sugary marble

["George Graham" <georgergraham@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Linda,

I have run into the same problem. It has always been with old vermont
marble. I don't know if the crumbly stone is from old age or just the way it
comes from the quarry when freshly cut. It is not an easy stone to carve.
Carving simple shapes , doing a lot with a grinder and file helps. I've
tried to carve thin and delicate, but the stone is to fragile. There is a
lot of "sugar stone" around that looks great in a sawed block, but you have
to make something out of it that is limited to what the material will allow.
I stay away from it, because I don't want to put a lot of time and energy
into something that is crumbly and fragile.

But , don't despair! Although its unfortunate that this was your first
experience in marble, there is some extremely carvable stone from vermont.
My favorite is Danby Vermont Marble, which is a little translucent, with
light streaks of brown . Overall it is a white marble that is quarried
extensively. As an alabaster carver, you won't have any trouble using it.
Just keep your chisels sharp!

Although vermont marble tents to be a little more dusty than most , the good
stuff does not turn to sugar when carved. It is a very fine grained stone
that can be easily carved. All the other marbles I've worked with are much
more crystalline, and much harder. Tennessee pink, Tennessee Imperial Black,
Alabama, and Georgia marble are all fine "domestic" stone to carve. With
your background in alabaster,you'll be fine. You just have to get used to
the point not digging so deep. Its a different style of hammer and tool use
that take an adjustment . When roughing a piece out, you can be a lot more
physical with it. When doing very detailed , delicate work, you have to be
more gentle then you might think. With very sharp chisels, you can  carve in
marble what you would file on alabaster.

So get some good stuff, and keep your chisels sharp!! Gotta go now and carve
on a nice piece of Virginia soapstone .

George Graham