Sculpting
Retain what is useful, reject what is not. Well, that basically is sculpting. Sculpting is the process of adding material that is missing and removing material that should not be there till the desired form is attained.
Sculpting Guardian Spirit
Common sculpting techniques that are found in all encyclopaedia and other schools of knowledge are the following:
Stone Carving
Stone carving is one of the ancient creative activity wherein a chosen piece of stone is shaped manually by an artist, transforming it into some forms according to the maker’s idea. The advantage of using this medium is that a stone made sculpture can last longer than other materials used in this art.
Wood Carving
Some of the most creative sculptors would prefer the wood medium in carving their masterpieces. In wood carving, the artist labours manually to carve the wood by means of cutting tools until the desired form or figure is achieved.
Bronze sculpture
Bronze medium is the most popularly used in palaces and rich houses during earlier times. More sophisticated sculptor in the earlier times would prefer the bronze as a medium in creating a magnificent form of sculpture. Bronze has advantages as it can be adjusted as to the artist’s design before setting it to its final phase and is also good for figures that connote action.
Finally, there are many other sculptural techniques existing, of course, such as marble sculpture, casting, terra cota among many others.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture#Making_sculpture.2C_techniques