Monika Wiklund

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.

I am very happy with how this necklace turned out, and especially with the random pattern that I created with the seed beads as I went along. This is not the first example of using a seed bead frame for a seashell pendant that I have made, but in my earlier versions I have combined the pendants with other type of necklaces rather than with a tubular peyote necklace.

When I made the necklace, I started with the white seashell pendant and I decided that I wanted to put in a frame that would bring the mind to think of the sea. I selected two shades of blue and one shade of trey for the colors, and started to sew the frame using the peyote stitch. At first, I had a bit of trouble with the shape of the seashell pendant, but when I started from the edge of the pendant and worked inward it was easier to adjust the shape of the frame.  Once the pendant was done, I still had some seed beads left, and I decided to make a necklace of tubular peyote to go with the pendant and I think that they work perfectly together.

Photography by Kristian.

This necklace was actually my first try for making a necklace to go with the dress I borrowed for my sisters wedding. I wanted something to match the green pattern along the edge of the dress and that would match the medieval fantasy theme of the wedding, and I think that I succeeded fairly well in my intention even though I also made a second try which was the necklace that I ended up wearing for the wedding.

When I tried the necklaces together with the dress I decided that I wanted the longer necklace with dark stone beads instead, even though this one also works very well  and is perhaps more thematically correct.

The necklace is based on a few large dark green glass beads that have been left over from earlier projects together with a glass bead mix of smaller green beads and some gold-colored metal beads and spacers between the larger beads. I tried to compose the necklace with the larger beads slightly spread out over the necklace and with a seemingly random mix of smaller glass beads and the metal beads and spacers in between them, and finally I selected one of the larger beads, a silver-foil heart, to use as a pendant.

Photography by Kristian.

A few weeks ago I noticed that Sirlig pärlor once again has started a design contest, this time with the theme “Harmony”. At first I was not sure whether I wanted to participate or not, but after some thinking I decided to give it a try and to use this necklace as my contribution.

The necklace is a fairly long chain necklace with gold-colored links of different sizes and shapes in combination with large rectangular african jade beads, smaller faceted raw emeralds, large donuts of kambaba jaspis, and a dark brown wooden pendant with a flower pattern in lighter brown and a raw emerald. Although the different stones are quite different in structure, size and shape, I think that the different shades of green harmonizes with the brown of the pendant and the golden color of the metal links and I think that it fits very well with the theme of the design contest.

To be honest I did not create this necklace specifically for the contest, rather I made it to wear with the dress I borrowed for my sister’s medieval fantasy themed wedding. The dress I borrowed was a dark brown wool dress with details in dark green and a white shift underneath, that is, the same colors that I used for the necklace.

Here is a picture of me and Kristian from the wedding where I was wearing the dress for which I made the necklace, the details are a bit small but it is possible to recognize the necklace if you click the picture to see a bigger one.

Photography by Kristian (and a friend).

This has become one of my favorite chain necklaces and I have used it several times already. Most of the materials that I used for this necklace have been lying around, waiting for me to use them for some time now, especially the large silver-foil pendant that was much larger than I had expected when I ordered it and the large black stone beads that I have been trying to figure out what to do with them since I got them.

At last I came up with this idea, and I am very happy that it turned out so well. I like the combination of large beads and thick metal links, and I think that these different materials go very well together. As I often do, I created the chain by using links from three different chains and also added the large flower shaped links since I wanted an even bigger and heavier chain to go with the large beads and the heavy pendant. This is a pretty big and perhaps a bit heavy necklace, but I love the shape and the colors and I hope to use it many more times.

Photography by Kristian.

This is an illusion cord necklace, but it is very similar in style to some string necklaces that I have posted about earlier. I have made necklaces with illusion cord  earlier, but I do not think that I have posted any of them here. In my earlier version I have mostly used fresh-water pearls, while this necklace is based on seashell and stone beads and have the further addition of the flowers and little hearts as a focus in the front.

If I remember correctly, one of the flowers is made of obsidian and the other is made of black stone but unfortunately I cannot remember which one is which. The round beads are a mixture of obsidian, white jade and seashell beads, while the small hearts are glass beads with a black lining or filling. The smaller flower is originally made to hang from the larger flower together with the small hearts, but when I used the necklace for the first time I realized that it looks much better to hang it over the illusion cords next to the larger flower but I have not fastened it, which makes it possible to choose how to wear it.

I love the contrast between the black and the white beads and also the floating effect that is created by the illusion cord. Perhaps I could have made the necklace a little bit shorter, but I don’t think it is too long to use and I have used it myself several times.

Photography by Kristian.

When I found this cool small metal spider charm, I just had to buy it. The necklace is made with my six-year-old son in mind, and I wanted it to have a cool and slightly rough feeling to it to match the spider charm but at the same time contrast to the metal of the charm.

I think that I succeeded fairly well in my intention with this combination of  small cylindrical wooden beads, round bone beads of different sizes, and a simple hook clasp together with the metal of the charm.

Photography by Kristian.

I bought this seashell pendant because I liked the shifting colors and the cut out pattern but I had a bit of problem figuring out what to do with it since I found it a bit flat and boring to use as a pendant by itself. It took a while, but finally I decided to sew a seed bead frame around it using the peyote stitch.

As you can see in the picture, there is a zig zag pattern with black and white seed beads at the front, but the pattern is gradually fading as it passes around the edge and to the back of the pendant which is completely covered by the seed beads.

When I had completed the frame, I had a pretty vague idea that I wanted to use it in a long necklace and that the necklace should not draw the attention from the pendant. After some searching among all my beads and chains, I found this simple chain and decided to add a few raw chalcedony nuggets to make this necklace.

I think that the different materials go very well together, and I have found out that the color scheme makes it possible to combine with almost any colors since the chalcedony nuggets are slightly transparent and they let through and brings out the color of the clothes.

Photography by Kristian.

For this necklace, I used two different sizes of red coral beads, small white seashell beads and some metal spacers combined with a smallish red silver-foil heart pendant. The theme is similar to an earlier necklace with coral and black lava stone, but I think that this necklace has a more sophisticated look. I especially like the star-shaped toggle clasp and the flower-shaped metal links that I framed the larger coral beads with.

Together with this necklace, I also made a matching bracelet without the flower metal links and I even tried to make matching earrings but since I was not satisfied with the result I only made the one earring. There are no pictures available of neither the bracelet nor the earring.

Photography by Kristian.