Carolyn Tyler's designs are hand-fabricated from 100% recycled ("green") gold (also known as eco-gold because no new mining is required to produce it). The gold is refined and re-alloyed to produce lustrous and strong 22k gold. She also uses sterling and fine silver, and precious and semi-precious gemstones in her creations. Some of the designs contain antique beads, ancient coins from Europe and Asia, unusual collector's gems, fossilized mammoth ivory carvings, or rare pearls of extraordinary color. The work is executed with incredible skill and patience by a team of Balinese goldsmiths, whose forefathers worked as court artisans for Javanese royalty and Hindu temple priests. With centuries of collective experience in perfecting their craft, they have gained a world-renowned mastery of decorative techniques such as granulation, repousse, filigree, carving, and engraving. Granulation, the process of fusing minute spheres of gold to a flat surface, without solder, to create a pattern or texture, is the most technically challenging style of embellishment, and the skill they are most praised for. Since no casting or molds are used, each piece is truly one of a kind. When a design is repeated, as in limited editions, care is taken to use different stones, so no two pieces are ever exactly the same. Smaller pieces typically take three to seven days to complete, while large and complex pieces have been months in the making. After completion, the pieces are ritually blessed with Temple holywater, to transfer protection and good fortune to the wearer Carolyn Tyler favors offbeat stones over the more commercial calibrated gems. She says, "I've never been attracted to precision-cut, so-called "flawless" stones- they're too sterile, no soul. Tribal people throughout the world choose stones with "flaws" to do their magic- they say that's where the spirit lives. Funny, gems are like people: character, or "spirit", is gained through imperfection, not perfection!"