Monika Wiklund

Is it strange to combine a black wooden pendant with red agates, black lava stone, and a dark chain? The pendant is rather light compared to the rest of the necklace, which might feel strange at first, but I still think that this necklace turned out very well. It took me a while to figure out what to do with the pendant, and especially what to put in the hole at the top of the pendant. When I started experimenting with different beads, I found that the small round red agate fit almost perfectly, and since I like the combination of red and black I continued the theme with the other stone beads and added the thick dark chain.

Close-up of the wooden pendant, showing the red agate and the butterfly pattern of the pendant. I really like this kind of pendant, and I have a black rose silhouette pendant that is waiting to be used, as well as an older dark brown pattern pendant that I used for another necklace some time ago.

Photography by Kristian.

Some time ago, I bought a string of bian spike beads and made a necklace with bian and lave stone beads, but I only used about half of the bian spikes for that necklace. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make another version of the necklace with the remaining bian stone beads, and this is how it turned out. It is pretty similar to the first necklace, but it gives a slightly different impression with the round sodalite beads instead of the lava stone cubes, and they also adds a bit of color to the necklace.

When I had  it on one day, I discovered that it was slightly longer than I wanted it to be, so one of these days I will remove a few beads from each end to make it  fit better. I guess that is one of those things you only notice when you wear the necklace with the right clothes…

Photography by Kristian.

Lately, I have been trying some new things and this is one of the results of my experiments. I found a web page (in swedish) describing how to sew beads together in different ways, and this necklace is the result of my first tries at the Nepal chain stitch and Mandala stitch.

The nepal chain is made from silver-lined darker and lighter purple seed beads, with the lighter purple seed beads as the stems and the darker purple seed beads as the flowers or leafs of the chain. I think that it turned out fairly well, and the color combination makes me think about heather in bloom.

For the Mandala flower, I used the same light and dark purple seed beads for the base, and then I added some garnet and amethyst beads to fill it out and make the flower more three-dimensional. The garnet and amethyst beads are not exactly the same colors as the seed beads, but I think this is adding to the three-dimensional effect.

Photography by Kristian.

This theme is linked to trees and flowers and other growing things. I used small round semi-precious stones with slightly varying colors but mostly in different shades of green, combined with metal charms in the shape of leaves or flowers to create this necklace.

The rectangular beads are green jasper, the larger round beads are green opals, and the smaller round beads consist of a mix of green jaspis, chalcedony, and tiger-eye.

The center-piece is a large metal leaf charm, surrounded by slightly smaller flower charms and more leaf charms evenly spaced out along the length of the necklace, and even the toggle clasp is following the theme.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a necklace made of amazonite, alexandrite, lava stone, and cinnabar together with silver-colored metal findings. in the lamp light I use while working on my jewellry, the amazonite and alexandrite seemed to be much closer in color than they actually are, so I was a bit surprised when I had completed the necklace and looked at it in another light. Even though it was kind of a mistake, I still like the contrast between the light purple of the alexandrite together with the light green of the amazonite, which is why I have not remade the necklace.

The pendant is a rectangular cinnabar bead with a dragon on either side, and I combined the amazonite and alexandrite with round and oval lava stone beads interspersed with the metal findings. The lock is a simple silver-colored toggle clasp, and the necklace is made with bead string.

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.

I think I have gotten hooked on using semi-precious stones for my necklaces. The more I use different kind of stones, the more I like them.

This necklace is made from round lilac stone beads, lava beads, raw rectangular nuggets of amethyst, and a polished amethyst pendant. I like the combination of the lighter purple in the lilac stone, the darker and more shifting colors of the amethyst, and the counterpoint created by the black lava stones.

I used small silver-colored bead caps for the lava beads, but the pendant is hanging from a darker metal holder that matches the simple dark metal toggle clasp. The necklace is strung on a dark bead string.

Here is a closeup of the pendant, and you can also see a little bit of the amethyst nuggets.

I think this necklace will become one of my favorites.

Photography by Kristian.

Carved carnelian flower necklace

The carved carnelian flower is pretty large, and really draws attention to this necklace made of alternating red agate and carnelian nuggets on knotted string with a copper toggle clasp. The large flower is held in place by the small blue goldstone bead in the middle and by the knots behind  the flower.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace is made from pink opals and eye pins. the opal beads are round, oval, and tooth-shaped, and they have been put together in a chain with the eye pins. It is not visible on this picture, but the clasp is a silver-colored toggle clasp decorated with leafs.

Pink opal necklace

The teeth in the necklace have been selected so that the largest tooth is in the middle and the smallest are close to the clasp, and they are interspersed between the round and oval beads. Closest to the clasp there are only the round and oval beads, and no teeth.

Photography by Kristian.

Butterfly necklace

This necklace is made from black agate, onyx, amethyst and sodalite beads and nuggets threaded on waxed string and knotted together. The large carved butterfly is eye-catching and serves as the center of the necklace with the trailing threads with the smaller pendants below.

Butterfly details

At the first sight, the necklace looks all black, but at a closer look you can see the blue of the soldalite chips, the purple of the amethyst beads, and the shifting colors of the larger nuggets. The silver-colored toggle clasp is also in the shape of a butterfly to match the larger stone butterfly.

Photography by Kristian.