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Soapstone + Other Stuff! |
Queen Kamehameha
Grand Member (7 years) 
Joined: Oct 21, 2003
Posts: 1374
From: So Cal
|  Posted: 2007-08-11 4:02 pm Permalink
Hi Tipua, Very nice soapstone works!
I tried Soapstone too, but found the details were too hard to accomplish and I kept breaking thepieces at the end. So I moved to River Rock and Some Jade. I am tring stones iin the 5 hardness range, some nice pieces on ebay. Keep it up!
Amy
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kiwishaman
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 31, 2007
Posts: 212
From: Aotearoa
| Posted: 2007-08-12 04:34 am Permalink
Tipua
I just love the triple head! You have pulled that one off magnificently! Been thinking of making a triple head pendant - less 3D than your work of art - but am stalled in the design process 
Awesome, well done - love it. . . .
Where is some more?
KS
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10309
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2007-08-12 07:37 am Permalink
Just thinking too that you might try plain old cement, plaster or such right from Home Depot or Lowe's. It might be the perfect finish for your hebel stuff and certainly readily available. You could also use tile grout which can be obtained in many different colors. Just mix it up and brush it on and smooth it out with a damp sponge.
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Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-08-12 8:07 pm Permalink
Thanks Queen Amy Kamehameha!
I've actually found that soapstone can take quite a bit of detail, but you're definitely right in that soapstone tends to be a tad too breakable. It makes doing a very detailed piece that much more scarier as you never know how close you are to the breaking point until you break it! It's also quite unforgiving if you drop it too! 
It will never be as good as say jade, but it IS CHEAP!
Thanks too Kiwishaman!
There was no planning at all with the triple faced head. It just came from my lack of symmetrical skill.
A triple head pendant would be interesting. Humans just love the number 3 don't they?
And thanks Benzart!
You're advice is always very welcome!
Cement or tile grout (different colors you say! Hmmm...) seems very do-able. I'll have to fight my laziness & forgetfulness and check out my local hardware store.
Cheers everyone!
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Tipua
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2007
Posts: 114
From: Canberra, Australia
| Posted: 2007-08-17 01:58 am Permalink
Aloha all!
Just thought I'd drop in some interesting pics of some soapstone carvings (by other people... I've done nothing new myself!):
Here's some African Long Eared Ladies 
And here's a beautiful soapstone carving of an eagle I found on www.alaskanativearts.com - a site for northwest American tribal art.
For those of you out there who are thinking that I'm only posting these these pics on a site devoted to Tiki because they're soapstone, and I like soapstone - well you are right - but also please keep in mind Thor Heyerdahl's theory expounded in his book "American Indians in the Pacific".
He proposed that the Pacific (specifically Polynesia) was peopled not from Asia, but from the Americas.
He particularly points to the similarities in culture between northwest American coast Haida people and the Maori of New Zealand.
I won't go into the specifics, and in fact he was proven wrong when the genetics has since shown otherwise (Maori mitochondrial DNA can be tracked back to Taiwan. see www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s823810.htm ), but there's no reason why Polynesians could not have visited the Haida, or vise versa. They were both great sea-faring people (it has been proven that polynesians did make it to South America on at least one occasion - Polynesian chicken bones were found in Chile.
See www.newscientist.com/article/dn11987-polynesians-beat-columbus-to-the-americas-.html )
Also, check out this out:
It's quite close to something Maori in my opinion (although there's no spirals), even the colours are Maori, but it's Haida.
Interesting hey?
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