i was at a convention this weekend, and some artist offered tie guests to amke their own versions of Zuni stone fetishes from soapstone. i instead did something else than trying to cut out something from a little rectangular block: i took out a shard looking for the forms laying inside, much like wood cutting artists look for the inmate forms in the piece of wood they have. the first try culminated in a litlle crouching dragon (i gave it to a friend, as soon as i receive photos of it i'll post them, too), the second became the roaring lion you see here.
not bad for very first tries i think. what do you people say?