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Every now on then on my stone hunt I come across something unexpected and unique, and this year it was a small collection of truly exquisite leopard carvings! These incredibly lifelike carvings are hand sculpted from soapstone and capture the leopards in a very lifelike, almost romantic pose. The entire carving is very realistic and nicely rendered, but what really blew me away was seeing that each spot was hand carved into the stone as well! I loved them so much that I went back last year and was both pleased and surprised to see the artist who made these had graduated to making pairs of leopards carved from a single stone! I still can't get over how much labor there must be invested into this carving. I have my own talents with stone, but carving isn't one of them and it makes me admire the skill that goes into something like this all the more. You'll note that the artist now also signs his work, as anyone capable of creating something like this from a block of raw stone should! That said, if it proves to be a distraction, it would hide easily with a few dabs from a sharpie marker. This is a substantial, hefty carving with top quality craftsmanship that I'm confident you'll be as impressed with as I have been! One of the best imports I saw show up in Tucson last year were these really fine animal carvings made from soapstone to produce an incredible work of art! While I take a great deal of pride in being able to offer the finest polished gem specimens on eBay, I cannot carve my initials in a board, let alone come up with something this impressive! I really couldn't believe how detailed these carvings were and the patience to carve each spot in the stained surface of the stone just left me awestruck. I wish I could have met the person that did this work, but she or he is in Africa and the best I can do is help share their creation here with my fellow rock lovers. The stone used is soapstone, a relatively soft stone that can still be polished to produce the slick surfaces you see on this carving. I love every detail including that magnificent tail! These carvings are good quality, hand made sculptures and the raw material is really top notch. It is nicely polished and finished to show off all the talent of the carver as well as the beauty of the stone! This carving is a pretty good sized leopard with a beautiful and detailed coat, not a tiny finger sized rock. It incorporates a natural stone base as part of the carving that supports the sculpture with good stability. This nice carving measures a little over 12" long and is a maximum of about about 6 1/2". It weighs about 4.76 lbs. I'm confident you'll be as impressed as I was when you see it in person! A nice, unique naturally wonderful stone collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary. |
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