Monika Wiklund

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.

The moment I saw these twisted metal links and the spiral pendant I was in love. I found them this spring when I went to “Syfestivalen” with my sister and of course I had to buy some links and a pendant to try and make something of. Of course, I also found the rectangular stone beads at “Syfestivalen” but from another company. If I remember correctly, the stone beads are charoite and I love the structure and shifting purple and white color.

As usual, I had no real plans for which beads to use together when I bought them, but once I got home and started to plan out a necklace with the metal links and pendant I realized that the charoite stone beads fit perfectly with the links and with this thick metal chain that I already had in my stores. I am very happy with the resulting necklace, and I have even thought about buying more of the metal links and pendants to make copies or variations of the theme.

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.

This necklace is mostly just a color variation of an earlier necklace that I have posted about. It is a tubular net made of black, gray and pink seed beads  combined with a small pink angel charm.

There are a few minor differences in this necklace compared to the previous version, for example the tubular netting part is slightly shorter than the previous version and the ends are made of thin chain rather than fitting the clasp directly to the ends, and the dark gray seed beads in the intersections between the pink and the black parts of the net are bigger than the other beads.

I am not quite satisfied with how the tubular net ended up a bit uneven and slightly irregular, but I suppose that it is mainly me that notices the irregularities and I kind of like the colors so I have used it a few times anyway.

Photography by Kristian.

I think that I made this necklace sometime before Christmas, but I have not gotten around to posting about it until now. It is a fairly simple chain link necklace made of green agate and flower shaped links. The agate beads are linked into the chain by using eye pins and as you might already have guessed, I choose the green beads as a contrast to the flower links because the color made me think about leaves.

Perhaps it would have been better to only use one kind of flower links, but I did not have enough of either of the links to make a whole necklace unless I combined them like this, and I am very happy with the result.

Photography by Kristian.

When I made this necklace, I was trying to make something to go with some medieval/viking style clothing that I am working on, and I selected these large glass beads and metal beads together with my sister who knows more about the style than I do. I know that these beads are probably not historically correct, but that is not very important to me since I only wanted to create something that emulates the medieval style rather than something that is completely correct.

The large metal rose pendant is very cute and I think that it is great in combination with the other beads in the necklace and even though I made this necklace with medieval style clothing in mind, I think that it also very easy to match with modern clothing and it has become one of my favorite necklaces.

Photography by Kristian.

Here is a very simple but at the same time cute and stylish necklace and bracelet that I made a couple of months ago. When  I made this, I had just made several seed bead necklaces with different types stitches and wanted to make something that was a bit simpler so I went for this single strand glass bead necklace.

I used a combination of black and purple faceted glass beads together with metal spacers and some smaller purple seed beads, and I think that the colors fit very well together with each other.  Perhaps the necklace should have been slightly longer, but I have used it a couple of times anyway and I think that it is a very nice necklace.

Photography by Kristian.

This is my second version of a herring-bone stitch necklace. The first version was thicker and resulted in a rounded cord but in this case the circumference of the cord consists of only four beads which gives it a squared shape.

The herring-bone pattern of the beads is highlighted by the pink bugle beads as well as by the combination of matte pink and shiny purple beads in a slightly irregular pattern of bands along the necklace.

In this picture it is easy to see the squared shape of the cord, as well as the herring-bone pattern that is created by the technique.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace represents my second try at using the african helix stitch. In my first try with this technique, I learned that it is very important to use seed beads of equal size to achieve a nice and even necklace, and as you can see this necklace looks much better because I used a slightly better quality of beads.

For this necklace I used a base of matte white seed beads for the inner spirals and for the outer spirals I used opaque turquoise  seed beads and seed beads with a light blue core. The clasp is a cute flower shaped toggle clasp and I also added a stone pendant with colors of brownish red and green and turquoise that I think matches the colors of the outer spirals of the helix. Overall, it is a pretty simple necklace that is easy to match with different types and colors of clothes.

Photography by Kristian.

Even though this necklace and bracelet are similar to each other they are not part of a set but I decided to fit both in the same post anyway. Both the necklace and the bracelet are very simple with a mix of hematite beads and faceted glass beads but as you can see, the color of the glass beads are not the same.

For the necklace I used light yellow faceted glass beads, and I also varied the number of hematite beads between each glass bead to make it a bit more interesting. It does not show very well in this picture, but the toggle clasp is also hematite colored and in the shape of a small heart. Perhaps the necklace could have been slightly larger, but I it should fit very well for a smaller person or a child.

I suppose that the bracelet is the beta version of the necklace since I made it first to see what the combination of hematite beads and faceted glass beads would look like. I think that it turned out very well and even though I changed the pattern for the necklace, I think that both the necklace and the bracelet are simple yet elegant.

Photography by Kristian.