The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-02-05
cameo Cutting.

Cameo cutting is one OF the most profit
able arts to engage in. There are but a
few cutters and there is a steady demand
| for all they can produce. Tho cutters are
very secrclivc and greatly dislike to talk
about their work. Most of the canoes are
produced from sea shells. A visit to Il
cameo cutters workshop found him seated
at table covered with tools, varying from
strong angular-pointcd steel instru-
mcnt, to tho most delicate pointed bits of
| steel wire fastened in handles. Very fine
flea and knitting needles, set III wooden
grips and ground to intinltesimal points,
figured in the lot. On pad of leather,
before the cameo cutter, was block of
wood just big enough to be grasped with
his hand, and ccmcntcd TO the middle of
! it was an oval object that looked like Il
| piece of alabastcr, just big enough to make
seal for the finger of n man who did not
| object to wearing large rings. Upon tins
the artist was just finishing COPY, with
pencil pointed to needle tincness, of pho
tograph in profile Of Il gentleman, which
was leaned against little Photograph
easel before him.
Having finished the outline, he laid his
pencil by, and taking up fire wire tool
he scratched the pencil mark around with
1t. Then he took darning- needle with
! sharp point and scratched the line deeper
He worked with magnifying glass at his
| eye, and stopped continually TO inspect the
progress OF his work with critical minute
ness. Then he went at it again, working
slowly, scratching over the same line again
and again, and al"'ays examining after
each Scratch. lie changed his tools as he
went OH, and from the darning. needle de-
lnI fn Afciilt 10
wire, not rs thick as ml ordinary sewing
needle, set in slender handle. With this
he scratched and rescralchcd, until the
lines he had drawn with his pencil had
quite vanished, and a thin, fine streak of
dark color had marked the outline of the
head he had been tracing his way around.
Next he took one Of his burin-likc tools,
commenced again. This time he worked
on the outside of the outline, cutting and
scraping aL the surface until the white
turned gray, then brown, and finally van
lshcd, leaving the face III relief, surrounded
ny black ground that is, the portrait re-
manned intact Ill the white substance which
formed the outer layer Of the cameo, while
1t had been cut away around il to tho
lower or dark layer.
The portrait or figure is then modulatcd
upon its surface until il assumes the round
ness OF nature. The edges are left square
to the dark ground. This is necessary, as,
if they are gradually rounded down, the
outline becomes underlined toward its juno
turc with tho relieving surface, owing to
the white of the raised portion being par
TALLY TRANSPARENT and .p.er:mitting tho dark
iihtich as 1p5ossslbfe with tirv, u,,,1"s uown
and so separate the white from it as TO
leave it, smooth and phoI 6,,,1
polish is given it, however, with putty
powder, applied dry with stiff brush, but
the utmost care is necessary in this opera
ton, rs the slightest slip will ruin The
work. This ends the cameo cutters work,
the mounting being the jewelers. work.
The canoes sell unmounted for about $25.
Italy Is the home Of cameo cutting, and
the finest works of art in that line arc still
turned out there. Genoa and Rome are
the centres Of production. There is a
colony OF several thousand cameo cutters
III Paris who produce some very good
work. The canoes made abroad are, as a
rule, fancltul works. copies of statues,
mythological figures and the like. The
shells used Ill cameo cutting are of several
sorts, but all are ordinary sea shells or
conchs. Some come from the East and
others from the West Indies. Many are
imported, as there is commonly only
enough material available in each one for
single cameo. These shells all have a
white surface, but the inner layer Is red,
black and dark caret in color, according
to the species. The pieces TO be used by
the artist are sawed from the shells and
shaped into the square or oval form re-
quircd on Il grindstonc Then they arc
ready for the artist.