Old Souls
course. For the original makers, ser-
pents and scarabs held formidable
power, providing the wearer the
protection of sacred creatures.
Lilly’s work often looks talismanic,
maybe because these motifs recall
those ancient Egyptian jewels.
Does she think about that when
she’s making it? “It’s funny, usually
I don’t,” she says. “But then I fi nish
the piece and think, ‘That has the
power of a talisman. That has some
serious energy to it.’ I don’t do it
consciously.”
Tyler feels a more personal con-
nection to her Egyptian-style jewels.
Her Ramses ring, made in 1993, is a
miniaturization of the "double-duck"
arm cuff s found on that pharaoh’smummy. Tyler became intrigued
with those cuff s as a college student
studying archaeology, long before
she thought of becoming a jeweler.
She claims two diff erent psychics
told her she had a past life in Egypt
— as the jeweler for Ramses II. “And
this was years after I had my own
vivid recollection of being in his
chambers through a past-life hypno-
sis regression,” she says. “So it turns
out I did not steal the design for the
Ramses ring. My previous incarna-
tion actually created it.”CATHLEEN MCCARTHY has covered
jewelry and business for JCK, The Washington PostTown & Country, , and her own site,
TheJewelryLoupe.com.Carolyn TylerPerugia Interchangeable-
Pendant NecklaceMurano (Venetian) glass
cameos and intaglios, 22K goldPHOTO: COURTESY CAROLYN TYLERLook Back
AgainPATINA OF AGE, PAGE 62“I still love to admire
what the ancient
master craftsmen did
with their rudimentary
tools hundreds of
generations ago.”Revival Styles
REVIVAL and
ANCIENT REINVENTED
LAPIDARY JOURNAL
JEWELRY ARTIST,
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
http://www.interweave.com/jewelry60 LAPIDARY JOURNAL JEWELRY ARTIST