Another Teacher Convention. I have been to so many sessions in the past 30 years that there really isn’t much I have not seen or done. Imagine my surprise when I saw a class on Soapstone Carving with the presenter Ron Wigglesworth. I have gone to one of Ron’s drawing classes before and I appreciate his passion and knowledge. I have never done any carving and I actually have a large piece of soapstone hiding in the black closet at school.
Soapstone is actually talc( the stuff in baby powder) The light and dark blue is soft, breathable and delicate to the touch.. Green, green brown and grey you can use mid touch with. The black /blue is harder and you can abuse it better! Various tools you will need to use are rasps, files, exact knifes, old dental tools, various grits of sandpaper. Items are old t-shirts ripped up, ice cream buckets, dust mask, safety glasses and baby oil.
I decided to go for a small green/brown piece. The plan was to make something small, something attainable, something that would give the students a taste of the project, making them want to do more. I picked a small green/brown pick and carved in an interesting shape, sanded it,put a hole in it and made it into a pendant. Success!
