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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 385230, member: 5833&quot;]It&#039;s not clear whether shell was not used that much in antiquity or those pieces just haven&#039;t survived well.&nbsp; We do know that stones were valued for virtues they were believed to have of their own, beyond anything depicted on them and that intaglios, because they functioned as seals, were more common than cameos, which were decorative or amuletic.&nbsp; Shell ornaments and beads are found at prehistoric sites throughout Europe, so it&#039;s not that worked shell has completely disappeared from the archeological record, but once culture and technology had advanced enough, stone seems to have become much preferred.&nbsp; The making of impressions of gems in glass paste also became highly developed.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have not previously encountered the proposition that myopic children were employed in gem engraving.&nbsp; If you can point me to anything written on the subject I would be really interested.&nbsp; You would need a kid whose vision wasn&#039;t also distorted, with good eye-hand coordination, able to use a bow drill, possessed of a lot of patience and the ability to copy from a drawing or an existing gem.&nbsp; No doubt would have had to be a boy, probably from a social class allowed to educate its youth.&nbsp; Finding a good apprentice must have been tough.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can imagine shell being used as a practice material by those first learning the art.&nbsp; More seems to be known about techniques than about training programs.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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