I am going to write a bit more about why I so enjoy doing what I call 'top to bottom' pieces, but I was showing a photograph of this particular piece to someone today and thought the story was great.

This is a piece of rose quartz that I cut for a friend who is going through a divorce - they love rose quartz.  Rose quartz itself promotes love of all kind, including caring for yourself, so it is a perfect stone for someone suffering a divorce on a metaphysical level as well.  One of the problems with  quartz is that it fractures.  So I had the piece pretty close to done and sure enough it fractured right down the middle.  One option in that situation is to put the broken piece in my bag of stones to crush for inlay and finish one side, but I had another idea.  This piece represents what they were going through in terms of their divorce.  The stone broke and can't be repaired, but the main pendant part is completely refinished - it is a new and different stone. It is complete without the broken piece.  However, the broken piece still fits onto the new stone and you can see where it broke off just like people are never really the same after a divorce.  I also made the setting with a hook on the back so that the broken piece can be worn on the pendant if they so desire.  As a finishing touch I included two Celtic runes on the pieces to represent protection and the ability to find safety in chaos.

This level of craftsmanship and consideration of the circumstance surrounding the piece is just not something you can get from commercially made jewelry.