New to sculpting and it saved my life and I'm loving it

by Graeme D
(Victoria, Australia )

Hi there fellow sculpters my name is graeme D and I'm from Victoria, Australia and I am brand new to this amazing hobby/lifestyle and thought I'd share a few things I've done in the 2 weeks that I've been carving/sculpting various stone.... (And yes I've caught the sculpting bug and I'm loving it.) So my story is quite the roller coaster ride well for the last 6-7 months it's has been but for a very long time before that I've tried different hobbies and various medication to manage my severe anxiety/depression but nothing seemed to help, my mind just couldn't focus on anything and the meds did absolutely nothing and to top all that off about 7 months ago I lost everything and was left homeless. I lost my job, my house, my partner, and every little thing I owned except the clothes on my back and I found myself in a very big city that I've never been to before and I was literally lost not just psyically but mentally.. I really had no idea where to go, what to do or anything I was completelyand utterly lost... well after about 5 months of trying to survive on the streets I was literally saved by a complete stranger, and I mean a COMPLETE stranger, the only thing I ever asked her was if she could spare a cigarette and she ended up buying me a coffee and sat with me while I drank that coffee as quick as I could and we started talking... I was very reluctant to tell her anything as I didn't know her at all but I ended up telling her what happened and we talked for about an hour or so after that, then while it was getting late I could see that she needed to catch the train home so I thanked her for the coffee and the smoke and said I hope I get the opertunity to pay her back one day and she said to me that I can stay at her place for the night if I would like to, as it was winter and it was getting wet and really cold... I thanked her deeply and declined her offer but she wasn't taking that so she told me that I'm "COMING" to stay at her place that night... I had no choice in the matter haha and that was about 5 months ago and I'm still staying with her hehe.... now while I was warm and had a roof over my head my mind was going crazy,, soo many things to work out and not knowing the area at all I was freaking out...... So one day I went out to the back yard and started pulling out some weeds that were growing in her little rock garden and I noticed a few small sandstone pieces that were quite weathered so I picked them up and started playing around with them but this one very small piece stood out to me, it was like I could see a tiny little frog in it, it was weird I thought I was going crazy but I found myself finding whatever I could use to bring this frog out of the stone and the only thing I could find was one of those little screwdrivers (you know the kind you use to fix your glasses? So I made myself a nice cold drink and went outside and started helping this frog I could see in this sandstone. I ended up scraping and starring and scraping some more at this tiny rock for about 7 hrs and finally I had a frog (I called her midge aswell haha) but it was right at that very point I noticed that my head was clear! There was nothing at all, just silence, and a overwhelming sense that I finally found something that takes my mind out of my head and I actually starting to cry a little bit, not that I was sad at what I've lost or how bad my situation was, I was crying because I was happy... Since that scary moment that I thought i completely lost my mind I went through the whole rock garden and found some more bits of stone to play with before I could source somewhere to get some other types of stone to see what I could do and it wasn't long at all before I found a place that I could get some soapstone. I still don't know exactly what would be considered good quality soapstone as there has been quite a fair amount that has a lot of holes in it as if there was something there but has since eroded but i am happy with what I managed to get because I no longer feel as anxious or depressed and I look forward to waking up every morning to see what else I can do/make... there is still quite a lot I need to learn and get to be able to do bigger and/or more intricate sculptures but the basics I've got so far like a close quarter saw, hacksaws, files, builders pencils, rulers, and even a rotary tool with some good accessories is a great start.... so that's my story, sculpting has pretty much saved my life (along with my new awesome friend that took a chance on me and took me in to her home, and I'll be forever in her debt) and I'm glad I stumbled upon this amazing art of sculpting...... Sorry it's a long story but we all gotta start somewhere haha...... thanks for reading and I'll try and upload pics in chronological order