Soapstone + Other Stuff!

Greetings TCers!

I've taken the advice of a master-carver* and changed the title of this thread. It used to be called "Tipua's advice for the lazy carver", but I think on reflection, considering some of the subsequent feedback, that title was a little misleading as my intention was to bring to the attention of any would-be carvers out there the merits of starting out on soapstone, not the fact of my laziness.

Instead the focus shall be on the stone itself, and not the carver. My aim is to show anyone who wants to carve hard stone eventually (as I do some day) soapstone would be a good beginners' option. It's quite easy to carve (no expensive tools), it looks quite beautiful when finely sanded, oiled, and polished, and it's CHEAP - perfect for newbies starting out carving (like myself).

Also upon doing a wee bit of research, it appears that carving in soapstone is not just for beginners, but has been used (and still is used) as a carving medium by some very accomplished artists in the present as well as throughout history and in many different cultures.

:up: Ancient Egyptian soapstone scarab

Native American soapstone pipe :down:

Now, I have to mention that I am no way an expert (on anything), so any technical questions may go unanswered, but I'll try my best.

So, what is soapstone some of you may ask?

"Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism, which occurs at the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx of fluids, but without melting. It has been a medium for carving for thousands of years."

• Wikipedia

Here are a few pieces I've carved quite recently... Well, VERY recently. I only started carving last month!

*many thanks Tama! :D

[ Edited by: Tipua 2007-04-25 02:47 ]

On 2007-03-30 03:43, Tipua wrote:
It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism, which occurs at the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx of fluids, but without melting."

Great stuff Tipua - love those last two; the matau & the Marq(?) ring(?)
Pounamu is created in very much the same way only is made up of different minerals etc; we get a fair amount of soapstone around some of the areas where jade occurs only the quality is usually pretty low (lots of hard blebs & fairly uninspiring colours). The odd nice piece can be found though and your right, very cheap! The only drawback is that finished work is easily scratched and must be looked after carefully.

Great to see some of your creations. Keep it up!!

Tama :)

Great stuff Tipua, Now that you have let my secret out, I'll share it: Lazy peeps make great carvers because they are Always looking for easier, faster ways to get the wood removed so they can take their time and be lazy about it! There, I Said it too, Now everyone knows that I AM LaZy and I Love it.
Soap stone can be loads of fun to carve and you can basically carve it with a screw driver and a file and sandpaper!
Great Stuff Tipua.

Thanks heaps Tama! Your encouragement means a lot. I'm only just starting, so hopefully I may get a little better. Probably not to your standard, but given time...

Between soapstone and pounamu, pounamu wins hands down for both beauty and durability. But for a lot less money, and a lot less time (especially if one owns no expensive equipment) soapstone is not such a bad medium. But yes, it does scratch fairly easily and is quite unforgiving if dropped on a hard surface (my first matau is now in a million pieces when it met the bathroom tiles rather quickly :cry: ).
This is especially true in my case as I (being new) bought a block absolutely riddled with cracks. everything I have since worked from it had to be small because of the cracks! I've bought some better soapstone since then. A nice greeny block and an interesting black. I can't wait to start on that, although I'll have to. I have to carve outside as my girlfriend doesn't appretiate rock dust over the kitchen table (and anything surrounding), and it's dark outside now :( .
All in all though, ol' soapy ain't all that bad.

The last carving I think you mentioned:

It was meant to be a wee tiki head, but ended up more monkey-like. I shall name him Makimaki because of this!

Thanks heaps to you too Big Ben!
I don't know if it makes me feel good or otherwise to know that someone of your carving calibre is lazy too... That has always been my excuse for doing inferior work!
If you're lazy too, and yet can produce such masterpieces where does that leave the rest of us lazy-bones?

It leaves you knowing that you Can use your lazy ways to do great things. Find the easiest way to make your carving look better.

hey, soapstone really looks like its fun to work with. turns out looking real good too. i like that last one of yours.
lets see some more

On 2007-03-30 05:16, Benzart wrote:
It leaves you knowing that you Can use your lazy ways to do great things. Find the easiest way to make your carving look better.

Hey! Didn't Mr Miyagi say something similar in Karate Kid? Or was it Yoda? :D
Either way, your wise-words are duly noted Master Ben. Thanks. I shall try to follow your advice and turn my laziness from a set-back into an asset.

Tiki Duddy, thank you very much for your compliments! Yes ol' soapy is fun to work with as you can get fast results with little effort. It helps that it's cheap too, so if you stuff a piece up just pick up another and try again!

