Monika Wiklund

The pattern from this necklace is also from the beading book that I bought this summer (Beading Beautiful Costume Jewelry – Patterns for Every Festive Occasion), although the original pattern used drops with vertical holes rather than with horizontal holes like these have so I had to adapt the pattern a bit to accommodate for this.

Another difference compared to the original pattern is that I used round and faceted semi-precious beads instead of faceted glass beads. I used round white howlite beads and round and faceted rose quartz beads in combination with pearl white seed beads. The small seed “bead caps” is the addition to the original pattern that I made to adapt to the horizontal holes in the drops.

I think that the idea is pretty nice even though this particular necklace turned out a bit crooked and uneven since the drops are not hanging straight down like they are supposed to, but I think that if I make another one it will turn out better.

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 is just a variation of a couple of my earlier necklaces that I have posted about, but with other colors and a small silver-foil heart instead of an angel pendant. As in the earlier versions, the necklace is made using the tubular netting tecnique and in this case I used a combination of 11/0 white, blue and black seed beads.

There is also a matching bracelet to go with the necklace, and the toggle clasp in both the necklace and the bracelet are in the shape of a small metal heart.

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.

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.

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.

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 seashell pendant is pretty big, this has quickly become one of my favorite necklaces. I knew that it was a large seashell pendant when I ordered it, but I did not realize just how big until I received it.

Like with some of my earlier seashell necklaces, I created a seed bead frame for the seashell pendant, and in this case I also made the pattern go all the way around to cover the back of the seashell which is kind of neat since it does not matter which side of the pendant that is showing. This necklace is a perfect match for one of my sweaters, and I have used it several times.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace is at the same time a variation of an old idea and an experiment with a for me new stitch. The earlier versions of angel necklaces that I have made have consisted of a single threaded necklace with an angel pendant, but I wanted to create something with a bit more volume to it, so I decided to try making a necklace with the tubular net stitch this time.

I had a bit of a problem picking out the colors of the necklace since I realized a bit too late that the sees beads I had were not always matched in size or even enough to use for this purpose, but finally I decided to go for this combination of white, black and pink. At first I was a bit skeptical about the colors, but they grew on me and I think that the end result is pretty good. Of course, the pink highlights in the tubular netting necklace are not very clearly visible, but I think that they work very well in combination with the mostly black and white net and of course they are matched with the small angel charm as well.

Photography by Kristian.

Here is the result of a small experiments in which I wanted to make a necklace to go with this dark brown and black flower. It was my sister who found the flower for me when we were at “Syfestivalen” in Älvsjö a little while ago, and of course I had to buy it together with a similar flower that was mostly white in color.

When I sat down and tried to decide what to make of it, I came up with this idea and had to try it out. I used four strings and used one for the center with black obsidian beads while I let the other three weave in and out of the center beads in a kind of plait with slightly smaller black and brown and reddish brown and yellow stone beads. Each of the outer strings goes through every fourth center bead, without using the same center bead for two outer strings. The necklace was worked from the flower and out towards each end, and at the end I continued to plait the strings without any beads to create a thicker string that is used to tie the necklace around the neck.

So far, it seems to be working, and I think that it is a concept that works very well.

Photography by Kristian.