Shaping the hard stuff.

As dannytoro alluded in the comments section; there are some craftsman [artists] working with anorthosite, and some with labradorite in Labrador. These three pieces are from Nain. The Kullik I had made as a replacement for the one we sent to NZ [see earlier post], it does not have the same character as the soap stone one, but quite a bit of work went into it non the less. It is 'blue eyes' rock unpolished.




The stylised partridge is of the feldspar rock with larger more spectacular deposits of Labradorite inlaid.







The three bears are an anomaly when it come to carvings. Cut out of huge blocks of the 'blue eyes' rock they were shipped on completion to a customer in Nova Scotia. Having seen the customers house [from a distance] it is possible he has a coffee table big enough to hold them.

This year the same 'artist' completed two more of similar size for the same customer. They were butt ugly in comparison to the bears. One was a caribou, it was difficult to capture the essence and shape I guess. The other was smaller and I think was either an otter or a weasel, it sort of did not look like anything.

This rock is extremely hard and has to be worked using diamond tipped or impregnated tools.