The main centre for the manufacture of cameos is the Torre del Greco area, on the Bay of Naples , Italy, where the traditional art of cameo cutting has been handed down through the generations. The town nestles at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, which has been relatively quiet for some time. Experts predict another eruption at some point in the future, possibly of the violence that once destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the local people live their everyday lives without fear, much as the Californians do on the San Andreas Fault.

  Sadly, fewer and fewer young people choose to be apprenticed into the trade, although The State Institute of Art in Torre del Greco still offers training in the art of engraving and cameo cutting. Student One in the first year practises with mosaics, Student Two in the third year proudly shows a carved flower, and Student Three, in her final year, is mastering the cutting of a Botticelli head in cameo.  The Tutor demonstrates to the assembled class.

 Two sea shells are most frequently used – the cassis rufa, giving a creamy relief against a pinky brown background, and the larger cassis madagascariensis, with a dark pinky brown background and a whiter relief. Some pink cameos can be found using the strombus gigas shell, but they are not as common.

  These shells have three layers. The outside layer, warty in appearance is usually cleared away, unless used for special effect. The middle layer is white or cream, and is the layer in which the design is carved. The third, interior, layer provides the contrasting colour against which the design is shown in relief. Shells unsuitable for traditional carving are sold as mementoes, with a rough carving on the whole shell.

 Only part of the shell is used for carving. A skilled operator cuts away the unwanted part, using a steel saw , with water constantly spraying to keep the blade cool.  Then ovals, from 6mm in length, are cut from the best coloured pieces, roughly smoothed and trimmed by grinding wheel, and finished by hand.

  The oval is then attached to a dopstick with shellac, and the hand carving begins, at first with a small hand drill to make a rough outline, then with a steel graver for the fine detail. As more and more detail is added, the carver uses progressively finer points. Each cameo design has to take into account all the depressions and protuberances on the shell, with no two exactly alike. No machine can replicate this skill, so every shell cameo is genuinely hand carved and unique.

  The carved pieces of shell are then individually hand mounted in a variety of frames to make earrings, rings, bracelets, brooches and pendants. The cost of any cameo depends upon the size, quality and type of shell, the style and carat of the setting and the expertise of the carver. In the DI CARA COLLECTION, there are cameos to suit all tastes and pockets.