Has anyone ever carved INTO welding soapstone?

I've been teaching history at my kids' school this year. We've been having a blast! I've been trying to make each activity a way for them to learn historical skills by creating things (like binding a book, weaving on a tiny loom, building a miniature wattle house, etc). In a few weeks, we'll be covering the Viking age. I've been wracking my brain for ways to teach them about runes in a fun, useful way.

I really like how runes are designed for carving. There's no curved lines--everything is pretty easy to carve. Which makes sense, because most runes ended up carved into bone, wood, or stone or metal. So, I'd like the kids to experience carving some runes into something. I thought maybe sticks...but that's not nearly as epic as carving into soapstone!

I've heard that soapstone (especially the lighter colored soapstone) is soft enough to carve with a needle (I watched Morgan Donner carve into soapstone with one in this video).

I've called around at local countertop stores to see if anyone had any remnants they might want to donate to the class--so far, no luck. I looked on Amazon for soapstone, and noticed that you can buy little 4.2 inch x 3/4 inch x 3/16 inch "pencils" made of soapstone.



My question is, has anyone ever carved into these little sticks? They seem soft enough to rub off on metal, so they're hopefully soft enough for the kids to carve with some tapestry needles. But, are they too soft? Are there any downsides to this? The kids are just going to be carving their name into sticks, so I'm thinking they'll be big enough for that...but maybe I'm wrong?

Hi Nicole;
I think your idea should work just fine.
I have only used soapstone as a marker for metal work but I believe it would be soft enough to carve into.

I agree, I think it would work well

I have done a tiny bit of carving in with sharp knives.(think exacto).  You can do some fairly fine detail if you don't get in a hurry.

They use soapstone for chilling whiskey and it would give you something a little larger than the welding pieces. Look on Amazon for Whiskey Chillers

Dear hubby used soapstone in his work though I can't remember why.

Soapstone is available at Artist Supply type stores, Etsy, Amazon, and eBay.

I’d research well, exactly what compounds make up soapstone, before letting the kids release small enough particles that they could potentially inhale it. You sound like an amazing teacher!

Carving any kind of stone requires safe practice. Even though carving with say an exacto knife probably wouldn't create a lot of small particulate dust masks would be a good idea. It has a high talc component and some even contain asbestos. It's a media that can take on incredible detail easily with just a blade. Take a look at thesculpturestudio.com

We're just going to be basically scratching at it with a big tapestry needle or maybe a nail. I'm pretty sure I can't give them knives. Even when my son was in woodworking at the school, they weren't allowed to use knives other than a plane. I'm thinking that scratching at it won't make much airborne dust at all? But, I can make sure we have masks on hand for them!

Or do it outside

We realized water would keep the dust down really successfully! So, I kept damp paper towels and a spray bottle and we just kept everything damp while they carved. It worked really well!

We used iron nails to carve into the welding soapstone, and it was really easy for the kids, even ones as young as 5.

I can't share pictures of most of their carvings, because they carved their names.

Plant markers...  Brilliant!!!  I wonder how the carvings will show up over time?  Maybe something dye-like could be rubbed on them to make the letters stand out more if needed.  Looks like you can get 120 of them for $24 so it's quite cost effective to get a seemingly very durable plant marker.

Mike Haasl wrote:Plant markers...  Brilliant!!!  I wonder how the carvings will show up over time?  Maybe something dye-like could be rubbed on them to make the letters stand out more if needed.  Looks like you can get 120 of them for $24 so it's quite cost effective to get a seemingly very durable plant marker.

Rubbing some sort of dye or stain should work. People have started doing that with other ancient carvings, like viking runestones and petroglyphs



[img]https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/scandinavia/sweden/photographs/19c.jpg caption="more painted petroglyphs"

I'm not sure what they're painted (stained?) with, but maybe red ochre?