Monika Wiklund

I made this necklace as an experiment using drop-shaped and  rounded fresh-water pearls. It is a three-strand necklace that has been “braided” by alternately threading two of the threads through the same pearl to create this three-dimensional thick necklace.

The simple toggle clasp can be put in the front or on the side, and I put the larger rounded pearls nearer the clasp because I wanted to use the clasp as a focus for the necklace. Overall, I think it turned out very well and I think I might try other varieties on the theme later.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace together with one I will post about later were both made as birthday gifts to my husbands aunt for her 60th birthday, and since I do not meet her very often I acquired the help of my husbands cousin in order to pick a suitable style for the necklaces. She helped me a great deal and this necklace is a variation of an earlier necklace I made with fresh-water pearls, lapiz lazuli, and a sodalite pendant that she believed would be appreciated.

I had  given away the earlier necklace to a friend, and thus I made this new variation where I used a drop-shaped lapiz lazuli pendant in a large round beads cage and placed a flower-adorned clasp next to the pendant at the front of the necklace. The clasp is turned the wrong way in the picture but it is still possible to see the outline of the flower and leaves.

Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the party myself, but I have been told that she appreciated the gift.

Here is a close-up of the lapiz lazuli drop pendant in the simple round spiral bead cage.

Photography by Kristian.

The the white fresh-water pearls and the rectangular lapiz lazuli beads create a nice contrast to each other, and the heart-shaped bead cage with a round sodalite bead gives the necklace a very nice focus.

It is not a very long necklace, but it is still too large for this model

Closeup of the charm, alarge, round sodalite bead in a silver-plated heart shaped bead cage.

Pictures by Kristian.

This necklace is part of a set of four necklaces and bracelets that I made for a colleague and friend of mine. Each necklace consists of semi-round fresh-water pearls, small metal letters charms hanging between the pearls, spelling the name of the owner,  and each necklace have a nice decorated toggle clasp or hook. For each necklace there is also a matching bracelet with a small heart-shaped magnetic clasp.

Each necklace and bracelet contains beads of three different colors, ranging from dark red to white, and where the lightest color in one necklace is the same as the darkest color in the next necklace. The necklace in the picture is the darkest necklace, unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the rest of the necklaces.

Picture by Kristian.

I have made a few of this type of necklaces where you tie the ends together rather than use a clasp of some kind. This one is based on wire and seed beads in different shades of blue, with small white “nugget” fresh water pearls, some blue rice fresh water pearls, smalll blue glass beads, and a spiky metal snowflake charm at each end of the necklace.

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The ends of the necklace can be a bit difficult to tie since it is based on wire, but I still think that it turned out fairly well. Maybe some day, I will get around to rethreading it with some other material, but then again I might not.

A mix of purple and blue glass beads, red and blue fresh water pearls with and without bead cages, a couple of blue catseye hearts, and heart links from a chain made this necklace. There are also some garnet and sodalite chips mixed in among the rest of the beads.

The necklace is based on eye pins that are put together to a chain together with the heart links.

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.