p. 333 | How Cameos Are Cut

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 3, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 21.

How Cameos Are Cut.

GREAT numbers of cameos are made in Italy, but the finest come from Paris. The quartz blocks from which the cameos are cut are imported into this country in shapes ready for cutting. The kinds of quartz most commonly used are onyx, sardonyx, chalcedony, jasper, turquois; certain species of shells are also used. They can be cut on any stone or jewel except a diamond. A cameo differs from an intaglio in that it is executed in relief, while the latter is a sunk engraving. Cameos are best cut in minerals which present various bands of two or more distinct colors. The raised engraving is generally of one color, while the background is of a strongly contrasted color. The former is generally white and the latter dark. The cutter draws with a lead pencil on the white surface of the block the design which he intends to produce in cameo. He then follows the outlines with a diamond and cuts away the white parts outside. If the stone is small, he cements it on the end of a stick; if large, he holds it in his hand, and proceeds to work upon it with fine drills. He sits at a table like a sewing machine table and by a treadle works a small lathe situated at his right. At his left is a frame filled with drills made of steel wire and of all varieties of shapes. The ends of the drills are covered with diamond dust ground in olive oil. The dust is obtained by crushing uncut diamonds by blows of a hammer in a small steel mortar. The cutter has placed before him a picture or a model of the subject to be made. Everything then depends upon the correctness of his eye and his artistic instincts. The work is inexpressibly slow, but when completed it is marvelously perfect. Although very small, the figures delineated are as complete in every detail as though they were ten feet high. A skilled workman will often make an elegant cutting or even a portrait without any model whatever. This making of cameo portraits is one of the most steady sources of revenue in the business. They are made of various sizes, and the likeness is very striking. The price varies from $50 to $300 each. The average time of cutting is about 120 hours.—New York Mail and Express.