How to Work With Marble

Learn how to work with marble to make sculptures for your home.

Marble is a beautiful stone that is traditionally used for carving sculptures. It is soft and can be carved by hand using a variety of stone sculpting tools. Stone is carved in a similar manner to other materials. The process involves roughing out the shape, refining the carving and finishing it. It is important to take your time and plan out your carving before you start. Remember to take small chips of stone away from the carving at a time to prevent taking too much of the stone away all at once.

Things You'll Need

• 4 sandbags
• Marble piece
• Crayon
• Mallet
• Point chisel
• Claw chisel
• Toothed chisel
• Flat chisel
• Riffler
• File
• Wet/dry sandpaper (150-, 200-, 300-, 400-grit)
• Cloth rags
• Tin oxide
• Buffing wax
• Safety goggles
• Dust mask
• Gloves

Instructions

1. Lay four sandbags together side by side on a flat work surface. Place the marble piece in the center of the sandbags.

2. Draw the outline of the design onto each side of the marble piece, using a crayon. Hold the point chisel at a slight angle against the stone and tap it with a mallet to create lines in the marble piece. Create lines in a cross-hatched grid using this method. Make the lines to the depth to which you'll need to remove material from the marble piece for your design.

3. Chip off the raised squares of marble made from the cross-hatched grid by tapping a claw chisel against them with a mallet.

4. Refine the rough shape of the carving by cleaning off all of the lines left from the claw chisel, using a toothed chisel. Hold the toothed chisel against the surface of the carving, and tap it with a mallet to chip off all of the lines made from the claw chisel in the carving.

5. Use a flat chisel to remove the lines made by the tooth chisel by tapping it with a mallet over the entire surface of the carving. Tap the chisel lightly to avoid removing too much of the marble. The goal is just to remove the lines made by the toothed chisel.

6. Smooth out the remaining marks in the carving with a riffler and file. Use the riffler to smooth out curved surfaces, and the file to smooth out flat surfaces on the carving. Move the riffler and file in a forward motion to file the stone.

7. Sand the carving with a progression of 150-, 200-, 300- and finally 400-grit sandpaper. Wet the sandpaper as you sand the carving to help prevent the sandpaper from clogging. Allow the carving to dry completely.

8. Rub the surface of the carving with tin oxide to seal the marble surface, using a rag. Wash off the surface of the marble with water after approximately five minutes, using a clean cloth. Allow the marble to dry completely.

9. Buff the surface of the carving with a buffing wax and a soft cloth until the surface has reached the desired sheen.

Tips & Warnings

• Start off carving a small marble piece and work up to larger-scale sculptures.

• If you're a novice carver, you might want to start with a softer stone such as soapstone or alabaster before you attempt carving marble.

• Wear safety goggles, a dust mask and gloves while working with marble.

• Carving stone is hard work. Allow yourself frequent breaks so you can give your muscles a rest.

References

• Stoneshaper: How to Carve Marble, Limestone, Soapstone, and Alabaster Sculptures
• Bang the Rocks Together; How to Carve Stone; Jeff Powell, et al.