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Go to the shopCarving a pair of complimenting busts requires careful preparation, investigation and hard work. This impressive pair shows how Farai juggles and negotiates his way in handling the very difficult medium of Butter Jade.
The location of the only known deposit of Butter Jade is Birchenogh Bridge in Manicaland, over on the Zimbabwe border a significant distance away from Harare and nearby Chitungwiza. The upper level stone is impregnated with dark green unakite (petrified vegetable material) and drilling and fracturing are required to get good clean stone with textures, colors and striations that enhance the carving material rather than usually detract.
Back in the workshop, Farai must carefully research the properties of the stone before committing to the first blow of a hammer and chisel positioning the dark areas of the composition away from the face as much as possible.