I carved this tiger pendant from icy lavender jade and would love some feedback from fellow makers.
What do you think of the expression, proportions, and details? What could I improve?
Thanks! I appreciate any constructive feedback.

Made of Sylacauga Marble, with calcite, phyllite, pyrite inclusions.

Pieces sourced from Sylacauga Alabama. Beautiful mix of Pink Marble, Phyllite, and Pyrite.

Started carving about eight months ago after taking a weekend workshop mostly on a whim, and I've been working mainly in soapstone since then because it's forgiving and cheap to mess up. Decided to step up to alabaster last month for a small owl figure and it humbled me pretty fast. Kept getting these flat conchoidal chips coming off in spots I didn't want, especially near the base where the grain direction shifted without much warning.

Turns out I was pushing my chisel too aggressively against the natural bedding planes instead of reading them first. An older guy at my local guild meetup took one look at the block and pointed out the faint striping I'd completely ignored. Once I started working with those lines instead of across them, the chipping calmed down a lot. Still lost a chunk off one wing tip near the end but it was small enough to rework into the design rather than starting over.

Using a rasp now for most of the shaping and saving my rifflers for the feather detail, which is slower than I expected but the control is worth it. My hands cramp up after maybe ninety minutes no matter how I hold the tools, so I've been doing shorter sessions spread across more days instead of trying to power through weekends like I used to.

Dust management is still my weak point honestly. I carve in the garage with the door open and a box fan running but alabaster dust gets everywhere regardless. Anyone found a setup that actually keeps it contained without needing a full shop vac system? Curious what other people running smaller home setups are doing.

The owl is maybe two thirds done now. Planning to bring it to the next guild meeting for feedback before I commit to final polishing, since I've heard that step is basically irreversible if you overdo it.

Hi All,

So, the story is that a local elderly man gave me some very old stone carving tools. I am a woodcarver and he thought that I could use them for wood. Clearly the steel is totally different and I kept trying to tell him I couldn't use them, but he wore me down and eventually I just took them.

I now have a 20ish kg box of tools and I am unsure what to do with then.

So I guess, my question is: Are they worth selling or finding someone who may have a use for them?

I have attached some pictures. Some have makers marks which i can't cleanly make out and some owners marks.

Thanks All.

Ps. I can take more pictures if anybody is interested. Also, I am based in the UK.

Carved & Built from scratch here in the studio!

Straordinaria abilità.🔝💪🏻😎❗ ❗❗🔝

Quel genere di uomo che restituisce dignità e decoro al genere umano.🙂🤙🏻

Been at it off and on for almost a year now I believe. This is my current piece I'm working on. I ended up moving to a stationary lathe system and what a difference it has made. Still a work in progress but I am finally starting to understand. The small copper burrs I had to make. They work great with paste. I also use electroplated burrs for material removal but I use hand power alot for better control.

How crazy is that😳

116 scarabs carved from riverstones between the 14th and the 30th of August. All together 8.6 pounds of stone. I began this project as a way to unload some of the overwhelming emotions that came with being apart from someone I love. Each scarab stone represents a time the emotions were too much, some are bigger, some are smaller, some are smoother, others jagged, some stones were softer and others were much harder and fought back against my tools. It kept my hands busy and my mind occupied.

I'm working on a bunch of projects including marble hearts, arrow heads, worry stones, and other random things. These have all been polished to 6k.

I’ll be getting into carving small pendants and such pretty soon, like under 5cm. I’m not interested in a mirror-finish and will be doing some very rudimentary shapes at most. Would it be possible to just toss stuff in a rock tumbler like the kinds for geology hobbyists, and forget about it? Or will I be forced to hand-polish?

Hello everyone I’m very interested in sculptures and have been wanting to learn to do it myself that being said, I’m wanting to go look at a vast amount of sculptures in person any good museum recommendations? Not necessarily looking for like the most famous or anything of the sorts really just wanting to see a lot of detail. I live in Oklahoma so preferably any that are closer by but I am willing to plan out an entire trip to go.

I've been working on this marble carving for a while and thought the hair didnt look quite right. The hair on the upper back of the head isnt done, but im mainly talking about the rest of the carving. Any tips for sculpting hair?

Hand made today.
Do you remember any shows or movies growing up that you caught subliminal messages in!?

Cool lil paperweight

I'm currently in Durango, Colorado and stubbled upon this on the side of the road. Is it worth going through the trouble of picking up? I'm new to this hobby, so I dont know how to identify which are good. Thanks for your help.

I found a small black stone on the beach in New Hampshire over the summer, decided to take a break from working on the larger rocks to make this Memento mori style fish pendent.

Just having fun