Monika Wiklund

It took quite some time for me to complete this necklace, not because it is a difficult pattern but because I ran out of the matte purple seed beads when I had made a little bit more than half the necklace and it took me quite some time to find the same color and size of seed beads again. Unfortunately I didn’t quite succeed regarding the size of the seed beads so I ended up starting over from the beginning again anyway but I still like the result.

If I recall correctly, I got the idea to create a tubular netting necklace with a large bead inserted into the tube while I was trying to figure out what to do with his large oval-shaped paua bead and I noticed that this mix of purple seed beads matched the colors of the bead very well and I figured that it would create an interesting effect to put the paua bead inside a tubular net like this. It was a bit tricky to build the tubular net around the bead, but I think that the result was well worth the effort.

Photography by Kristian.

I came up with the idea for this necklace because I had bought a string of seashell spikes and wanted to find something to combine them with. When I started looking through my fresh-water pearls I realized that I had some nuggets and blister pearls of varying sizes that matched the color of the seashell spikes, and since I wanted to achieve a bit of volume for the necklace between the spikes I decided to use three threads and weave them between the beads.

The spikes are a bit unruly and sometimes wants to point in their own directions, but once you have managed to get them under control I think that it creates a very nice effect with the uneven beads interspersed with seashell spikes. At first I was a bit worried that I would not like the end result, but once I had completed the necklace and tried it on I found that I am very happy with the result and have already started to use it.

Photography by Kristian.

Even though this seashell pendant is pretty big, this has quickly become one of my favorite necklaces. I knew that it was a large seashell pendant when I ordered it, but I did not realize just how big until I received it.

Like with some of my earlier seashell necklaces, I created a seed bead frame for the seashell pendant, and in this case I also made the pattern go all the way around to cover the back of the seashell which is kind of neat since it does not matter which side of the pendant that is showing. This necklace is a perfect match for one of my sweaters, and I have used it several times.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace started as an experiment in making a flower out of these flat, drop-shaped seashell beads. I used illusion cord to sew the flower together, and put one silver-colored glass bead on each side of the flower to keep the petals flat and to add a bit of contrast to the brown seashell beads.

Once I had the flower figured out, I started thinking about how to combine the flowers and make a necklace, and pretty soon I came to the conclusion that a nepal chain would make a nice complement to the flowers. The nepal chain is wide enough to be noticed between the flowers but not so big that it takes the focus from the seashell flowers. Of course, I wanted the colors of the chain to match the colors of the flowers, but to make it a bit more interesting I inverted the colors so that I made the “stems” of the chain brown and the “flowers” silver-colored.

I think that it is a pretty good concept for a necklace  and I really like the color combination, but it was a bit difficult to get the flowers even, especially the first ones I made. Also, the nepal chain tends to twist around a bit and not stay flat like it is supposed to, but I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, but rather I think that it adds  to the charm of the necklace.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a little longer “chain” necklace of dark blue, oval seashell beads, round coral beads, and seashell flower beads that I made from the materials left over when I created my first coral and seashell flower necklace. The two different necklaces use basically the same beads, but the implementation and end results are very different.

In this picture, the beads are shown in more detail, showing the shimmer of the seashell beads and the texture of the coral beads as well as how they have been made into a chain with the help of eye pins.

Photography by Kristian.

flowery blue coral and seashell necklace

Blue is one of my favorite colors, and when I found these blue seashell flower beads I knew I had to make something of them. It took me a while to figure out what to do with them, mostly because I had a few other projects that I was working on and I didn’t have the time or space to start working on this one.

I like the combination of the pale blue round coral beads and the slightly varying blue nuances of the seashell flower beads, and I think that the silver-colored spiral hook  fits in perfectly with the style of the beads. I used the smaller grayish blue seashell beads near the ends of the necklace to achieve a more natural transition to the hook and make it more comfortable to wear. The necklace is fairly short, and the idea is that is will look like a wide band when wearing it.

Photography by Kristian.

Probably the first necklace I made with freshwater pearls.

It is based on white “rice” fresh-water pearls of varying sizes, with small round metal beads between each pearl.  There are also a couple of small metal flowers and butterflies between some of the pearls, and the stars are made from white seashell. The bracelet has a common lobster clasp, while the necklace has a toggle clasp.

Hopefully, a better picture will replace this one at some point.