Soapstone Hound Part Four - Final Details

In an earlier post, I talked about the importance of carving an engaging and convincing face, because the human eye is especially good at seeing flaws. 

That is not to say, however, that we can can afford to neglect the rest of our sculpture as less important. The face might be the first thing our audience sees, but they will remember if the sculpture is lacking in other ways.

How you doin'?

Having done as much work on the face that I was willing to do for the time being, I moved on to the rest of the body. Here is the hound after about four more hours of work. You can see the collar has been added, his forelegs have much more definition, and the sculpture is taking on its final proportions.

Lookit my butt.

A view from the back of the sculpture shows the symmetry of the haunches, ears, and collar on both sides of the body. I have left the tail for last, as it will go quickly.

At this point, I only occasionally need a riffler to remove stone, relying instead on chisels and gouges to draw the hound out of the stone. For the most part, the actual carving is done. After adding the tail, all that remains is to do the final clean up on details like symmetry and proportion. I will also add a bit of musculature to to the haunches and ribs.
 
I wasn't really keeping track, but I would estimate that it has taken me roughly 20 hours from rough stone to this stage.

In the next post, we will examine ways of removing tool marks and polishing, making the sculpture ready for presentation.

Soapstone Hound Part Three - Tool Sharpening and Torso

A couple of questions that come from students learning how to carve are

1. When do I know it is time to sharpen my gouges/chisels, and

2. How do I do that?

The answer to the first question essentially comes down to a matter of experience. Simply put, if the soapstone (or other medium) seems to be a lot harder than when you started,  if you're not getting precision cuts, or if it feels as if you're ploughing through the stone rather than cutting through it, it's time to sharpen your tools.

And how do you do that?

Well, there are plenty of options, from grinding tips attached to a rotary tool (i.e. Dremel) to a grinding machine, but I personally prefer the traditional method of using a Japanese water stone. This is one I got at Lee Valley for about $40.00

It is a combination stone with a coarse side and a fine side. I soak it in water for about ten minutes and then sharpen my tool against the surface, maintaining an angle that matches the bevel provided by the tool's manufacturer. Of course, I start with the coarse (grey) side and then finish off with an equal number of strokes on the fine (brown) side. When I think I have done the job adequately, I test the tool on a piece of paper to see if it cuts nicely. If not, I repeat the process until I'm satisfied.

This is an excellent guide on using Japanese waterstones like mine. There are also videos on YouTube if you learn better by watching.

Moving now to the ongoing process of carving the Ashmole Hound, here is an updated photo of the project with the head and face cleaned up and the haunches carved in. The forelegs are suggested, as is the dog's belly.

SPIFF!

Of course, the haunches are repeated on the other side. More detail is required, such as the collar and the tail. The latter will be curled around the hound's haunches to ensure there are no protruding bits that will break off with handling. More stone needs to come off of the hound's chest and throat, but an eye must always be kept for proportion and symmetry.

The ridge on the top of his face, reflected in the source material, makes him look more like an Afghan hound than a greyhound, and given that they're both sighthounds, I'm satisfied with that. I also think that this might be a matter of trying to render something in 3D that the Ashmole artist rendered in two, so there are likely to be distortions.

Soapstone Hound Part Two - The Head

Having achieved the basic shape and size of the dog, it now follows to begin work on laying in some details that will give it some individuality and personality. When working in 3D, making sure you have a convincing and engaging face is essential. The human eye is exceptionally good at detecting asymmetry or abnormalities. We are drawn to eyes, therefore we must make certain that the head and face are well-executed.

Bow wow, bitches.

As in any art, be it drawing or painting or sculpting, it is useful to break the project down into basic shapes. Looking at the source material, we see that the dog's head is essentially teardrop in shape. The stop--that part of the dog's face just before the eyes--is minimal, and tapers into a very fine muzzle. The face itself is very slightly "dished". Also, his poll, the top of his head between the ears, is softly rounded and flows into a long, strong neck.

Here, I have mounted the sculpt into my vise clamp and am using the riffler to illustrate how I achieve the dished face. I have also laid in very rudimentary ears and eyes. These are shallow and temporary; the various details of the dog are very rough and will be redrawn several more times as the shape is refined. Ironically, although we are working in stone, at this stage nothing is written in stone! The project is still quite fluid in terms of details. 

Right now, he looks more like an Easter chick than a lean, mean, hare-hunting machine, but we still have a bit of work to do. That work is removing stone so that it resembles the source material, all the while constantly checking the sculpt from every angle to ensure as much symmetry as possible. 

Remember, it is a lot easier to remove soapstone than it is to add it, so go slowly and check your progress often.

And this is what the head looks like a little later on.

Imma crap in your yard, okay?

With more details laid in, especially the ears, it starts to look less like an angry chicken, and more like the Ashmole hound. As I work more on the face, I will further define the eyes, touch up the corners of the mouth and clean up the ears. A dog's ears, even droopy ones like these, are always "proud" of the surface of the head. Therefore I will use a chisel to undercut the ears somewhat so they "pop" visually.

This photo is included to demonstrate how both sides of the face are symmetrical. (Sorry for the shitty lighting and photography.)

In the next post, I will continue to remove excess stone from the dog's neck and chest, and start roughing in the haunches, collar and forelegs.

