The piece was fashioned from a single piece of yellow Soap Stone. This stone was bought from a yard sale in central Alberta. I purchased the piece sight un seen. I do not know where it was quarried. The stone is very soft and has to be treated with delicacy.
This sculpture was started on March tenth 2019, and, completed on April twenty third 2019. An average of two- and one-half hours a day was spent on the piece, for a rough total of one hundred and ten hours. There were no power tools used to create this sculpture; all work was done by hand. The rough blocking or shaping of the piece took approximately 30 hours.
This was done with small hand cranked drills and metal rasps. The next step, refining the sculpture to its desired look before polishing, was close to 25 hours. To complete this stage of the work I used 40 grit sand paper on various sanding blocks. Finally, the piece was polished by using progressively finer wet sandpaper, 180 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, 1200 grit, and 2500 grit wet/dry papers were used.
This stone was exceptionally soft, so the sanding process was done slowly and with care. The sculpture was then hand rubbed to its desired gloss. This process used up the balance of the time I spent on this piece. There are no sealers or waxes on the sculpture. The polished areas are pure stone.
Some areas of the sculpture were left in rough stone; this is a trademark of the sculptor. I leave the rough areas to keep the work connected to its original form.
Edward H.
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