Monika Wiklund

A while back, I got the idea to make rings by plaiting leather or silk or cotton cord and attaching the ends together using a bead with a large hole as a focus for the ring. For my first tries I used some large metal beads, for example a heart-shaped spacer bead and a slider with a rectangular “spiral” pattern, but when I found this cute little turtle bead I knew it would be perfect to use for a ring. The flat underside of the turtle fits perfectly on my finger, and the hole is just the right size for attaching the plaited silk cord and leather.

When I had tried this version I of course had to try some other animal-shaped beads, and I started to look for similar beads. So far I have found a really cool little crocodile that I have used for a ring, but for some reason most of the beads I have gathered so far have their holes positioned wrong for making this type of ring. I guess I have to keep looking for ideas for using them in similar ways.

Photography by Kristian.

This jewelry is also a result of the preparations for going to Medeltidsveckan in Visby this summer. As you might already have guessed, it is inspired by the strings of beads that was commonly worn together with viking style dresses and this jewelry is made of bronze colored metal details, mookaite and jaspis beads, and faceted glass beads.

I never used it myself since the color does not match either of the dresses I made, but I think that it looks pretty nice and I hope that I will manage to find a use for it some time int he future.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace was made at about the same time as the necklaces I made as preparation for going to Visby this summer. It is a very simple necklace made of white clay and porcelain beads interspersed with metal tube beads. I am not sure how well it is visible in the picture, but the larger beads also have a flower pattern on them.

Photography by Kristian.

Here is another one of my recent favorites, a red coral necklace that I made this summer.

As you might notice, the pattern is a variation of the RAW stitch, but I added some metal spacers between the red coral beads to increase the contrast. I think that the small coral heart pendant makes a very nice addition to the entire necklace, and I am also very happy with how the combination of the larger and smaller coral beads creates a pattern within the regular pattern.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace was made as a part of the clothing that we prepared for going to “Medeltidsveckan” in Visby this summer. I already had these large red agate beads, and I thought that they would match my red over-dress if I could come up with a nice combination. Since black and red always go well together I dug through my stores and managed to come up with this combination of red and black agate beads together with some black pony beads, black clay beads, and black glass beads that I used to fill out the necklace to a suitable length.

The picture below is not very good since it is taken with a mobile phone, but it shows me in Visby wearing the necklace together with the clothing that I made for “Medeltidsveckan”.

Photography by Kristian.

I made this necklace to use with a pale green cocktail dress for an agent-themed party that we were invited to earlier this year. The plan was to achieve something that would fit into a James Bond movie, and I think that this necklace is a pretty good approximation considering what I had to work with and how much time I had to come up with something.

The necklace is made using the RAW technique and consists of different sized metal spacers and pale green transparent semi-precious beads with a few larger faceted rock crystal beads in the center. There is also a matching bracelet which I do not have any pictures of but I think that both the necklace and the bracelet fit perfectly together with the cocktail dress and we had a great time at the party.

Photography by Kristian.

For some reason, I don’t always post pictures of the bracelets I have made, even if I post pictures of the matching necklace but here is an exception.

This is a variation on a RAW bracelet, where I have used a combination of round gold-colored metal beads and fresh-water pearls. For the center of the bracelet I used small rice-shaped pearls and for the edges I used side-drilled coin-shaped pearls to make them stick out farther to the sides which creates this simple but elegant pattern.

I started with making this bracelet since I did not have enough rice-shaped beads to make a necklace, but I have since bought some slightly larger pearls and made a matching necklace. However, there are no pictures available yet, hopefully I will be able to post a picture later.

Photography by Kristian.

As you might have noticed in some of my earlier works, I like to use contrasting colors in my necklaces and this is no exception. I also like to work with semi-precious stones and in this case I have used a combination of onyx, turquoise, and hematite beads that contrast very nicely with each other.

It is a very simple pattern with the different colored beads moving between the three strands between the large ornamented sliders, but I think that the result is very stylish and elegant if a bit large and with a slight medieval touch to it.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace was created as a side-effect of our preparations for going to Medeltidsveckan in Visby this summer. I was looking for beads to try out some different ideas for medieval styled jewelry, and among other things I found these turquoise clay beads that I bought because I liked the color.

When I started to make the necklace, I realized that I was exactly one metal bead short of being able to use all of the clay beads and when I was looking for ways to work around that little problem, I found a blue glass leaf that I have had for some time and never used. I decided to use the leaf as a pendant, and I think that it turned out very well even though the pendant is not exactly the same color as the clay beads.

Of course, the necklace does not match the medieval style clothing that I made for medeltidsveckan,  but I think that it works great together with a turquoise blouse that I have used it together with.

Photography by Kristian.

I found these hexagonal jaspis and hematite beads once when I went to “Symässan” in Stockholm, and I think that they fit very well together in this combination with small round beads. I particularly like the structure of the net-like pattern of the jaspis and how it contrasts with the shiny gray hematite beads and clasp (the clasp is not visible in this picture but it is also made of hematite).

Photography by Kristian.