The images above and below demonstrate the proccess nicely and in order of events. As a basic principal it helps to draw something,  that's your focus, (a tip, if you use a sealer on your drawing it has a better chance of surviving).  Start by removing the stone that obviously should not be there,  this way at any one point you will have "something" definable to work with, ( but don't let on to anyone what it is, even if you can see it yourself )  Forget what it "should"  look like, it probably won't at first,  but if you consistently remove the   "well that shouldn't be there"  bits, then the work will evolve to creation......... If pushed you can always call it modern art.

A sketch on a piece of paper would be a good idea for many,  even the worst sketch can turn into something quite impressive in 3D. All in all it is just a process of continual refinement so the whole piece develops as a unit.  
The despair begins to fade near the end.........

As you get towards the end and are trying for a bit of flow and finish,  use directional light to highlight the ups and down of it all, sight your work surface against  a background to get a sense of whether  it needs more smoothing or shaping,  look along any surface as this will exaggerate any imperfections by foreshortening them. Be prepared for imperfections, (meditation may help at this point)  The biggest secret of all is probably the old carpenters maxim,  "If you can't hide it, make a feature of it".

If there is something that hasn't gone quite right, exaggerate it a bit (or lot) so it stands out.  I suspect a lot of  modern art works this way. Take the pic's above, the right eye wasn't coming out well even for this piece, so I added more detail to draw attention and get you thinking.....




To summarize:  Draw the outline as accurately as you can,  Make your first cuts to define the basic shape so you have a form to work with by cutting around the outer edge. Then sculpt out the deeper sections to somewhere close to their final depth.  Work the whole
piece, rather than finishing a section at a time. Then just start rounding out a little here and there,  getting progressively finer...............

STONE FINISHES
A whole subject in itself.  In outside use for this softer, more porus, stone  I use one of several treatments depending on the requirements.

• A water based silicone sealer that repels water yet allows the stone to breathe.  If the work is outside in a cold climate internal water can freeze and blow lumps off the sculpture even with a silicone sealer.

• An aliphatic resin glue diluted with water to form a relatively tough finish, it soaks right into the stone with discolouring it.

• Resin glue with a silicone finish

• Nothing at all if I want the stone to "green-up" and get a live look.

This piece I designed in a very broad sort of way on paper first, then..............



I started hitting it with an axe, albeit a small one, interspersed with a chisel or two...........



and slowly a form developed, inventing it as I went by developing the "feel" of it............



which was dictated in part by the purpose of the piece, a memorial to Charlie.............




THE TOOLS

Tool preference is one of those subjective things,  not unlike one's preference for particular flavours  of icecream.  But I like them all, so if it's got an edge,  I'll use it.  Not everyone agrees with this principal I note,  but I'm sure the true "artiste" will use whatever is at hand,  right or wrong just isn't an issue.

For working most of the stone displayed within this site,  old wood chisels do the job admirably on this soft stone,  cheap as well. Hammers,  just use what fits and doesn't tire you, the harder the stone the heavier the hammer although a lighter wooden mallet serves well with the softer stone. I prefer this for the most, going for speed of the hit rather than weight, to do the job.

A good farriers rasp  or wood rasp is a handy thing for shaping larger flat areas and floating around the big curves.  Compressed air is manna from heaven,  you can run air tools and the like but for my money, the airgun is the most  valuable.  My air supply is a fairly simplistic device made from an old truck compressor mounted on an LPG cylinder for storage.  The rest consists of an old electric motor (It's Neils actually) a couple of pulleys that were floating around the place and I paid money for the hoses.  It works a treat, sounds the part,  (complete with a car muffler to quieten the intake),  looks................ well just like something I threw together, funny that.