Stone Carver

Stone is a hard material, difficult to dent, ding, or cut. Those qualities make it a great material to use when longevity is the goal. Headstones at the cemetery, altarpieces, address markers, statues, and even ornate ceilings can all be created out of stone. But those complex designs wouldn’t see the light of day without a Stone Carver.

Carving stone is both an art and a craft, but it’s undeniably also a passion. When most of us look at a boulder, we see, well, a rock. Stone Carvers, however, see potential.

If you’re a Stone Carver, you sometimes create your own designs, carve them, and sell them at a local market, in your front yard, or at your own business. Other times, you take someone else’s design and carefully replicate it in stone form.

You start by outlining the pattern onto the rock, using rulers, straight edges, squares, calipers, and other measuring devices to ensure accuracy. Then you begin to chip away at the stone, using a mallet and chisel, or more powerful pneumatic tools. After creating a rough outline, you use more precise tools to hone each curve, bump, and edge.

Working with stone requires patience and exactness. After all, if you hack off an extra large serving of rock, you can’t just paste it back on. So you meticulously honor the design, and when you’re done, you earn the reward of seeing stone turned into art.