This Mani stone commission was carved from a stone I found in my local river (the Leithen Water in the Scottish Borders). I designed the Snow Lion with reference to the Tibetan national emblem. Measuring 46 x 28 x 6 cm and weighing 14 Kg, this was entirely hand carved using my Foredom power carver, and hammer and chisel.
The mantra outline was carved with 1 mm diamond burrs, continually spraying the stone with water during the power carving process.
After the mantra outline was completed, I carved around the syllables with my 6 mm Europ chisel and Tiranti Italian dummy mallet.
The Tibetan Snow Lion was carved using 0.8 mm and 1 mm Eternal Tools diamond ball burrs.
After the stone was washed, the Tibetan Snow Lion was carefully enamelled with gold 1-Shot using a Size 0 Lawrence Micro-Detail brush.
The completed piece.