A spindle is on the desk’s artist ready for the graving tool to start.
Some small pencil’s tracts to sketch out the outlines of what we want to realize and after that the artisan goes back to his work. The graving tool excavates the shell and the white powder heaps up on the desk.
Step by step the figure takes shape, the cameo borns under the vigilant and expert eye of the artist.

How does a cameo born? Shells are accumulating in a random way. There is a first quick selection. Shells are divided in respect of their shape and dimension. The next step is to divide thickness shells from the other shells because they are correlated to the profundity of the relief that we would like to realize.
The biggest cover, called “maschio”, is quite short, bombastic and very thick. This is the reason because we can realize more pronounced relief and hence more artistic relief.
All the commercial products, for a masses’ sellers, are treated by the “mezza femmina”.
Naturally, for first we have to carve the shell; the cut is done compare to what type of cameo we desired. (Female figure,..).
Once we had arranged the shape of the shell, we glue it with a Greek pitch, resin, on a wood spindle and we proceed with the carving.
This procedure is like that since centuries; nothing had changed. An uptime art; with masters that are able to realize masterpieces.

The most common themes are treated from a Greek-Roman mythology or from classical works. They are reproduced minutely. More often, in an easiest way, we carve flowers or female figure with zest rigorously classical.