How is Inuit stone carving done?

Stone sculpting involves the following steps:

1. Purchasing raw stone: You can order stone to be mailed or shipped to you from suppliers reached through our homepage link to stone sculpting resources. Prices range from 80 cents to $5 per pound, depending upon the beauty and rarity of the stone, but it is easy to get started with a soft stone at about $1.50/pound.

2. Selecting the type of stone: Most Inuit stone carvers work with soapstone, particularly the classic green serpentine varieties that are native to Arctic regions. However, they also use myriad types and colors of soapstone, alabasters or marbles. Beginners can get extremely soft soapstone's or alabasters that can be worked with wood rasps and which finish to a wonderful glossy sheen. There is a soft but beautiful soapstone that ranges in color from green to golden brown that is available from John Pugh (541-479-3646) that is inexpensive and ideal for beginners.  Stone sculptor supply (stonesculptorsupply.com) also has a wonderful soft green stone that we use with new carvers. Our personal favorite carving stones are the translucent alabasters, which are relatively hard and which produce spectacular mirror-like finishes.

3. Cleaning the stone: After, and sometimes even before you decide what to make from a stone, it needs to be cleaned, that is, all of the crumbly stone that will fall away later when you are working the stone or sharp edges that are too fragile to ever be part of a final sculpture, need to be removed with course rasps or grinders. If there is a lot to be removed, it should be done before you decide what to carve out of the stone, since you may have to remove so much that it changes its general shape. 

4. Cutting out the form: If I were making a bear standing on all four feet, I would start with a raw stone of blocky shape. On the part of the stone I considered to be the bear's back, I would use a pointed file to scratch the general outline of the shape of the bear looking down at it from the top. Although this could be done with hacksaws or chisels, I usually use a three-inch rotating diamond blade in an air-powered die grinder and cut all the stone away from the outside of the line I scratched. I also commonly use an air chisel to do this removal. Incidentally, our visits to the Arctic tell us that most native carvers also use power tools these days. The next step is to draw the legs, body, neck and head from the side view with my point, then cut everything that isn't body, neck, or legs away with a saw or chisel. When this "cutting out" phase is done, I have a bear, but she has square legs, neck, and body. 

5. Rounding off or forming: I now use either heavy wood rasps or power grinders to round off the square legs, body, and neck to make them round. I then have the bear formed, but there is no detail, such as ears, nose, etc.

6. Carving the detail: Now it is time to add the jaw, the ears, the toes, feet, and other details. This is done with curved files called "rifflers or with small air-powered grinders.

7. Finishing: The final step is to finish the surface of the piece, much as it is with completing a piece of fine wooden furniture. This is done primarily with sandpaper, starting with course 50 grit to get rid of the filing and grinding marks and ending with 2000 grit paper to make the stone shine like glass. I usually go from 50 to 125, to 200, to 400 to 600, to 800 and then finish with 1500 or 2000 grit. The final gloss and deepening of color is done with a stone-finishing product called Akemi (simplestonecare.com)