Hi,
My experience with soapstone is limited, but one thing I
noticed is that soapstone dust doesn't float. It seems
to be too heavy for that. Since soapstone is usually
worked with rasps, sandpaper and the like rather than
with power tools, the dust accumulates at the base of
the piece you're working on. That means to me that there
is virtually no danger of inhaling the dust. This is
different from marble or granite which forms veritable
clouds even when using hand tools.
Otherwise, I completely agree with the necessity of
forming correct habits from the start, e.g. wearing
goggles, ear protection, air masks and gloves - all in
reasonable accordance with the material and tools used.
As far as getting into carving and sculping goes this
has worked very well for me: I enrolled for a course
which took us through a few different techniques:
modelling in clay from life (setting up a wire frame,
watching proportions, making and refining the clay
model, then making a plaster cast); carving a piece of
soapstone using knives, rasps, sandpaper; carving a
piece of wood using wood carving tools, finishing with
sandpaper and oil.
All this gave me an appreciation of the processes,
materials and tools involved and a feeling of what is
closest to my own inclination. The results where little
works which my friends like to this day, although to me
they look very amateurish. I believe that at the
beginning one needs to find out what suits one best,
hence skimming quickly through a variety of techniques
and materials can be very enlightening. I finally
settled for stone...
My penny anyway...
Greetings to all
Andrei
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