to covet cameos

sorry for the delay in posting. i hope this visual splendor and luscious research i've done will make-up for my absence.
i have always had a fondness for shells {probably due to being raised on the oregon coast}, and ever since the first time i saw my grandma wearing a cameo necklace and earrings set to church i've been attracted to that style of jewelry.

i am now the proud owner of that set and take it out of its velvet pouch to wear whenever i feel like some nostalgic beauty. after learning as a teenager that the sea shells i so adore are somewhat connected to the cameo jewelry i covet, it became a full-blown infatuation for both of them from then on.

now at all flea markets & estate jewelry shops i swoon over any cameo sets i see. and also as an adult i've had a growing fondness for cameo vessels as well. although these vases are most often made of glass, the concept for how they're produced is very similar and i really appreciate their soft elegance. maybe someday i'll be lucky enough to own one or two?
there are three main materials for cameo carving: shells or agate (called a hardstone cameo), and glass. cameos can be created by one of two processes: by setting a carved relief, such as a portrait, onto a background of a contrasting color, called an assembled cameo. alternately, a cameo can be carved directly out of a material with integral layers or banding, such as (banded) agate or layered glass, where different layers have different colors. Sometimes dyes are used to enhance these colors but most often the natural hues are plenty.

stone cameos of great artistry were made in greece dating back as far as the 6th century bc. they were very popular in ancient rome, and the technique has since enjoyed periodic revivals, notably in the early renaissance, and again in the 17th & 18th centuries. the renaissance cameos are typically white on a grayish background and were carved from the shell of a mussel or cowrie.
in the mid 18th century, explorations revealed new shell varieties ~ helmet shells from the west indies and queen conch shells from the bahamas arrived in europe. this sparked a big increase in the number of cameos carved from shells. modern sources for the best quality conch shell are madagascar and south africa.
today's world center for cameo carving in shell is torre del greco, italy. the shells are first marked with a series of ovals in a process called signing, then cut into oval blanks for the cameo carver. the actual cameo is mainly cut with a metal scraping tool, called a bulino {an invention of jewish artisan antonio cimeniello}. a number of metal gravers are used and when the details are completed, the shell is then soaked in olive oil, cleaned with soap and water and selectively polished with a hand brush.

{sources: wikipedia and flickr}