A Girl's Best Friend

So a while back I spotted an enormous blonde golden rutilated quartz. I figured I would one day make something grand with it, but when I saw it in person I sort of fell too in love with it. Actually, I had realized that the size of the stone, the cut, and the rarity would price it way out of range for most people so I decided to make something for myself. A treat, and a big conversation starter.
Not wanting to take the nicer stones away from the pieces that are for sale, I waited and waited until a few got down to remnants and hoarded a few other less stunning rondelles. (Of course, when talking about gemstones, even the less stunning stones are still gorgeous.)

And here's the result. A little patience can go a long way. The "hair" in the quartz is a fine silvery gold and it's topped with peridot, carnelian, amethyst, apatite, citrine, garnet, and a whole slew of other gems that I only had maybe one or two of left. I'm sure there's some spinel mixed in there somewhere, too.
A girl's gotta have some fun, right?