first carved stone

Was that preshaped in any form? If not, you had quite some effort in order to get it done.
Nice polish too. What tools are you using for big pieces like that?

I've wanted to make a birdbath fountain from a boulder for years. There's a holy water font in one of our churches in town that is a huge boulder, hollowed out on top with a hole drilled down the center. The water circulates up through the hole, fills the bowl, and falls out through a small channel in the side down to a pool.

I used to be very active on a landscaping/gardening forum. A woman there did a lot of stone work for her clients. I posted my plan and she told me to use an angle grinder to cross hatch the bowl area and chip it out with a hammer. Then use a cup grinding wheel to smooth it all out. I never did figure out how I'd drill the hole though. There are quarries in this area that do blasting, so those guys would be able to drill big holes, but I doubt they do house calls.

cwdiver, I think you just inspired me to do a smaller bowl instead of a large scale birdbath. I'd love to hear your technique. Welcome to RTH!

The steps I took . First I found this large loaf shaped stone about 1 yr. ago had no fractures and right shape was going to slab it up . A friend said I should try carving it, wasn't sure as I have never done any thing like that. Having access to 30" slab saw I sliced off the bottom ( should have turned it over, nicer color) then squared it off at about 60 deg. angle. I then drew a line one inch from rim , then cut out center with a angle grinder with diamond blade, chisled out rough pieces , smoothed with side edge of blade. Then using a wet rotary grinder with soft curved head useing all the polishing grits 50~ 3000 inside and out ( 4 hrs.) Then finished off with 2 coats hard bowl wax buffed. that was it, 2 days of work quite pleased the way it turned out. Thanks  ......Gary

Cool!!! Loved the process pictures, too. Thanks!