19/08/2026
I made this necklace for the Australian Opal Awards.
It was the first time I’d planned to enter any kind of jewellery award, so getting this one finished was a bit of a labour of love. I submitted everything, paid the entry fee and had it ready a couple of days before the deadline… only to find out that this year’s awards had been cancelled.
After a brief period of feeling sorry for myself (and a few choice words), I knew I still wanted to share this one.
The starting point was this very unusual boulder opal. I’d spent months looking for the right stone for the competition, waiting for something that would immediately jump out at me. When I found this one, I could see a snake almost immediately, its body seeming to flow through the bands of grey in the stone.
I followed those natural lines in the design, allowing the snake to disappear into the opal and emerge again, with its body continuing onto the edges of the pendant in silver.
I loved the balance between the two. The quiet, almost monochromatic bands of the boulder opal against those unexpected flashes of green, red, blue and yellow, and the way the snake moves between them rather than simply sitting on top.
This is one of those pieces where the stone really dictated what the jewellery became. I didn’t want to cover up what was already there. I wanted to work with it.
I don’t think I’ll hold onto it for next year’s awards, so at some point it will probably make its way onto my website. For now, it’s still sitting here in my studio, waiting for its next chapter.
Opal from Steed Sutherland | Australian Opal
