I have a kind of interesting variation, well at least the design was inspired by the claddaugh. Instead of hands on eiher side of a blood-red garnet, there are very graceful open wings of a swan, which hold the stone. It's very beautiful.

Odd story: I had a woman freak out one time when we talked about using the claddaugh to symbolise inclusion of Irish culture in a planned event. Evidently she'd been through some horrible abuse and somehow, as she put it, any symbol of a "disembodied heart and hands" would send her up the wall or out of the room. She almost got hysterical before we could calm her down. I was pretty shocked, never thought of it as "disembodied." I guess there's no telling, eh?

kat