Soapstone Hound Part One - Basic Steps

This is my process for sculpting a piece for a medieval board game called Hare and Hounds. It is a very, very old game, dating to at least the Roman period and is similar to Fox and Geese in that it is an asymmetrical capture game. The board I embroidered (which could have been its own post!) is rendered in split, stem, straight and chain stitch on linen. 

The gaming pieces, three hounds and a hare, I am making out of soapstone. This post, and the ones that follow, record my progress for those interested in the process and the tools used.

To begin with, I wanted a medieval image of a dog, and thank goodness there is no lack of them in manuscripts and bestiaries of the period. The one I settled on is below, taken from the Ashmole Bestiary from the early 13th century (Folio 25r). It shows what are three greyhound-esque hounds, collared and chained to elegant, if improbable, foliage.

Next, I needed to choose the stone out of which the hound would be carved.  I selected a little chunk of black Brazilian soapstone purchased from Bedrock Lapidary in Edmonton. I like the soapstone at Bedrock because it is  a local business, it is convenient, and it is guaranteed free from asbestos. I chose this chunk because it came close to the size and shape of the gaming piece I envisioned in its final form. 


This is what the chunk looked like after I cut it away from the larger piece with a hacksaw. It is wet, so you can see an approximation of the stone's colour. It is roughly triangular in shape, approx 2.5 inches long, 2.5 inches high and 1.75 inches wide. Also shown with the stone is the rasp I will use in the initial stages of dressing the stone into the basic shape of the hound.

I rendered the hound in a sitting position. Soapstone is very soft, typically between a one and a two on the Mohs hardness scale. To compare, a diamond is a ten and agates are around seven. Alabaster and limestone are in the three to four range. Some soapstones are so soft, you can mark them with your fingernail (although I don't advise this! ;-) Malleability and ease of working, the same qualities that make soapstone such a joy to work with, also severely limit its application in certain circumstances. For example, it does not take deep or crisp detail, though is very handsome in sweeping, flowing, elegant lines, such as our greyhound. In a gaming piece such as this, one also wants to avoid fragile limbs or protuberances that will snap off with a lot of rough wear.

The image was drawn freehand on the stone using first an embossing tool, and then a Sharpie. It is very rough and really just the suggestion of how the hound will eventually look, because I expect to do a lot of changing and refining of the little guy as I go. For the sake of symmetry, the image appears on both sides of the stone. Reminder: this image is a guide only. You are not committed to following this image the way it currently appears.

With the rough idea of the doggo in place, my next step was to refine the shape even further and begin the process of rounding off the edges. As I work, I constantly check my source material and bear in mind that I am working towards "finding the dog" that is "buried" in the stone. He is, in the end, intended to be a three-dimensional figure, not a flat piece. 

I know it sounds a little bizarre, but throughout the creative process, from choosing the stone to finishing the polishing, I am in constant dialogue with the work about who and what it is. The more you work with your medium, the more that conversation flows.

These images show why it is not practical to use the rough sketch as a final one, and why it is essential that the sculptor constantly bear the finished project in mind. The drawing I made of the hound did not--could not--survive the shaping of the stone. At this point, I am simply working towards bringing the stone to where it is mostly proportional. For example, you can see in the photo on the left that the head is too wide by far. I can also begin to think about roughly sculpting in some details, such as his haunches and forelegs and jawline.

I also had an issue with the dog's base not being true. One can, if one is so inclined, attempt to true up the bottom of the sculpt with a rasp and checking it every so often by eyeballing it. However, this wastes time and energy. It is easier by far to lay some coarse grit sandpaper down on a piece of plate glass and scrub the base of your work over that until you achieve that perfect bottom. The plate glass will provide a "true" surface. NOTE: You can also do this on the sidewalk, but this is the Canadian prairies in February, so it isn't an option for me!)

Moving forward, these are the tools I will be using to further refine Fido's contours. From top to bottom, there is the rasp used above. The rasp will only be used for the quick and easy removal of large areas on stone, and will not be making much of an appearance from here on in. Instead, I will be making more use of the riffler below it. This is a stainless steel riffler I purchased at Lee Valley. I have them in a variety of sizes and shapes, and are used for the removal of stone in smaller and more detailed areas. In addition, I will be using a Ramelson micro-gouge to rough in some areas of detail as mentioned above. I have included the embossing tool at the very bottom, as I will use it to deepen some of the lines I will follow, suggesting a temporary placement of the eyes and ears, etc. 

So, now we have a very basic sculpt! The following posts will involve the refining and further detailing in the next steps.

And before I forget--it would be irresponsible of me to neglect the subject of safety. Soapstone creates very fine particulate (called talc, the same stuff you sprinkle on the baby's bottom!) that easily gets into the nostrils and lungs. This is why I am adamant that my stone be asbestos free. Even the "safe" stuff, however, can be harmful if inhaled. Therefore, always work soapstone wearing a good respirator or in a very well ventilated area. Also, whenever possible, work the stone while it is damp, to decrease the amount of dust. Use a dust-clearing ventilation system if you have access to one.

In addition, saws, rasps, rifflers and gouges are all potentially very dangerous. Exercise proper technique by always moving the tool away from your hand/body. I always wear a sturdy gardening glove on the hand that holds the stone. Keep your tools sharp--a dull cut is way worse than a clean one.

Work in good light and remember to take regular breaks to stretch your body and refresh you mind. A fresh eye is as important a tool as any other.

Stay safe and have fun!