The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-09-23
Cameo Cutting.

One of the best examples of adroit ma
nipulation under the simple microscope Is
the operation of cameo cutting as described
in an article in Our Home and Scaence
Gossip:
A visit to a cameo cutters workshop
found him seated at table covered with
tools, varying from a triangular pointed
steel instrument to the most delicate pointed
bits of steel wire fastened in handles. Very
fine files and knitting needles, set in wood
en- grips and ground to infnitesimal 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 cemented to the middle OF 1t
was an oval object that looked like piece
of alabaster, Just big enough to make seal
for the finger of a man who did not object
to wearing large rings. Upon this the ar
tist was just finishing copy, with pencil
pointed to needle fneness, OF photograph
in profile of gentleman, which was leaned
against little photograph easel before HIM
Having finished the outline, he laid his
pencil by, and taking up fine wire tool he
scratched the pencil mark around with it,
Then he took a darning needle with sharp
point and scratched the line deeper. He
worked with a magnifying glass at his eye
and stopped continually to inspect the prog
ress of his work with critical minuteness
Then he went at it again, working slowly
scratching over the same line again and
again, and always examining after each
scratch. He changed his tools as he went
on, and from the darning needle descended
to a trifing little fragment of steel wire
not as thick as an ordinary sewing needle
set in slender handle.
With this he scratched and rescratched
until the lines he had drawn with his pen
ell had quite vanished, and a thin, fne
streak of dark color had marked the out
line of the head he had been tracing his
way around. Next he took one of his
bruin-ike tools and commenced again. This
time he worked on the outside Of the out
line, cutting and scraping at the surface
until the white turned gray, then brown
and finally vanished, leaving the face in re
lief surrounded by black ground-that
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substance which formed the outer layer o.
the cameo, while it had been cut away
around it to the lower or dark layer. The
portrait or figure is then modulated upor
its surface until it assumes the roundnes
of nature The edges are left square tt
the dark ground.
This is necessary, as, if they are gradu
ally rounded down, the outline becomes un
defined toward its juncture with the reliev
ing surface, owing to the white of the raised
portion being partially transparent and per
mitting the dark to show through it whel
it is thinned down. Care is taken to fnisl
this dark surface as much as possible witt
the cutting tools and so separate the whit
from it as to leave it smooth and un
scratched. A final polish is given it, how
ever, with putty powder applied dry witt
stiff brush, but the utmost care is neces
sary in this operation, as the slightest sli
will ruin the work This is the cameo cut
ters work, the mountings being the jewel
er's work. The canoes sell, unmounted
for about twenty-five dollars.