Here's another of mine. Not really in the whole tiki theme, but perhaps passable given the eye-inserts?
Buddhatiki:

My advice for the lazy carver: Don't carve. Same goes for the impatient carver.

You can add me to the 'lazy-carver' camp; what else can you call a bloke who sits on his bum all day? Dont get me wrong, I work VERY hard but still consider myself a lazy bugger :lol:
BK: I dont think he/we mean lazy in the sence of producing crappy work but more like Ben says; its about finding the best tool/process (and in this case, material) to do the job (of expressing an idea)efficiantly and effectively. *Take my writing-style for example; I try to succinctly cram as much information into each sentence out of sheer laziness! :lol: For a newbie I think your work rocks (pun intended) & offer all encouragement to carry on! (Buddhas are really difficult. Ive tried -once.)

Do I spy a traditional Hei-tiki in the backgroud too..? :wink:

Rock on brah!
Tama

Really dig the Makimaki. Mug fiend that I am,I would love to see that as a large tiki mug. Maybe ceramics can be your next thing...

On 2007-03-30 12:20, Basement Kahuna wrote:
My advice for the lazy carver: Don't carve. Same goes for the impatient carver.

BK: Yeah, I agree with Ben and Tama's definition of the lazy carver - Lazy by nature, but really quite motivated once one gets going. In fact I think lazy people should really be applauded as we find more and more ingenious ways of cutting corners and getting out of work. Hopefully the results don't look too bad.

On 2007-03-30 15:23, Tamapoutini wrote:
For a newbie I think your work rocks (pun intended) & offer all encouragement to carry on! (Buddhas are really difficult. Ive tried -once.)

Do I spy a traditional Hei-tiki in the backgroud too..? :wink:

Thanks very much again Tama for your kind words. It is very encouraging to newbies like myself when brilliant carvers like you and Benzart find the time to motivate those on the lower rungs. Very much appretiated! :)

And yes. Your eyes do not decieve you. That is a hei-tiki you spy. It is merely a specimen made for the tourist industry, but it is probably one of the finest of the many cheapo examples I could find when I last visited your beautiful Aotearoa. I admit that I've made a few adjustments, such as sanding off that shine they give souvenir pounamu (that is if it IS pounamu, could be from anywhere!), widening her arm holes (they were just soooo fat!), colouring the eyes with car paint (not so traditional) and making her female (influenced by you of course!). I might try to improve her in the future (like do something to her nose perhaps?) or just leave her be... any advice from a tohunga whakairo like yourself?
Here's a picture of her. It's not the best to show off her colour (I can appretiate how hard it must be to really show off great pounamu in a photo), but her detail is pretty good:

On 2007-03-30 18:12, theded1 wrote:
Really dig the Makimaki. Mug fiend that I am,I would love to see that as a large tiki mug. Maybe ceramics can be your next thing...

Thanks theded1! I'm not so into ceramics - probably because it was a subject in high school, and nothing good ever came from my high school - but I do appretiate a good mug. Anyone wanting to take up the Makimaki mug challenge is welcome!

Thanks for posting that picture. It reminds me of mine own work from a year or two back, especially that nose! :lol: It doesnt look too bad; certainly within the top half of what you will find domestically (there's a lot of really bad ones out there eh?) Good on you for making the necessary alterations; Ive considered buying the odd cheap/nasty one & cleaning them up for resale in the past as a money-spinner, but have never gotten around to it.

Getting decent photos of jade is pretty difficult. Through necessity I have taught myself how to chase the sun around the house & capture a passable 'studio' shot (cant get my head around controlled lighting, heehee). From the photo you have it looks to be genuine nephrite & reasonable quality. Can you get a pic of it backlit? That would/should reveal its origins (if you want to know: ignorance can be bliss...) :wink:

Tama

:drink:

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2007-04-02 22:41 ]

OK; it sounds as though we are missing the point, which if Im not mistaken was a comment by Tipua to those who might consider themselves perhaps too impatient/lazy/whatever to tackle a mammoth project or use a bulletproof material to try carving steatite/soapstone!! That was it..!

We all enjoy our carving. No-one is suggesting cutting corners or turn out a crappy product/result. There has been mention about using efficient means to achieve a result but I consider that neither lazy or sloppy, just sensible surely..?

Try reading a thread through rather than just the title and the last few posts. This man was trying to pass on some good advice for those who had never come across this particular stone and who might enjoy trying a cheap/cool medium for their art. I have never heard mention of anyone using soapstone since coming to TC and think its great that someone can think outside the box.

