Thanks for the kind words. I'm afraid I take a very impressionistic approach that isn't easily explained: I look at the stone until I see what I'm trying to make, and then remove all the bits that don't belong. :)
The good news is that soapstone is beautiful material to work with and is *very* easily worked without power tools. Chisels, files, knives, hand saws, maybe a drill, and sandpaper are really (IMHO) all that is needed for most soapstone projects. I'd guess that 80% of my actual stock removal is done with one of two carving knives. One is a fixed blade knife with a curved blade
("Chip Knife #4 here), the other kind of like a beefed up xacto knife that I also use (mostly) with curved blades (
This guy here).
That's purely personal preference drawn from carving tools I already had, so they may not be ideal for everyone. But they work for me. Other than that, normal woodworking rasps/files work great. Big chunks can be sawn off with a hand saw or coping saw. I'd recommend using a saw for removal of large chunks of stone as soapstone's natural fault lines can change your plans in a hurry if you try to carve out big pieces with a chisel!
I was never taught how to carve, so I generally recommend the same approach that I took and which I enjoy. Grab some material. Grab some tools. Make something. :)
Oh, and in terms of finishing the thing once it's done, two things have worked well for me:
1) rubbing on mineral oil
2) melting on beeswax
I think I prefer the beeswax finish, but that's purely subjective.