Howdy !

[Brian King <brianaking@zzzzzzzzz>]

Thought I'd drop an introduction to preface a few questions of
mine....   I'm a computer programmer, always looking for new ways to
spend time away from my glowing CRT temple ;^).   My interest was
initially piqued by the many stone walls of Massachusetts, but being
as I had no land at the time, I thought I'd buy some chisels and
alabaster and see what came of it.  I've had a blast with my first
piece, a 7lb piece of alabaster.   I'm not very good at having an
artistic direction  (aka, I just started whacking it), but have
greatly enjoyed pulling something out of the stone, and having it sort
of discover itself.   I'm not so concerned about the end result, I
just find it very enjoyable to whack away, then rasp and polish the
texture out of the stone.   As I get more comfortable with the medium,
I'll try to impose more of a direction, but at the moment, the process
of carving is reward enough.

So I already found answers to a few questions of mine with regards to
polishing, and bruises, but a few more:

1) Any advised stone suppliers in Mass?   I bought a few pieces off of
Monotya, but I don't really like the process.   It would be nice to
have a bit more control over the stone you get than a 1" picture of
what it might look like (let alone the shipping)

2) Dust.   I recently quit smoking for my lungs, so it seems sort of
foolish to fill them with stone instead.   Are the masks the best way
of going about it or can fans do it?  Does it bother most people or is
it just me?

3) I read that a few people don't even use chisels for alabaster...
what type of tools do you use to do most of your bulk carvings?   I'm
guessing a saw of some sort, but I'd like to try it for my next piece.
  The alabaster seems much more clay like, and is layered so I'm
thinking it will flake/bruise/break easily.

4) What type of sandpaper do you use for alabaster or in general?   I
had some 150 + 220 grit paper, that worked well, but anything finer
than that clogged up so fast that it couldn't remove the scratches
left from the 150.    Should I just forget it and hope the polish
hides it?

Off to buy one of the books recommended here off of amazon, thanks for
everyone's input !

Brian King