Product Description

The Soapstone is a metamorphic rock consisting mostly of the mineral talc. Sometimes known as steatite, it's very soft and frequently used for sculpting. Kenyan soapstone or "kisii" is found only in the Tabaka Hills of Western Kenya, a few kilometres southwest of Kisii town. A soft and easily worked stone, it comes in a variety of colors ranging from cream and lavender to black.
Regardless of the lack of old tradition in the art, the artistic products of the stone carvers have become one of the stock-in-trades of Kenya's tourist-inclined curio market, which throws up anything from diminutive pink and blue elephants and extravagant egg-shaped globes to bowls and vases painted with abstract one-off motifs - real and beautiful works of art.
When they mine the soapstone they essentially dig a big pit in the ground (maybe ****5 feet in diameter) using picks and shovels. The earth isn't gouged by heavy machinery.