When I first visited Sedona I met an amazing stone sculptor named Gideon Nyonhongo who introduced me to a whole new world of sculpting. I've always loved working in 3D and have carved and whittled with wood my whole life, but I had never tried anything with stone, so after expressing my desire to give it a try he graciously gave me a small chunk of leftover Opal he had from a project that he was working on. I was so thrilled!

It's a piece of Opal from Zimbabwe, where he's from, and it was the perfect stone to do my first piece with. It's dense, no fracture lines, but soft enough to use basic tools. And it smells like dryer sheets when you start cutting into it!

I wasn't sure what I would carve out of such a small piece, but Gideon taught me to listen to the stone and let it tell you what/who it is. So after turning it around and around in my hand and trying to dismiss my own ideas it finally jumped out at me and told me that it was a soft momma and newborn baby, so I carefully, with only a few wood files, a couple long drill bits I filed into chisels and help of a little dremel and sandpaper I began the journey to uncover these two beautiful souls.

I still need to finish sanding it and apply the final wax, but you can see how with some water on it it already is beginning to shine!

I'm hooked!