Shona Stone Sculpture Care And Repair

Don't use spray polish on your Shona Stone as it ruins the wax coating and will quickly leave the sculpture needing a repolish. Shona Stone kept indoors should only ever need a dusting - and the more often you stroke it, the less often you'll need to dust it!  Shona Stone displayed outdoors will gradually lose its shine. The elements affect the stone at a 'geological' rate, but they act more swiftly on the wax finish.

Rewaxing your Shona Stone

To rejuvenate a dulled finish, you need to apply a new coat of wax and polish it up. Beeswax is the preferred wax to use but a clear furniture wax is acceptable. On a hot sunny day, put the Shona Stone in the sunshine so that it heats up - and put the wax in the sun too so that it's not completely hard. Use a clean rag and rub a small amount of wax onto the surface of the Shona Stone. Then get a clean, soft cloth and rub the waxed area vigorously until it buffs up. The trick here is to avoid the wax drying up before you have buffed it, resulting in a streaky finish. TIP:  Wax and polish up a small area at a time, rather than the whole sculpture.

Repairing Scratches and Chips on your Shona Stone

If your Shona Stone is scratched, more radical treatment is required. You need to use wet and dry sandpaper to remove a scratch. Use a fairly coarse grade first, followed by a less coarse one, and finish with a very fine grade. We use 320, 600 and 1200, but some Zimbabwean artists go as far as 3000; some British sculptors are content with just 320! Dip the sandpaper in water, and then use a circular action, pressing gently. Remove the mark with 320, and remove the scratches from the 320 with the 600, and get a smooth finish with the 1200. TIP: Wash the Shona Stone well and let it dry between each grade so that you can see more clearly the progress and if you've missed anywhere.

Some chips can be removed with a file or rasp; others can only be remedied with sandpaper. This mainly depends on where the damage is i.e. whether it allows access for the file. If you use a file, follow the line of the Shona Stone to get a sympathetic repair. Once you're happy with the new shape, sand as above. This is major repair and if you not comfortable doing this, please have it done professionally.

Hot Waxing your Shona Stone

Once the marks have been sanded away and the Shona Stone feels smooth, you need to apply a fresh coat of wax. This must be done when the stone is hot. There are a variety of methods of heating the stone, and it depends on the size of the sculpture and the type of stone as well as what you have on hand. You can put a small Shona Stone in the oven, but this is only advisable if you need to rewax the whole piece. If you have only repaired a small area, you are probably better off using our preferred method - using a hot air gun or a blowtorch. These enable you to heat a specific area.

Heat the stone until it is hot. How hot depends on the type of stone, but generally a hard serpentine e.g. springstone should be heated more than a soft one e.g. opal stone. Use a clean rag and rub clear wax onto the surface of the Shona Stone. Leave it to cool. Once it is cool, but before it is cold, use a clean soft cloth to buff it to a deep shine. The danger here is that some stones need more heat than others, some need more wax than others, and some shine up better when polished when cold whilst others become virtually impossible to polish once the wax has been left too long.

Please feel free to contact us if you need further instruction in caring for your Shona Stone.