Introduction and a question about tools

["Jane A. Cadieux" <sculpture@zzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi everyone,
My name is Jane and I live in Los Angeles. I've been working in stone for
over 10 years, admittedly with some gaps when I didn't have tools, time, or
space. I do mostly figurative, towards the abstract, in the smaller scale
(usually around or under 1sq ft.). I just set up a website at
http://www.sculpturebyjane.com. So far, my work is all about the carving
itself, and the website is really as far as I have gone with marketing. I
work directly into the stone, no macquettes (how on earth do you spell
that?) and let the stone reveal my own vision. I always feel a little hokey
saying that, but can't really think of a better way to put it. It's about
about exploration for me. What's in the stone, that matches something in my
subconscious? And the process is undeniably cathartic.

I'm curious about this idea of gestalt. Of course I've heard the word, but
I don't really know anything about it. Oscar's description makes it sounds
a little like the practice of raising my children...

I'm a little frustrated at this point because I'm working in my backyard in
a nice, quiet residential neighborhood, so no air tools. I need to find the
electric equivalent of a die grinder that works. I've been using a makita
4" side grinder and a dremel. (Which is dying, but I have a brand new
foredom, just waiting to come out of the box.) And of course hammer and
chisles, rifflers and rasps. I'd also love to be able to use an air hammer,
but really can't figure out how I'd get around the noise with that one. I'm
also starting to feel an itch to work bigger, which may be because the
piece I just finished is only about 4" on it's longest side. Maybe I'll
make a trip to Art City in Ventura, CA to buy stone...

Oh yeah, one other thing. I bought some Minnesota pipestone from them a few
months ago, and tried knocking it abit with hammer and chisel to see how it
moved, and the first thing I did was split the whole thing in half
:(  Anyone worked with this stone? Will grinders compromise the stone too?
It finishes up so beautifully, that I really wanted to try it, but now I'm
scared to work it.

TIA
-Jane