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? Alternatively, you could do a similar lesson in the 'Stone Carving Q&A' thread. Just a thought.

Rock on braddah!
Tama :)

Kia ora Tama:

It was hard to get a reasonable enough photo to show you the quality (or lack there of) of this girl's nephrite. I hope you can get what you can from this poor photo! :)

[ Edited by: tipua 2007-04-03 01:46 ]

Oh yeah, thanks very much Tama. I've changed the title of this thread using your advice. Waaay too much criticism! And I don't take criticism very well! :D

[ Edited by: Tipua 2007-03-31 02:51 ]

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! :)

The soapstone Moai is top! I like soapstone except for it's fragility. I bought some Native American Colombian soapstone pipes when I was in Cartaghena, Colombia yr's ago. The soapstone holds detail great! Keep up the carving!

On 2007-04-02 01:07, Sneakytiki wrote:
The soapstone Moai is top! I like soapstone except for it's fragility. I bought some Native American Colombian soapstone pipes when I was in Cartaghena, Colombia yr's ago. The soapstone holds detail great! Keep up the carving!

Thanks Sneakytiki! Yeah soapstone is fun to work with and it does hold great detail (if you're a better carver than I!), but yes it is rather fragile - especially if you don't know what you're looking for (like me) and buy a piece riddled with cracks and flaws.

I own a statuette of Buddha from India that's stood the test of time however, with only a few tiny chips here and there. I guess fragility really depends on the kind of soapstone you've got.

As you can see in this pic a long flaw running down the face (the flaws are mostly superficial though. It hasn't fallen to pieces YET):

Also, notice this strange spot?

It's actually a small chip of rusting iron embedded in the stone. I've found a few of these iron specks throughout my first soapstone block. I don't know what their origin may be... Perhaps from the machine that originally cut it? A few are embedded pretty deep though, with no holes to suggest they were mini-bullets shot into the stone. Odd.

Tipua, thanx fer the info> I wasn't sure if the fragility was my imagination or what? I had a pipe break and tossed it, it was a cool piece with bird figure carved on top. I never thought to epoxy it at the time. Duh? Now I just have one of those pipes.

There's some great soapstone pipes out there, that's for sure, both native american and european (and from anywhere else people liked to smoke!), and I can see a collector getting excited finding one - especially digging one up in your backyard
(see http://www.backcountrydepot.homestead.com/arkheadhunters.html )

There are some magnificent designs that are executed well in soapstone. It does hold detail very well. I may have to try carving a pipe... although since I don't smoke, it will be more for art's sake.

Maybe one like this?

Errrr... maybe not yet!

Tama: You mentioned soapstone occuring near nephrite deposits. Did Maori ever utilise it?

Tipua, That Beautiful pipe has an Awful SMALL Bowl for tobacco, What do they smoke in it???

On 2007-04-02 18:10, Benzart wrote:
Tipua, That Beautiful pipe has an Awful SMALL Bowl for tobacco, What do they smoke in it???

How true Benz!
I guess whatever they smoke in it makes those three big-butt ladies DANCE! :lol:

Just thought I'd add this pic from Spirit Wrestler because it's done in soapstone (and it's cool). It is a carving done by Inuit carver David Ruben Piqtoukun. The Inuit have used soapstone as a carving medium for a very long time for religious/cultural purposes and now for the tourist industry.

Awesome.

David Ruben Piqtoukun - Bear Shaman (1997)

Retouched my hei-moai.
Not so moai now (well never really was), though still with some remaining elements (although no mouth. Perhaps that could be my signature?).
As you can probably tell, I like my carvings to be rather minimalist - probably to cover up the fact that I'm not very good - although, as Benzart correctly pointed out (on Tama's thread somewhere), moai are deceptive. They look simple, but are actually quite difficult to get right. That's why I've tried my own version. Artistic license and all that.

That minimalist hei Moai echoes some early 20th century modernist sculpture pieces which in turn are often compared to Eskimo sculpture--- Nicely dovetails into your last 2 posts no? I like the minimalist Moai! It says Moai/african mask/ Inuit Shaman (like above), and on and on. Faces that are "simpler" can say more! When Euro Americans see a Moai or a fang mask they often remark that "It looks like a white guy". But to an African or a Polynesian it looks like THEM! So called simple schematic faces really hit the frontal lobes hard. We people have a very acute facial feature recall an' when u successfully create a generic everybuddy face it really drives sumthin' home by recalling every face at once. Humans are programmed to look for faces, the plaster in the ceiling, the clouds, etc. How many times yah hear sumone say "I think I see a foot in that thar cloud? Anyway, nuff sed! Looks like the start of a unique style/take on tiki!

