This week I called the bedrock stucco supply and asked for tips on soapstone. The lady was really nice and told me that since it was a weekend there weren’t any carvers at the store but I could look at their affiliate rubble road soapstone website or tips. :https://www.rubble-road.com/wolf-soapstone-carving-instructions
They had a really in depth and detailed tutorial and if I had known this website sooner the sculpture probably would end up way better, but I can still apply some of the steps they used. Also instead of slowly chipping away at the soapstone with a tool I started experimenting with power tools. Although the wolf sculpture I use is pretty thick the one that the website used was much more thick so maybe the thicker the stone the easier it is to choose deisgns. They also had a more detailed oiling process than the one I used for the bear. They also had a better tutorial on how to use sandpaper to rough out the edges/ fur pattern of the wolf. The website also had a youtube channel with the tutorials:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKHWv0lyHC-Brht4DU12NiQ
And they had a video for large/medium wolf sculptures that was almost 5 hours long.
They also said that looking at different toys in the shape of the sculpture/ animal, or looking at a finished product from different angles could help with some of the planning steps. Another tip they gave was to carve from the top to bottom, instead of bottom to top because ” this way that texture will flow down the carving. ” Even if I do start using their tips it would be hard for the nose and ears part, because a bit of the wolf was chipped when I bought it, however i don’t think this would be too much of a hinurence since they already sand the it down a bit to seperate the nose from the rest of the face. I feel like power tools are really quick and efficient but they don’t allow you to go in small details, so I would probably sketch the parts I want to cut, cut it with the power tools, and then round it out with the tools.
For my presentation I’ll bring the bear and the wolf sculpture and probably the hand tools that I used, I might bring the power tools if my parents and the school allow me but I probably wouln’t, maybe just a video would be enough. I’m thinking about using a slideshow or using a video.
Picutres of carving:
