Monika Wiklund

I bought this seashell pendant because I liked the shifting colors and the cut out pattern but I had a bit of problem figuring out what to do with it since I found it a bit flat and boring to use as a pendant by itself. It took a while, but finally I decided to sew a seed bead frame around it using the peyote stitch.

As you can see in the picture, there is a zig zag pattern with black and white seed beads at the front, but the pattern is gradually fading as it passes around the edge and to the back of the pendant which is completely covered by the seed beads.

When I had completed the frame, I had a pretty vague idea that I wanted to use it in a long necklace and that the necklace should not draw the attention from the pendant. After some searching among all my beads and chains, I found this simple chain and decided to add a few raw chalcedony nuggets to make this necklace.

I think that the different materials go very well together, and I have found out that the color scheme makes it possible to combine with almost any colors since the chalcedony nuggets are slightly transparent and they let through and brings out the color of the clothes.

Photography by Kristian.

As I have mentioned earlier, chain necklaces are ever popular and I have made several variations of these kind of necklaces. This is my latest version, for which I have created the chain by using links from three different chains, one with large round links, one with large oval links, and one with smaller slightly twisted links.

For this necklace I used champagne-colored round silver-foil beads, faceted rock crystal nuggets, and a champagne-colored silver-foil heart pendant. It is a bit different from other chain necklaces that I have made because of the lighter color scheme, but I think that it should look pretty good together with dark clothes. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope that I will get the chance soon.

Photography by Kristian.

When I bought the metal parts for this necklace, I had not noticed the position of the holes and as a result they have been lying on my desk for quite some time before I finally came to think of this design. I used illusion cord and the RAW stitch to make this bracelet using the metal spacers, small purple faceted glass beads, three large purple faceted glass nuggets, and seven large faceted rock crystal nuggets.

Since I only had six of the metal spacers, I had to use more of the nuggets to make the bracelet fit around my hand without having to add a clasp, and this is why I decided to use the purple glass nuggets to avoid having to put two rock crystals next to each other. I like the way the light reflects and shines in this bracelet and since I am pretty fond of purple, I think that I will be using it fairly often.

Photography by Kristian.

When I first made this necklace, I was a bit worried that it might be a bit too red and orange and that I would never be able to use it, but once I tried it on I found that it works very well with my coloring and especially if I use it together with dark or discretely colored clothing. Now this is one of my favorite necklaces, although I guess that really doesn’t say much considering how many necklaces I have…

The necklace is made of a mix of red agate and carnelian beads of different shapes and sizes, the small round beads and the rectangular beads are carnelian and the rest of the beads are made of red agate. It is made by using two strings and threading both strings through every second bead and threading them separately through two different beads in between. One of the strings is also threaded through the pendant with a carnelian bead at the bottom to keep it in place.

Photography by Kristian.

If you have looked around a bit among my earlier posts, you might have realized that I like to work with natural materials such as lava stone, semi-precious stones, coral and wood and this is another example, using lava stone and emerald nuggets. Not too long ago, I found these emerald nuggets in one of the online bead stores where I shop for beads some now and then and I just had to buy a string and see what I could make of them.

Since the emerald nuggets are dark green with even darker, almost black patterns I decided to combine them with some lava stone beads to make this necklace here I have used one of the nuggets as a pendant and a few other mixed in with the round and barrel-shaped lava stone beads and silver-colored bead caps to make the base of the necklace. I am pretty satisfied with the result even though I think it might have been even better with a slightly larger nugget for the pendant.

After I had completed this necklace I had the opportunity to visit the physical store where I bought the emerald nuggets, and I bought another string of smaller emerald nuggets that I have yet to use. I think that I will combine the different sized nuggets and create something with more emeralds in, but I have not quite finished my mental picture of that design yet.

Photography by Kristian.

I like tigereye beads, and this is one of several necklaces I have made with tigereye. This necklace is a little bit special though, since the larger tigereye nuggets comes from a necklace that belonged to my aunt who died about a year ago. The original necklace was made entirely from tigereye nuggets, and I salvaged the beads to make new jewelry out of them. This is the first resulting necklace, and I combined the larger tigereye nuggets with some smaller faceted tigereye beads and larger lava stone beads with bead caps. I think that this photo makes it look great, and whenever I look at it I think about my aunt who I spent a lot of time with as a kid.

Photography by Kristian.

A thick and rather heavy chain necklace with large nuggets of african jade and raw tiger eye. The chain consists of patterned spades and rings, combined with a couple of larger flower contour links.

The pendant consists of one african jade nugget and one raw tiger eye nugget, and on one side of the necklace there is a combination of two african jade nuggets and one tiger eye nugget, while the other side of the necklace has two tiger eye nuggets and one african jade nugget. This, together with the positioning of the flower contours in the chain, results in an asymmetric necklace, which I think draws the attention to the details.

Closeup of one side of the necklace and part of the chain.

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.

I have made this necklace and bracelet specifically to match a white, brown, and purple skirt that I have. The minute I saw the brown and white stone beads, I knew they would be a perfect match for this skirt, and the amethyst nuggets perfected the match.

Colorful stone necklace

I am not sure what kind of stone the brown and white beads are, but I think they might be some kind of jaspis.

For the necklace I used one large amethyst nugget as a center piece, and smaller thinner nuggets with the holes at one end between each of the white and brown beads. Every second brown and white bead is coin shaped and the others are twisted ovals. For the hanging beads, I only used the coin-shaped beads.

Close-up of the necklace

The bracelet uses the same brown and white stone beads, but rather than the smaller amethyst nuggets, I used larger nuggets that are hanging from the bracelet between some of the brown and white beads.

Matching bracelet

The beads are linked with each other using eye pins, hat pins and some small rings.

Photography by Kristian.