Heart of Stone

It’s been years since I haven’t been carving soap stone, so when my daughter did some candle holders last Christmas, I decided to get it a go myself.

The tools I used were a small kitchen knife, sanding paper and my dentist drill bits. The nice thing about this heart is the small form factor: The heart measures about 8 mm (1/4″) and the whole stone is a little more than an inch long.

The dentist drill bits worked great at undercutting the heart, which would have been a pain in the back without them. The only issue I encountered was the drill dust, which had a tendency to clog the bit’s cutting teeth. I tried to get rid of that problem by adding water, which then (thanks to the temperature rising at the bit’s head) turned into a muddy paste…

For further carving activities I’m considering building a dust vent hood, something like the one I had for air brushing. With a low-noise fan, a vacuum cleaner hose and a dust bag it should be possible to trap the dust before it starts decorating the whole darn room, also helping me to get a good view of the things I’m carving.

Finally the heart was coated with some semi glossy varnish to make it shine a little more than only being polished.

The stone had a tendency to fall to the left rear, so I cut up some 2mm sheet plastic, covered that with aluminum tape, carefully sanded it to a nice dull finish and glued the heart stone onto it with the help of my old trusted friend Araldite.