Soapstone Carving Class

Back in December, we were very lucky to have John Hoskins back to teach another soapstone carving class.  John's schedule is so busy that successfully getting him onto our calendar practically requires an act of congress, we were just thrilled to have him back.

John is a fabulous soapstone artist, as you can see by just these two carvings:

 

Since this was he second time out here, we changed up his class just a little bit.  Usually when he teaches, he has everyone carve a loon.  It teaches are the basic skills and techniques, and leaves you with a piece that looks like a pro did it. 

This time, however,  he also had Inuksuks as an option for the carvers, since we had a few carvers sign up who had already made loons.  The Inuksuk is an Inuit art form, essentially a pile of stones that look like a human figure.  They were originally used to mark caches or trails for hunters to follow.  Ours were much smaller and were made from a single piece of soapstone.

Soapstone is very soft, and once the rough shape is carved out with a saw, one uses rasps and files to "carve" out the details.  Dental picks work really well for fine details.

 

After you get your carving to where you want it (with the Inuksuks, we wanted to make it look like rough, carved stones stacked one on top of another), you start the sanding process.  Keeping your stone and sandpaper wet, you sand away, gradually working your way from 200 grade sandpaper to 800 grade.

After you get it as smooth as you want it, you are ready for the final steps:  heating it up (toaster oven or blow torch) and then applying beeswax.  This seals the stone, 

and then you buff it to a great shine.

 Interested in doing some soapstone carving?  Let us know, and we will try to schedule John again.

Thanks, John, for your time and expertise!