SHONA BUTTERJADE STONE ART IN BRITS

Beautiful Zimbabwean Shona stone art.Carved out of a creamy rare stone called butterjade.Collector's items.The way with which these art pieces are carved is expectional and of great workmanship.The pieces are time consuming as the stone is very hard to work with using hand tools.To make it shine and smooth the pieces have to go through a process of water sandpapering and warming to applying wax.The pieces are smoothened by fine grades of sandpapers,when the finest stage is reached they are then warmed using a blow torch to apply wax, melt it and soak it into the stones surface. Many layers of wax are built up into the stone, and are then buffed out to give a great shine and help provide an incredible depth of colour.In Shona culture the sculpting process is closely linked to spirituality, and it is a common belief that the spirits of ancestors or creatures can be found within the rock itself.