Quite often when I look at a bead or item of jewellery it will suggest possibilities to me. The large blue and silver coloured pendant drop in the centre of this piece made me think of a beetle.

In the photo sequence above, you can see how I pulled together a selection of beads and other pieces that eventually became the scarab beetle-headed Ancient Egyptian god, Khepri.

We may think it a little unsavoury to worship a god that is a scarab or dung beetle but the Ancient Egyptians saw the scarab as the symbol of renewal and rebirth believing that its life cycle represented creation. Khepri was also the God of the Morning Sun, rolling the sun across the sky in the same way as the beetle rolls a ball of dung.

(Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash)

I paired the beetle with a dragonfly in the colours of lapis lazuli and turquoise, both minerals prized by the Egyptians.

I used gilding flakes on another large pendant piece to create the sun and formed the desert from sheets of sandpaper. A metal bookmark provided the link to the pyramids and the Sphinx.

To complete the frame, the happy coincidence of having some stone mosaic tiles left over from bathroom work plus a few pebbles allowed me to suggest ancient ruins.

I’m always happy when my love of ancient history can give rise to another piece of my work. You will find this Ancient Wisdom frame in my shop.

Derrick