Rok on!

S T

On 2007-04-02 17:31, Tipua wrote:
Tama: You mentioned soapstone occuring near nephrite deposits. Did Maori ever utilise it?

*Not that I know of..?

Love that animalistic inuit sculpt; sexy-weird..!

I also like your minimalist approach to this last Moai; excellent piccy too!

Tama :)

Thanks Tama. Did that back-lit shot of my hei-tiki tell you anything as to its nephrite origin/quality/lack there of?

And thanks Sneaky Tiki.
I agree. We humans tend to make the mistake of concentrating on the differences rather than the similarities apparent in our fellow humans and our various cultures. We can still be quite tribalistic in our chosen affinities for the particular culture we're used to, rejecting others. "This is MY culture, that is YOUR culture, and never the twain shall meet!"
We forget that we all share the same origin, we're all of the same species and a common humanity is shared by us all.

Here are some more soapstone carvings - This time from artist Allan Waidman.
The first one is a lovely moai executed in an interesting multi-hued variety of soapstone. You'll notice the long, thin flaw down the moai's face. I think it actually adds character (like a cool scar) and gives an air of antiquity.

These next lot are done in a much darker variety of soapstone. I hope that grey block I bought produces this quality of darkness... We'll see (I've yet to buy a better quality hack-saw so I can actually cut the thing!)

His price range for these carvings are between $300-$2500! Hmmm...

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!

Just trying out that new black soapstone I mentioned earlier. :D

Hahaaha. Oh wow. I was NOT expecting that one. Imagine just opening up a foil wrapper and seeing a chocolate face laughing at you. I'd probably pee myself.

On 2007-04-05 20:14, Tipua wrote:
HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!
Just trying out that new black soapstone I mentioned earlier. :D

Tama sez: Eggsellent! (well somebody had to say it) :lol:

On 2007-04-06 09:01, PockyTiki wrote:
Hahaaha. Oh wow. I was NOT expecting that one. Imagine just opening up a foil wrapper and seeing a chocolate face laughing at you. I'd probably pee myself

I think it would stop laughing once it knew what it was made for! Yummmmm! :)

Tama sez: Eggsellent! (well somebody had to say it)

Really Tama! Any old excuse for a "dad's joke"! Or should I say eggscuse? Perhaps not... :wink:

Here are a few wee carvings I did this morning:

I just used spare chips I got from the cutting-room floor (on the pavers in my wee backyard) after I cut my blocks of soapstone into more managable sizes with my new power-saw. Good fun, although I broke the saw blade.
It was only $40, can't expect too much I suppose...

Here are a few wee carvings I did this morning:

A FEW? In a MORNING?? Wow, that's prolific! Im eggs-asperated... :lol:

Tama

On 2007-04-08 15:03, Tamapoutini wrote:

A FEW? In a MORNING?? Wow, that's prolific! Im eggs-asperated... :lol:

Tama

Well it's not like I'm carving a hard stone like jade or anything!
Although, I have to admit I WAS on a roll (not an egg-roll! heh heh urgh...
that doesn't really work, does it? :-? ).

I turned Mr Goatee into Hei-Goatee (I don't know the word for Goatee in Te Reo Maori. Koti?):

Excellent work Tipua! Now i MUST find some Soapstone to carve.

The new additions are really good. In a morning? Wow!

On 2007-04-09 05:41, Benzart wrote:
Excellent work Tipua! Now i MUST find some Soapstone to carve.

I'm mostly happy to hear it - 'happy' because I'm glad I shed a little more light on the merits of soapstone, and 'mostly' because I hesitate to think of how my carvings will compare to yours once such a master carver as yourself gets your hands on it! I shall be put to shame right quick!

Sneakytiki: I think the spirits of the ancestors took over and turned me into a carving-droid for a few hours. I don't mind though. This kind of possession is rather pleasant.

Oh, and I've started on my soapstone pipe. I've got the basic shape and I've drilled some holes, although I'll need a longer drill-bit. The holes don't meet up as yet. I also don't know what kind of decoration I want to put on it... Perhaps some celto-polynesian spirals or something... Everybody loves spirals!
When I get home I may take some progress shots (I'm at work now :( ).

Here's an artist's impression (David R Wagner) of what it may look like once I'm done: :)

On 2007-04-09 05:41, Benzart wrote:
Excellent work Tipua! Now i MUST find some Soapstone to carve.

