and lava stone beads. The pattern is simple, but the colors and patterns of the rhodonite beads make it more interesting to look at. Perhaps the colors are a little bit paler in real life, but I really like the combination of pink and black.

As you can see, I put some metal spacers and a few round metal beads between the stone beads of the necklace and I used a dark metal heart-shaped toggle clasp that I think match the darker colors of the lava stone beads. The pendant was made from a flower-shaped  rhodonite bead that is combined with a small bead cap and a lava stone bead on a hat pin, and then I added a few more lava stone beads on separate eye pins that is hanging around the larger flower to give it a more three-dimensional feeling.

Even though I seldom wear pink, I have actually tried this necklace together with a black tunic with a pattern of pink, purple and grey flowers and I think that it was a pretty good combination.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace together with one I will post about later were both made as birthday gifts to my husbands aunt for her 60th birthday, and since I do not meet her very often I acquired the help of my husbands cousin in order to pick a suitable style for the necklaces. She helped me a great deal and this necklace is a variation of an earlier necklace I made with fresh-water pearls, lapiz lazuli, and a sodalite pendant that she believed would be appreciated.

I had  given away the earlier necklace to a friend, and thus I made this new variation where I used a drop-shaped lapiz lazuli pendant in a large round beads cage and placed a flower-adorned clasp next to the pendant at the front of the necklace. The clasp is turned the wrong way in the picture but it is still possible to see the outline of the flower and leaves.

Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the party myself, but I have been told that she appreciated the gift.

Here is a close-up of the lapiz lazuli drop pendant in the simple round spiral bead cage.

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.

For this necklace,I wanted to achieve a slightly primitive feeling using wood and metal beads strung on a thick suede cord.

The metal “sword” pendant makes me think of celtic patterns, I liked it the moment I found it and just had to order it. Once I got it, it took me a while to figure out what to make of it, since I didn’t want to pull the focus away from the pendant. Also, I wanted to make a necklace that could be worn by either a man or a woman.

The necklace turned out ok, but I think it might be even better with something other than the metal barrels between the wooden beads. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything that would fit in better when I made the necklace so  it will have to do until I find something else, and maybe I will be able to rebuild it later.

Photography by Kristian.

chain necklace with purple silver-foiled beads with matching bracelet and earrings

A matching set of necklace, bracelet and earrings made from a light silver-colored, oval, angle-cut chain, some silver-colored metal beads, purple silver-foiled beads of different sizes and shapes, and with a large purple silver-foiled heart as a pendant.

I really like the combination of and the contrast between the dark purple beads and the light silver-colored chain and I wanted to create a set with a common theme without using the exact same pattern in each part. The bracelet and the earrings use the same colors, but rather than using the square and oval silver-foil and metal beads of the necklace, I used the small silver-foil hearts to increase the focus of the pendant of the necklace.

Photography by Kristian.