Another piece that I completed recently was a ring transformed to a pendant, This project was extremely important to me for several reasons. This family had recently lost an important member and the pain is still quite fresh. The ring is something he wore daily and the stories I heard about him were a testament to the kind of loving man he was. Although I never got to meet him personally, I felt like I had a sense of how giving he was and knew the great importance of taking care of his ring, His daughter and grandson chose to have his ring transformed into a pendant for his wife to continue to wear close to her heart; right where it belongs. Next to her love for him and cherished memories, I'm extremely grateful, humbled and pleased that all were happy with the results but the story doesn't end there.

You see, I understand the difficulty that they must have had in making that decision. To trust a stranger with something so priceless, all in the hopes of giving his wife a Christmas gift that was from the heart. I had been very careful to save every single shaving and crumb that came from sawing and filing that ring because I felt it had a purpose and knew it deserved my utmost respect. In the end, I melted down those shavings and forged them into a solid strip. I added another section of the ring shank and crafted a cross as a gift for his daughter.