Carving animals

When carving an animal (or another piece which has a very irregular shape) I take the following steps:

• study the form of the animal - look at pictures of it from all angles, and diagrams of the skeleton.  I slowly begin to understand how it works and to see the differences between individuals, the sexes, old and young
• print off some pictures and hang them on my workshop wall where I can easily refer to them for overall shape and details
• draw the animal at the size I want.  Some people go further and make templates for multiple, identical carvings.  Both are good

Figure 1 shows a drawing made for one face of the stone.  I need one for each face

• choose the piece of stone I'm going to use
• study it - look for the grain and texture of the stone
• check for any microscopic fractures in the stone – if there are any long, thin sections in the animal like arms, legs or a tail, align them with the grain and any fractures to minimize the risk of a negative stone integrity event (ie breakage)
• cut the stone to size
• draw the animal onto the faces of the stone and study it.  I adjust my design as necessary.  Does it fit?

Figure 2 shows the three pieces of stone with various scribblings on them

• check again that I have done everything correctly – study the rock and form of the animal
• steel myself and take the first cut – I need to be right – no second chances here!

Figure 3 shows the blocks of stone cut to size and the first cuts made to shape the stone

• apart from trimming the stone, with a thick trim blade I can also make parallel cuts to speed up the grinding of hard-to-reach excess stone if careful

Figure 4 shows a further iteration in shaping the stone, including using the blade to speed up the later grinding (the parallel cuts).  This can't be safely done with a very thin blade however

• ​after each series of cuts, I redraw the animal on the stone faces and enjoy seeing how the design slowly begins to emerge 
• I am careful not to remove too much stone from the inside too early - tend to work from the outside to the inside to obtain the correct balance and form

And at some point I reach the moment where trimming is complete and it is time to pull out my grinding wheel to continue to rough out the shape of the animal.
 
And a point on safety: when cutting stone, as you mop up or clean your workspace, be careful not to squeeze the cloth or sponge too tightly as you will have picked up many small shards of stone.  You can easily end up with them sticking in your hand.  Please be careful!