Ruth is an experienced teacher who welcomes beginners or intermediates she has a relaxed, therapeutic and nurturing approach to teaching creatively to a wide range of students.
Her passion shines through and her love of using natural materials from the earth and her goal is to work sensitively with her individual students to help them to find their creative flow and confidence to try a new art form.
She will guide you through the processes of transforming a dusty rock to a beautiful soap stone sculpture.
Soap stone has been used for thousands of years by inuits from Alaska, native indians in Canada and is popular in Asia for carving.
In the UK it isn't a popular medium and their are not many courses , so this is a unique course. It is a wonderful introduction to stone carving and as it is soft it is easier to carve than stone.
It comes in an array of colours that resemble turquoise to black, brown , grey green, pink and white Greg's and browns and you can't tell exactly how it will look until the last process of oiling your stone. Each piece is unique.
You don't need many tools and for this reason it is a very adaptable and affordable and it is something that you can do at home!
Ruth will show you which tools to use to shape your stone, smooth and polish.
Any one can achieve a mini sculpture that can resemble worry stones, pendants, abstract or realistic 2d or 3d simplistic forms.
A 1 day course covers the basics and you will work with a small stone to practise using the tools and go through every process to complete a finished polished piece.
A 2 day course is as described in day 1 and at the end of day 1 or day 2 you will choose a larger stone and look at the shape of the stone and match it with your idea,clay is offered to carve your ideas, which will help you to work out what material you will remove and help you visualise your final piece.
You can be inspired by Ruth's work, students work and a presentation of other soap stone carvings from around the world and other inspiring famous sculptors.
You can allow the stone to speak to you and allow it to transform into an organic piece or you might have an idea that you will select the right stone to fit your idea.
It totally depends on how you approach your creative projects and you can choose to make a fragment or a 2d/3d sculpture depending on your ability or ambition.