The other day when I bought the soapstone sculptures from Delaye Corbett, I also took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about carving. I’ve been playing with soap stone and I have fallen in love with the process of sanding and smoothing stone since the first time I met him.

One piece of advice he gave me was to immediately upon working with a stone, “Take away 30%” he said. “The piece needs time to show you what it is.”

Because he is a master of his craft, I will take any helpful hints to heart and yet, I found this 30% rule funny. So far when I carve, all I am able to make is a smaller version of what I started with. I don’t see how in the world anyone finds an owl, bear, or a Michael in any stone. So far all I can do is make big into little.

But follow his advice I will as Delaye also gave me several new pieces of soapstone to work with. I will get to them soon, but today, I took his advice into the kitchen. I spent the day going through every drawer, closet and cabinet. I got rid of about a third of all the stuff we have in there.

This was really quite easy and it’s true — with all the extra space, I am able to see what we need and don’t need; what we use and don’t. It is so simple and clear.

It felt great to get rid of a bunch of the stuff that was just taking up space.

One third — gone! Great advice. Tomorrow, I may tackle another room!