I was asked to demonstrate soapstone carving at the Cultural Festival celebrating Native American Heritage at the University of Virginia on May 5, 2007.  Instead of just demonstrating, I found it more fun to teach.

As an afterthought I had packed about forty small stones, about 2 x 3 x 3 inches, and five small rasps in a box to take with me. Each stone had an animal outline drawn on it: bears, wolves, turtles, rabbits, fish, etc. When the kids started asking how I carved, I told them they could do it... and they did!

Showing the use of rasps...

Click to see how to carve a stone fetish!

It takes a bit of co-ordination to use the tools, but that only limited a few. The children made their own fetishes and took them home. We all had fun!

Sometimes I helped redesign when a fault in the stone caused an ear or a limb to break off while carving.

I have always been proud of my Native American heritage. My grandfather's mother was a member of the St. Regis tribe, part of the Iroquios Nation in northern New York State. My grandfather was over six-feet tall, the shortest of nine brothers! These are the guys that work the "high iron", building the steel skelotons of skyscrapers all over the world. The St. Regis are also know for making Lacrosse sticks.