Monika Wiklund

These blue and gold dice beads have been lying around waiting to be used for some time now. I bought them because I thought they were kind of cute, but then I didn’t get around to actually using them until recently when I was trying to figure out what to do with some other left-over beads.

This is the result, a combination of round and dice-shaped blue and gold glass beads, small tube-shaped gold colored spacer beads, round dark blue glass beads and gold-sand beads, round blue cloisonne beads, and some rectangular lapiz lazuli beads. The beads I had were just enough to make this necklace and a matching bracelet, but I only have pictures of the necklace.

The round and dice-shaped beads are not quite as transparent when you look at them in normal light, but I like the way the flash lights them up in these pictures.

Photography by Kristian.

 I made this collar necklace as a variation of this stone necklace that I posted about a little while back. The earlier necklace was made almost entirely of round stone beads, and I figured it would be a good idea to try out the same technique with beads of different shapes as well.

For this necklace, I used hematite cube beads, matte round onyx beads, faceted hematite-colored glass beads, and some round black and silver desert sand beads. I think that the combination of round, faceted and cubic beads works perfectly together, and I especially like the contrast between the matte onyx beads and the shiny hematite. 

As with the previous necklace, I used the RAW stitch for this neckalce and the different sizes of the beads also helped create the rounded shape that fits perfectly around the neck.

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.

I think that lava stone beads work very well in combination with different semi-precious stones and I have made several necklaces using this theme. The earlier necklaces have been in more discrete colors, but I really like this combination of bright red coral and matte black  lava stone together with the heart shaped cinnabar pendant.

For this necklace, I used three different sizes of coral beads and two sizes of lava stone beads together with some cute metal spacers and a simple round toggle clasp. I really like the colors and the beautiful flower pattern of the pendant, but for some reason I haven’t used this necklace very much so far.

Photography by Kristian.

This is a very simple variation of a peyote stitch necklace using beads of different sizes to create the spiral pattern along the necklace. Earlier, I have made a peyote stitch bracelet with equal sized beads, but the spiral pattern is more striking when using larger beads to edge the spiral like in this necklace.

I used small light purple seed beads for the parts between the spiral, slightly larger white seed beads on either side of the spiral, and for the spiral itself I used dark seed beads with a rainbow shine close to the clasp, then a small section of 3 mm magnetite beads, and in the center I used flat circular magnetite beads with rainbow finish to make the spiral pattern stand out even more.

This necklace is definitely my favorite among the seed bead torc necklaces that I have made so far, and I think that it it very cool in its simplicity.

I found this picture of me wearing the spiral torc necklace and thought it might give a better illustration of what it looks like. It fits very well  together with this black dress with a pattern of pink and purple flowers.

Photography by Kristian.

Here is a necklace that I have made from rhodonite and lava stone beads. The pattern is simple, but the colors and patterns of the rhodonite beads make it more interesting to look at. Perhaps the colors are a little bit paler in real life, but I really like the combination of pink and black.

As you can see, I put some metal spacers and a few round metal beads between the stone beads of the necklace and I used a dark metal heart-shaped toggle clasp that I think match the darker colors of the lava stone beads. The pendant was made from a flower-shaped  rhodonite bead that is combined with a small bead cap and a lava stone bead on a hat pin, and then I added a few more lava stone beads on separate eye pins that is hanging around the larger flower to give it a more three-dimensional feeling.

Even though I seldom wear pink, I have actually tried this necklace together with a black tunic with a pattern of pink, purple and grey flowers and I think that it was a pretty good combination.

Photography by Kristian.

I made this necklace to go with a white top with a pattern of small blue flowers of several shades. It is a pretty short and thin necklace, and it is almost a perfect match for the top.

The idea came to me when I was looking at the small, flat, oval lapiz lazuli beads, and I was trying to think of something to do with them. I started to look through my always increasing collection of beads and I came up with the small, faceted, rectangular zebra jasper beads and figured that the combination might look good with the top I mentioned earlier. To create some distance between the different beads, I added the “double” metal spacers and finally I selected a simple magnetic clasp to complete the necklace without drawing attention to the clasp.

This is a very simple necklace, but the material and combination of the beads create a complexity of its own and I am very happy with the result.

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.

I am not sure if “desert sun” is the correct name for this kind of beads, but that is what they were called when I bought them. I think the name comes from the effect of the glittering pattern of the beads, but I am also pretty sure I have seen the same kind of beads under other names even though I can’t remember any other names at the moment.

It is a bit difficult to describe the colors of this necklace, the desert sun beads have a weird beige-pink hue that is almost skin-colored, and the larger cut beads vary a bit in color even though most of them are purple, white, turquoise, and in some cases copper or clouded glass as well.

The small metal beads are used as spacers between the two sizes of desert sun beads and the larger multi-colored glass beads to give it a lighter feeling and to add some contrast to the more discrete colors of the beads.

Photography by Kristian.

For this necklace,I wanted to achieve a slightly primitive feeling using wood and metal beads strung on a thick suede cord.

The metal “sword” pendant makes me think of celtic patterns, I liked it the moment I found it and just had to order it. Once I got it, it took me a while to figure out what to make of it, since I didn’t want to pull the focus away from the pendant. Also, I wanted to make a necklace that could be worn by either a man or a woman.

The necklace turned out ok, but I think it might be even better with something other than the metal barrels between the wooden beads. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything that would fit in better when I made the necklace so  it will have to do until I find something else, and maybe I will be able to rebuild it later.

Photography by Kristian.