These photos aren't the best as they were taken over a period of time. But they will give you an idea of how an owl emerges from a piece of stone. The joy of carving comes in discovering the bird. It literally pops out at me and says, "Here I am! Now, get me out of here!"

This is the way most of my pieces of soapstone look in the rough. I much prefer the challenge in finding the owl in a piece like this rather than a cut block of stone. Let's turn it around to see the other side.

Aha! The owl has already spoken to me. Do you see it? I use a rasp to remove some of the roughness and to reveal the owl to you. Do you see it now?

 After the rasp, I use a coarse file to smooth the stone further. Then a wax file smoothes it even more.

This is a different view...more or less the backside.

A little more shaping. Now, I'm sure you see the owl. It's not standing very straight. In fact, it has a rather strange pose.

I use carving knives (any kind of knife will work) to cut into the piece. The head and right wing begin to reveal themselves.

There! Now you see it, for sure. The owl's face is partially covered by the wing, and one foot is raised.

With carving knives, small files, and a lot of gentle scraping with dental tools, the wing and face begin to emerge.

The owl is basically carved now. It is time to begin polishing. First, I use two or three grades of steel wool. The facial and feather detail are carved using two different dental tools. They are both scrapers....the same that your dentist uses to clean your teeth.

This is followed by vigorously scrubbing the piece with an old toothbrush dipped in auto body rubbing compound. After quickly washing and drying the piece, I'm ready for wax.

I hope you've enjoyed this little project. There are a few more
photos of this sculpture from the Soapstone Owls, Page 3.