PLEASE FULLVIEW AS THE LEFT HAND PICTURE IS THERE TO SHOW DETAIL WHICH CAN ONLY BE SEEN IN FULLVIEW.
(This is in fact so large you can click fullview twice for an extreme closup)

Made for the Summer Loving Contest [link] held by JewelryMetalMakers [link]

This is my first ever contest entry here on DA I believe the first entry into this contest. Hehe

Contest judges - The photography is intended to capture the meaning behind the piece as well as the piece itself. It has been done by a professional photographer (and friend of mine who loooooved this piece so offered to take the pictures for me) The picture on the left has been selected for detail and placed specifically to allow judging on workmanship and other aspects of the piece. I hope this shows enough for you to judge accurately, please let me know if otherwise.

What does summer mean to me?
The beach.
Simple.
I think summer, I think the beach.

This necklace is my summer contained in one piece.

The seahorse is 5.5 inches high and 3 inches wide between curve of back and tip of nose.
The blue beads in the chain and the head are the endless summer sky.
The green beads in the body are the ocean - that clear, beautiful water in all it's shades of green and aqua tones.
The white in the tail is the sand, encrusted with pearly white shells and bright as the moon reflecting the glare of summer sunshine.
Rose gold wire is the warm colour of summer itself.
Of tanned skin, of the sky at sunset with friends, of iced coffee and sunshine itself. It is wrapped and woven like summer hair - windblown and tangled like strands of sandy, salty hair, making it's own way with the wind and the water. Not smooth and symmetrical, but natural and beautiful, falling how it will.
And of course the seahorse itself is the ocean, the beach, the coral reef, the beauty of the sea and the beach and of summer. Of course the sea is there all year round, but in summer I breathe the beach with the air. They come in the same thought, the same hope when the weather turns warm. The first hot day means the first chance for the beach. The last warm days are the last chance to run to the beach before the cold of winter makes it just a memory....until next summer.

The entire piece took 7 hours to complete.
The seahorse is hand made from 18 gauge non-tarnish (enamel coated) rose gold wire.
The beads are strung on countless individual strands 22 gauge non-tarnish (enamel coated) rose gold wire that have been woven and twisted around each other and wrapped around the wire frame to hold everything in place.
The small beads are all seed beads. The large beads are mostly glass, collected from a variety of bead stores and selected from across my entire collection for this piece.

The chain is hand-twisted links of wire strung through each bead and joined by jump rings.

I have only once ever used this technique before, about 10 years ago with a wire square the size of a scrabble tile and wire so thin it was like thread. This was a monumental task in comparison (that seahorse is very big) with much stiffer wire and I have callouses all over my fingertips from making this. As mentioned, I used multiple single strands, not one long one, to allow more freedom to weave and twist the beads.

EVERYTHING is made from scratch. No kits, just two rolls of wire and beads, beads, beads.

I deliberately made this a freeform piece using techniques I have almost no experience in because I wanted to challenge myself and make something completely different and unique as well as something that speaks of summer in every aspect and really reflects what summer means to me. It was designed for and made for this contest

I hope I meet your challenge of pushing boundries and letting my imagination soar.

Thanks to anyone who looks, appreciates and enjoys my work. Comments would be hugely appreciated.

Summer is: The beach.
Summer is: Clear ocean water and waves lifting me up and down as though I weigh nothing.
Summer is: A sky so blue and bright it hurts your eyes to look at it.
Summer is: Lying on the sand and falling asleep in the sun.
Summer is: Shells and sand and fish, dolphins and kayaks and the coral reef
Summer is: ice cream and iced coffee and staying with your friends until it gets dark at 9.00pm and then longer under the stars and the warm summer nights.
Summer is: sleeping outside and counting how many satellites cross the sky before you fall asleep.
Summer is: The best time of the year.
Summer is: More things than I can count

I live in Australia, so it actually is winter here. This seahorse is my personal piece of summer to last me until I can have my summer again.