Cat's Eye Carving

The Cherub Sculpture VII

Before I continued with the carving, I drilled the holes in the bottom for the threaded stainless steel bar that would be securing the 3 stones together.
In order to make sure all the holes correspond I marked on the template where they would go,  you can see this in the first image.

I started to develop the eye shapes, but before I could go any further I decided to give the whole carving a good wash-this enables me to see the features without the layer of dust that comes with carving.
As you can see from the 3rd photo this washing off of the dust makes everything visible-including the imperfections. It is also an opportunity to see the carving in a natural light-which is always best and although I have daylight bulbs shining from different directions, I much prefer to work outside.

As you can see in the last four photos, I have started to develop the faces much more, creating the illusion of eyebrows without carving every hair, also developing the cheeks and lips.
Every stone has different properties and although this is a fine grained limestone it is not like marble and therefore it will only accept a certain level of detail.

I put a small nic where the nostrils could go but it is important not to actually carve them at this stage-in case I need to change the shape of the nose!

Be patient…