Monika Wiklund

The moment I saw these twisted metal links and the spiral pendant I was in love. I found them this spring when I went to “Syfestivalen” with my sister and of course I had to buy some links and a pendant to try and make something of. Of course, I also found the rectangular stone beads at “Syfestivalen” but from another company. If I remember correctly, the stone beads are charoite and I love the structure and shifting purple and white color.

As usual, I had no real plans for which beads to use together when I bought them, but once I got home and started to plan out a necklace with the metal links and pendant I realized that the charoite stone beads fit perfectly with the links and with this thick metal chain that I already had in my stores. I am very happy with the resulting necklace, and I have even thought about buying more of the metal links and pendants to make copies or variations of the theme.

Photography by Kristian.

When I made this necklace, I was trying to make something to go with some medieval/viking style clothing that I am working on, and I selected these large glass beads and metal beads together with my sister who knows more about the style than I do. I know that these beads are probably not historically correct, but that is not very important to me since I only wanted to create something that emulates the medieval style rather than something that is completely correct.

The large metal rose pendant is very cute and I think that it is great in combination with the other beads in the necklace and even though I made this necklace with medieval style clothing in mind, I think that it also very easy to match with modern clothing and it has become one of my favorite necklaces.

Photography by Kristian.

It has been a little while since my latest post, but I still have plenty of jewelry to post about. This one is definitely a favorite among my latest designs, a dark chain necklace with a hematite ankh pendant and a combination of metal flower links and diagonal hematite squares with red agate beads.

I created the chain by rebuilding a chain with double links since I think that it was a bit too much with doubled rings in each link. As you can see, the chain is dark gray and almost exactly the same color as the hematite which means that the red agate create a very nice contrast to the gray metal. The metal flower link right above the pendant is slightly larger than the rest, and since the ankh pendant is pretty thick and did not have any other holes I used a piece of suede string to fasten it to the flower link.

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.

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

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.

The reddish brown twisted, oval mookaite beads add a bit of color to this necklace. The chain is combined from short lengths of a thin triangular chain, single links of oval angle cut chain, single links of a heart chain, and a flower shaped link. A large metal leaf pendant completes the necklace and adds to the length.

Picture by Kristian.

This necklace was among the first I made from larger glass beads rather than basing it on seed beads. It is not quite symmetrical since I used a bead mix when I created it, and not all of the beads where exactly like each other…

It is made from dark grey and black glass beads, some with white or gold decrations, large metal spiral findings, and with a leaflike light metal pendant. I no longer have this necklace so this is the only picture available.

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.

This is another of my early designs, with different semiprecious chips combined with seed beads and a bronze colored pendant.

If I remember correctly the chips are amethyst, jaspis, tigereye, and hematite, but I am not sure since I do no longer have the necklace available.

The seed beads vary in color from gold and brown to silver and black, both in the necklace itself and in the pendant.