Post #295878 by Tipua on Sat, Mar 31, 2007 4:12 AM

On 2007-03-31 00:50, Tamapoutini wrote:
Thanks Tipua. I know that a bit of soapstone whittlin would be a great introduction to carving (wood or stone) & many peeps here would love it if they gave it a go. Could you run through your tools/processes a bit and perhaps edit your first post (title) to make this a how-to for soapstone carving?

As per Tama's suggestion here are some pics of the tools I've been using. The first two are of ol'faithful, a K-Mart brand rotary tool. I've used it for nearly all my previous carvings so it looks a little well used. It's great for soapstone (I don't know how it'd cope with a harder stone. It didn't do too well with nephrite, but that could have been my own unsteady hand). It came with various sanding heads and some diamond burrs (nearly worn out now).

This next one is of another brand rotary hand tool I got recently. It has a flexible shaft attachment which is handy. Both tools cost under $50 each.
The next picture is of the stone itself. These are the two blocks I bought recently. You can see the colour difference between the two. I can't wait to see what the grey block on the left will look like all oiled and polished up. A nice black I imagine!

Here's a pic of a moai-ish (hei-moai?) pendant I carved today. It only took a couple of hours - and yes, I enjoyed the process of carving it! :)