Monika Wiklund

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.

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.

Bracelet made of memory wire with curved metal pipes, blue and red glass beads, pearl cages, small hematite hearts and stars, small metal flowers, and a small metal teddy bear and a fish charm at each end.

Three wires with jaspis chips, turquoise howlite chips,  and turquoise chips bound together by twisted metal beads.

By using three wires, the necklace gets a lot of volume, and the metal beads holds the wires together to give an impression of volume.