Grant McMillan
Soapstone Carving
This is a piece of Brazilian soap stone that I've had for several years, but couldn't figure out what was inside it. I also didn't know how to carve stone. I've figured that out now.The other side of the soapstone. Can you tell what's inside the stone yet? You can see my carving tool: a buck knife. That's how soft soapstone is!After carving the general shape with the knife, I got out the single-cut file and smoothed it out. After smoothing it, I drew the eyes, mouth & gills with a pencil and then carved them out with a pointy needle file. That took quite a while, as it wanted to chip and was difficult to smooth lines.Carving the dorsal fin was a challenge - I was afraid it would snap off with too much pressure.After sanding it with various grits (from 150 all the way to 600 wet/dry), I heated it up to 300 degrees in the oven and coated it with clear paste-wax. I gave it a couple of coats and then buffed it.
My first attempt at stone carving, using Brazilian soap stone.
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