From Ancient Ruins to Shells in Napoli

Turning Shells into Works of Art

Our day in Napoli (Naples, Italy) was drawing to a close, but we had one more thing to see before returning to the Star Princess.   Touring the Amalfi coastline from the water and exploring the ancient ruins of Pompeii were highlights of our day so far.  The final stop of our tour was a local Cameo Factory where we observed artisans applying skills handed down for generations, intricately carving seashell or coral into beautiful jewelry-true works of art, and beautiful keepsake souvenirs.

Not Just any Seashell...

can become a cameo.  In fact, only six out of over 100,000 seashells species existing in the world are selected to make a cameo.  The shell divers search for specimens 90 to 100 feet below the water's surface looking for high quality shells with no sign of flaws or cracks. The conch shell family is the best fitted shell for cameos. Among them, the carnelian shell is the most used for cameo carving. The most costly one is the Sardonyx shell with a thicker outer wall and a dark interior. Cameos carved from Sardonyx shell resemble marble.

The carver selects a section of the conch shell and determines where the layers of color are. The shell must also be broad and colored horizontally with light colors on top of darker colors. Usually, the darker color will be the background and the lighter color will be in the foreground.

A design is created just for that particular shell that will reveal the colored layers as it is carved, making the finished cameo three-dimensional. After the cameo is carved, it will be polished by hand. This is a very tedious process which takes good eyes, skill, and a lot of patience.

Italian Cameos

Here we were able to watch this carver as he turned a seashell into cameo jewelry.   We also had a briefing about how cameos are made.  There was free time to wander through the showroom and select a special cameo keepsake to take home from Italy.

The most popular motif for a cameo carved from shell is the face of a woman. So, when you see a woman's face on a cameo, you may deduce that it is made of shell.

See our Facebook Fan Page for our Cameo Factory album as well as other albums from our day in Napoli.   Please be sure to "Like" us so that you'll get updates as we continue our 12 Night Greek Isles & Mediterranean Cruise.

 

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




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NCL Dawn Bermuda - Underwater Exploration Institute

It's day 3 in Bermuda and time for the Norwegian Dawn to make a short journey from King's Wharf to Hamilton, Bermuda. The ship tenders in Hamilton, so it was necessary to obtain tender tickets before going ashore.

We decided not to rush and had some breakfast. When we finished our breakfast, we headed to the lounge to pickup our tender tickets. Timing couldn't have been better - we were able to obtain our tender ticket and head to the gangway to disembark.

Our tender boat was actually one of the ferries, so it was able to accomodate a large number of passengers waiting to go ashore. Once ashore we began walking down Front Street, the main street of Hamilton. We weren't exactly sure where the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) was located, so we asked a women walking along the street. We were only three or four blocks away from the BUEI. If you don't want to walk, you can also get to the BUEI by bus.

We spent two hours there visiting the various exhibits such as Bermuda Revealed, Underwater Bermuda, Shell Collection, Science at Sea, The Dive, The Deep, Bioluminescence, Shark Cage, Treasure Room, and the Shipwreck Gallery. Once again our timing was excellent. By the time we walked to The Dive exhibit, the ride was about to begin. If you've been to a theme park and gone on a motion ride, this is very similar. We were actually the only people on the ride.

There is a wealth of information throughout the various exhibits. One could easily spend several hours going through the institute, especially if that was their are of interest.

Even if marine biology and underwater exploration isn't your favorite subject, I think you will enjoy the Lightbourn Shell Collection. The collection is housed in several display cases. Jack Lightbourn started with Bermuda shells and expanded it to the entire world. It is by far the most amazing collection of shells we've ever seen.

For more photos, see our BUEI Photo Album and Shell Collection Album.

When we left the BUEI, it started to sprinkle a little, but it wasn't enough to keep us from going to our next stop, Fort Hamilton. My next post will describe our visit there.