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Creating sculptures out of stone can be a difficult and time-consuming process. While stone is far from impossible to work with, the fact that it is so rigid that sculptors can only work by chiseling away chunks of it mean that there is little margin for error when creating a work of art. Despite the difficulty inherent in working with stone, there can be no denying that a talented stone sculptor can create beautiful works of art from a slab of soapstone or marble.

The process of creating a sculpture from stone is really all about subtraction.Check out this link here. That is, the sculptor must remove parts of the stone that won’t belong to the finished project. Many sculptors like to make the process easier on themselves by working with a stone that is roughly the size and shape of what they want to create. They use the medium to their advantage and work with the basic structure of the stone instead of against it.

The first step of creating a stone sculpture besides choosing the right stone is to “rough out” the basic shape of the finished sculpture with masonry rod saws. This step isn’t all that difficult for experienced sculptors; it mainly involves removing enough of the stone to make it closer to the shape of the finished product. After the basic shape is formed, finer work can be done with files. This is where the artist can create the finer details of the work and smooth out some of the rough spots that come from removing large chunks of stone. Perhaps the most important part of creating a stone sculpture would be finishing it. This is usually done with sand paper to achieve a polished look. While softer stone such as soapstone can be smoothed out with steel wool, most sculptors opt for silicone carbide sandpaper. The best technique is to start with 180 grit sandpaper and move onto higher grit levels as the stone becomes more polished. Finally, soft-stone sculptures are often polished with a finish such as linseed oil, although harder stones don’t usually require this kind of attention.