A variety of clips showing the actual process of carving, how long it takes and the steps involved. Including carving shapes, cutting, using trim saw, drilling holes. This is what carving pounamu or jade actually looks like.
Carving Pounamu Jade Pendant Start to Finish
This is the whole process I used for carving this Pounamu pendant. Stone carving is a time consuming post especially for hard stone like Jade or Nephrite. I used diamond tools including the cutting blade, shaping burrs, and sanding pads. The sand paper is silicone carbide, and the polishing compound is fabulustre.
Pounamu Pendant Carving Stages and Steps
Pounamu Carver Campbell Potter talks through the stages of carving to make this piece.
I took photos all the way through and here is the slideshow and me narrating the steps of the important stages I went through to carve this piece.
New Zealand Jade, Pounamu Carving, Small Cut.
I am working on cutting a piece of pounamu into two, this design is of two birds that nestle back to back, so I am starting the cut to seperate them along their back. I use diamond coated burrs for all my work and using a small cutting disc with a dremel for this.
NZ Jade, Pounamu Carving, Hei Toki Notches on Pendant.
I try to carve the least amount of material away from the jade, pounamu toki. The lashing is a part of the finished toki pendant. There is only one function for the notches so that the lashing has something to pull up on, so this is why I don’t carve notches in the top or down the side of the toki. I used a dremel with diamond coated burrs for all my carving work with pounamu.
NZ Jade, Pounamu Carving Hole Drilling
Drilling a short hole in New Zealand Jade, Pounamu, Greenstone. I use diamond coated drill bits with a dremel, I start with 1mm thick burr drill piece then go up in 1mm increments to the size I need for the necklace cord.
Cutting Jade Pounamu With a Diamond Saw
This is how I cut small blocks and slices of pounamu, jade before I carve them into pendants or sculptures. Using a small diamond trim saw run off an electric motor. This is a piece of crust that I was interested to try and make a blank for a pounamu hei toki with. This is usually the first step for me when carving a pounamu pendant. The time it takes to cut varies depending on the thickness of the pounamu and also on the hardness or density of the pounamu.
Carving Pounamu – Sculpture, with dremel.
A short vid of one of the stages of shaping New Zealand jade, pounamu. Using a 3mm drum diamond dremel burr, slowly carving the pounamu away to get the shape closer to the final product.
Carving Curves in Pounamu with a Diamond Cone Dremel Burr.
This is an example of how i shaped the inner curves ok the koru of this pounamu sculpture. I was very interested in how people carve greenstone and jade before I started myself so now i like to share a bit of what it is about.
Relief Carving, Jade, Koru on a Pounamu Toki
This is a design that represents the wearer as the main koru and the three lines mergering represent different aspects of support for them as they drive into the future. This is a gorgeous jade pounamu.
Carving a Wave in a Jade Pounamu Toki
Carving a wave in a pounamu toki, using a some diamond burrs with a dremel handpiece.