Monika Wiklund

The pattern from this necklace is also from the beading book that I bought this summer (Beading Beautiful Costume Jewelry – Patterns for Every Festive Occasion), although the original pattern used drops with vertical holes rather than with horizontal holes like these have so I had to adapt the pattern a bit to accommodate for this.

Another difference compared to the original pattern is that I used round and faceted semi-precious beads instead of faceted glass beads. I used round white howlite beads and round and faceted rose quartz beads in combination with pearl white seed beads. The small seed “bead caps” is the addition to the original pattern that I made to adapt to the horizontal holes in the drops.

I think that the idea is pretty nice even though this particular necklace turned out a bit crooked and uneven since the drops are not hanging straight down like they are supposed to, but I think that if I make another one it will turn out better.

Photography by Kristian.

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.

Well, this is an example of what happens when I don’t have anything to do on Christmas eve and I get the idea that I want to make a Christmas themed necklace…

When I started digging through my stores of beads I found this combination of red, green and crystal-colored faceted glass beads, and after a while I also found a pattern in my  bead jewelry book. The name of the book is Beading Beautiful Costume Jewelry – Patterns for Every Festive Occasion, and the name of the pattern is Victorian Choker, but of course I did not follow the pattern exactly but adapted it for my own purposes and the available materials.

The faceted glass beads was combined with red, silver-lined crystal and frosted crystal seed beads, and you can see the result in the pictures above. I think that the necklace turned out fairly well and that it is pretty cool even though I am not sure if I will ever be able to use it myself.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace is just a variation of a couple of my earlier necklaces that I have posted about, but with other colors and a small silver-foil heart instead of an angel pendant. As in the earlier versions, the necklace is made using the tubular netting tecnique and in this case I used a combination of 11/0 white, blue and black seed beads.

There is also a matching bracelet to go with the necklace, and the toggle clasp in both the necklace and the bracelet are in the shape of a small metal heart.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace is mostly just a color variation of an earlier necklace that I have posted about. It is a tubular net made of black, gray and pink seed beads  combined with a small pink angel charm.

There are a few minor differences in this necklace compared to the previous version, for example the tubular netting part is slightly shorter than the previous version and the ends are made of thin chain rather than fitting the clasp directly to the ends, and the dark gray seed beads in the intersections between the pink and the black parts of the net are bigger than the other beads.

I am not quite satisfied with how the tubular net ended up a bit uneven and slightly irregular, but I suppose that it is mainly me that notices the irregularities and I kind of like the colors so I have used it a few times anyway.

Photography by Kristian.

Here is a very simple but at the same time cute and stylish necklace and bracelet that I made a couple of months ago. When  I made this, I had just made several seed bead necklaces with different types stitches and wanted to make something that was a bit simpler so I went for this single strand glass bead necklace.

I used a combination of black and purple faceted glass beads together with metal spacers and some smaller purple seed beads, and I think that the colors fit very well together with each other.  Perhaps the necklace should have been slightly longer, but I have used it a couple of times anyway and I think that it is a very nice necklace.

Photography by Kristian.

This is my second version of a herring-bone stitch necklace. The first version was thicker and resulted in a rounded cord but in this case the circumference of the cord consists of only four beads which gives it a squared shape.

The herring-bone pattern of the beads is highlighted by the pink bugle beads as well as by the combination of matte pink and shiny purple beads in a slightly irregular pattern of bands along the necklace.

In this picture it is easy to see the squared shape of the cord, as well as the herring-bone pattern that is created by the technique.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace represents my second try at using the african helix stitch. In my first try with this technique, I learned that it is very important to use seed beads of equal size to achieve a nice and even necklace, and as you can see this necklace looks much better because I used a slightly better quality of beads.

For this necklace I used a base of matte white seed beads for the inner spirals and for the outer spirals I used opaque turquoise  seed beads and seed beads with a light blue core. The clasp is a cute flower shaped toggle clasp and I also added a stone pendant with colors of brownish red and green and turquoise that I think matches the colors of the outer spirals of the helix. Overall, it is a pretty simple necklace that is easy to match with different types and colors of clothes.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace represents my first try at the spiral rope technique, and I think that it turned out pretty well together with this small angel charm. As you can see, I used a combination of blue and silver-colored seed beads for the necklace and light blue glass beads for the angel.

I used a slight variation of the spiral rope where I attached the charm, rather than continue the spiral in the same direction all the way around, I made a kind of a “v” in front when i changed the direction of the spiral and went back through the same beads before continuing the spiral in the new direction. Both the technique in itself and the turn are very simple to use, and I think I will most likely try it again with other colors and sizes of beads.

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.