Remember Arta's Pins?

When I was with Arta in the hospital in Victoria, one night she wanted to talk about some of her favourite pins. This past weekend I was in Calgary and came across two of the pin that made it into Arta's earlier musings.

Arta's pins - Part 1

Arta's Pins - Part 2 

I also came across the cameo she bought when I was lucky enough to be on a (mostly) Italy cruise with her.  We had spent the day in Pompeii together on a day tour.  Being the nerdy infrastructure/ transportation person I am, I was so excited to see the ancient roads and sewers systems.  I'm a weirdo. 

Another part of the day that I loved was visiting the nearby very large, touristy cameo store.  Beautiful cameos in a store that was able to support many artists doing this old art because of all the Pompeii tourists that come through. 

cellini gallery

Arta bought a cameo that could be a pin or a pendant.  It was beautiful. I remember her studying the faces of the different women, trying to find the one she wanted.  I also bought a cameo pendant and a pair of small dangley cameo pendant earrings.

Before I was in Italy and saw real cameos and I heard people talk about them, I hadn't know anything about the art -- I didn't even realize they were carved on shells and that is where the two-toned colour comes from.

"Our Camoes are handmade engraves shells that, thanks to their stratified structure, alow to vary the levels of profundity and make real miniature bas-reliefs. For our creations we are various kinds of shells; for example some of the most precious shells are the African Cassin Madagascarensis, Rufa and Curnuta. They are characterized by their two clearly distinguishable, coloured that allow to isolate the figure in relief." (text from Cellini Gallery website)