Chiefcarver.com Soasptone Carvings By Chris Medeiros

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CHIEFCARVER . COM

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Copyright © 2010 Chris Medeiros CHIEFCARVER. All Rights Reserved

Text Box: S t o n e c a r v I n g Stone carving is an ancient activity where pieces of natural stone are shaped by removing of unwanted sections of the stone. Evidence can be found dating back to the earliest societies that stonework was being practiced in one form or another. From making household items for everyday usage, to art and even large as making infrastructures, soapstone is a huge part of our lives. The stone carving term also refers to the activity of masons dressing stone blocks for use in architecture, building or civil engineering. It is also a term used by historians, archaeologists and anthropologists to describe the activity in making some types of petroglyphs. The oldest known works of representational art are stone carvings. Often stuff carved into stone will survive a lot longer than paintings would. There were different techniques used to carve stone in early societies. One of the earliest examples was using a harder piece of stone, to hit or scratch a softer piece of stone. Antlers were also known to be used for some of the softer stones. The development of iron made possible stone carving tools such as chisels, drills and saws made from steel that were capable of being hardened and tempered to a state hard enough to cut stone without deforming the tool. Stone carving into sculpture is older than civilization itself. Prehistoric sculptures were usually human form, which later cultures then started carving animals and human-animal and abstract forms in stone. The process begins with a selection of stone for carving. Some artists use the stone itself as inspiration and other artists begin with a form already in mind and find a stone that fits to complete their vision. The first process is the roughing out of the stone. This is done by cutting out the unwanted areas of the stone to get its overall shape. Some carvers use a point chisel with a hammer and others like me use a small saw blade to cut out the unwanted pieces which then can be used for other carvings. Once the general shape is of the carving has been determined, the sculptor uses other tools to refine the figure. I tend to use rasps, rifflers and files at this point to refine the figure. Different sizes of rasps, rifflers and files can be purchased for finer detail addition to the sculpture. Some carvers use rotary tools and dremel kits to even go deeper into defining the sculpture. The final stage of the carving process is polishing. Sandpaper can be used to polish the sculpture and make its true beauty appear. I use waterproof sandpaper in the following order of grit 180, 220, 320, 400 and 600. Next Page

Stone Carving