Be it a huge masterpiece or a small figurine a soapstone sculpture reveals its best after the sanding stage. Colours finally emerge, and contours are suddenly more defined.
Sand for finesse
The first step is to sand away the marks left by the larger tools. Use a medium or even coarse grain sandpaper. With really big pieces work in a series of stages to avoid boredom!
Correct those last imperfections.
By this stage you would consider your work to be 98% finished, especially in terms of filing and rasping, but as you sand it is not uncommon to find little areas that need a little more work. No special method is needed, just carry on where you left off. The final sand of the piece should be with fine grain sandpaper, as coarse grain will have left marks that will show through even after varnishing or polishing.
Wash the stone with clean water.
During sanding it is important to get rid of the build up of dust that occurs as you work, using wet sandpaper or even wire wool (which must be a new piece each time as it rusts quickly), but the best thing is to sponge off or even rinse the stone now and again under the tap. The detail in your work becomes more and more apparent all the time.
"Untitled" by R.Fay
Advice: It is sometimes difficult to access deep and awkward places in a sculpture. Bear in mind when you are working to maybe leave certain parts in a natural state. To reach awkward places you can rollup the sandpaper or wrap it round a pointed tool for example. Also note that unpolished bits risk reappearing as a lighter shade than polished bits. For really complex pieces we advise you to sand entirely by hand - bigger and flatter surfaces could be sanded by a small electric sander if desired.
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