Monika Wiklund

I have already mentioned this bracelet in an earlier post, but since I did not have a picture of the bracelet at that time I decided to post this now.

This bracelet is made using the same technique as the earlier post, but this bracelet is wider with three rows of beads of varying sizes instead of only one as in the first necklace. Using larger beads in the middle row gives the bracelet a slightly rounded contour, and I think that it adds a lot to the overall impression. Of course, it is possible to use the two bracelets together and I think that they also fit pretty well together with the stone necklace I posted about a few posts back.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a rather nice and simple bracelet I made by sewing bugle beads together using the RAW stitch and then sewing round semi-precious stones across the diagonals. I used three different kinds of stone  for the diagonal beads, snowflake obsidian, mahogany obsidian, and brecciated jasper and when I added them to the diagonals, the squares of the RAW stitch was squeezed together across the diagonals to create a cute zig-zag pattern along the edges of the bracelet. The beads are sewn together with illusion cord since the edges of the bugle beads are a bit sharp and are likely to cut through a thread pretty quickly.

This picture shows the inside of the bracelet where it is easier to see how the bugle bead squares have been pressed together by the adding of the stone beads. I am very happy with the result  of this bracelet, and I have already made another version with three rows of stone beads where the middle beads are larger than the outer beads but I have no picture of it yet.

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.

This is another one of my experiments with seed beads, using the RAW stitch to make a torque-like necklace.

I started with creating a “ladder” with twisted black bugle beads and metallic pink seed beads, and then I figured it would look pretty nice if the torque was wider in the front so I added a couple of rows of the small black glass cube beads to create the rounded shape of the necklace and widen it and then I added the final row of bugle beads, but I had to add a few extra seed beads between each bugle bead to keep the rounded  torque shape.

Unfortunately it seems that the metallic pink color of the seed beads rubbed off a bit as I worked so many of the seed beads turned out more silver-colored than pink before I was done. I suppose I have to make sure that I use better seed beads the next time I try something like this…

The result did not quite turn out as even as I would have wanted, but I believe that it is a nice concept. Of course, it took a bit of time to stitch the beads together, and it also required a slightly larger amount of beads than is needed for a “normal” necklace but I am fairly certain that I will try something like this again.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a necklace and bracelet made of black and silver-lined crystal twisted bugle beads and seed beads, small black glass cubes, black cloisonne beads, small round metal beads, and metal snowflake charms.

Several people have been interested in this design and I have made at least three copies of this necklace and bracelet, two with the snowflake charms and one with small flower charms instead. I do not think I have any of them left, but I might make another one some day.

Beautiful necklace and bracelet with black hearts.

The large hearts in the middle of the necklace and bracelet are made of hematite. The smaller hearts are glass beads, and the small cubes and twisted bugle beads are black with AB finish. The bracelet is made from memory wire and the necklace is made of wire with a simple toggle clasp.

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.