I was just thinking the same thing Ben, or more precisely was wondering whether our man here had inspired anyone to try steatite/soapstone for themselves...?

The Maori word for 'beard' is paihau or pa hau, but I dont know of any word esp. for the goatee-style; not the fashion perhaps (they may have called them 'Hip-ee'..? (hippy) :lol:
*Interestingly enough(?) facial hair wasnt worn by pre-contact Maori until an older age was reached. 'Shaving' was in fact done by plucking individual hairs out between two shells - perhaps too much of a hassle for the older fellas, although Im pretty sure it was an activity that had to be done by someone else (mutual/reciprocal plucking?) and that it was worn by the elders as a sign of rank.

My turn to add a piccy to your thread Tipua: I dug out the one really nice piece of soapstone that we've found locally (I say we because it was actually Mrs Terrible that found it - but she 'lost' it a few days later. shhhhhh) :wink:
I wouldnt carve this piece as I just love it as it is.

Rock on brah!

Tama

Doh! You beat me to posting Tipua! See how long it takes me to type..? :lol:

I have often thought my wee piece of soapstone would make a great pipe but until I find another piece wont be able to bring myself to sacrifice this.

*So thats how the unvieling of your pipe will look? I wish I had bare-breasted women standing behind me to celebrate each new piece I make! :lol:

TTT :)

On 2007-04-09 18:03, Tamapoutini wrote:

*So thats how the unvieling of your pipe will look? I wish I had bare-breasted women standing behind me to celebrate each new piece I make! :lol:

TTT :)

Heck yes! But notice in that above pic the men are far more interested in the carvings than the bare-breasted woman. In fact they're ignoring her! My girlfriend would probably murmur something about "male priorities" or something in like that.
Would be nice though :)

Eee-by-gum that's a nice rock! I wish I could find a beauty like that just laying around! Like you though I wouldn't know what to do with it, as any work on it would certainly not improve it. Well, I couldn't improve it anyway... I don't know about you! Like Benzart you shall put me to shame!

About the facial hair: I suppose the old-time maori warriors wouldn't want to mar their moko by covering it with a beard, but PLUCK their hairs! Ouch! But then again, once you've had your face chiseled, then rubbed with ink, I guess plucking a few hairs out is nothing!
I heard some Native American tribes (like the fellas in the pic) plucked hairs with clam-shells. Both facial hair AND head hair! That would hurt, as well as take some time...

Back to the subject of Goatees. I noticed Rapa Nui were big on them. Moai Kavakava, Moai Tangata, and others all sport Goatees. Perhaps there's a word for Goatee in Rapa Nui?

Cheers Brah!

Alu'a!
Even though I'm far from finished, here's some shots of my potential soapstone pipe:

:up:
This one shows the pipe's (admittedly rather crude) profile. The dotted line represents the results of a minor mishap. Quite a sizable chunk broke off when I dropped it. Sure, I'm clumsy. But we all know gravity is to blame! Gravity sucks!

I finally managed to connect the hole in the bowl with that of the stem. It was more difficult than I presumed - especially since I hadn't a lot of room for error after my little mishap when soft soapstone met the hard floor! I made it though, with a satisfyingly hollow 'clunk'.
:down:

Still rather primitive, but given a few days (or weeks) work I may get this pipe lookin' ok! After that all I need is a wooden stem insert, something to smoke in it, then someone to smoke it (smoking's not for Tipua)!

This next pic, as you can certainly tell, is not my work. But it features three soapstone pipe bowls.
Not very good are they?

Yeah, those last three look as though they need a bit more shaping or sumthing; not bad as a starting reference though.
-Depending on what you fill your pipe with Im sure you will be satisfied with the finished work! :lol:

Keep us posted. Anything else in the pipe-line? :wink:

Tama :)

Tipua,

Lemmie know if u want me to send you some Kinik-kinik to smoke. A mild legal Native smoke made from bear berry, osha root, willow bark, kinik-kinik and other ingredients, it can also be mixed with tobacco. I like to bring it backpacking in Idaho's Rockies, mellow and mystical. I've got some wild tobacco I picked and dried too.

Hoka!
S T

To drown sorrow, where should one jump first and best? "Certainly not water. Water rusts you." -Frank Sinatra

[ Edited by: sneakytiki 2007-04-12 01:24 ]

SOAP stone = CLEAN smoke! :lol: Great work you're doing, by the way.

i'm just going to say one thing. Turn that pipe upside down and see what it makes. :)