5,6, and 7

[cmueller]

I have a lot to learn but wanted to share my 5,6, and 7th pipes. Any feedback is appreciated

[Sasquatch]

Well, you're successfully putting pipes together, so now a guy has to start focusing on lines and proportions. For example, the shank on the zulu is tapered at a different angle than the stem (on top anyhow) and it interrupts the lines of the stem and shank pretty badly, result being that it looks beginnerish.

The two bottom pipes have so much going on it's a little hard to focus on them, the adornments are busy and dominating, and on the third pipe, they just look heavy and basically the pipe is kind of formless - why does it have a prehensile tail, for example, coupled with that monster-sized shank?

You are getting good glue joints, and not a bad finish, but it looks like a lot of time is being spent polishing, to the point where you are losing sharpness on the stem/shank transition and putting a few wobbles in the straight bits (this is evident in the stem and shank on the churchwarden).

I would advise you to keep it simple for awhile - make more pipes like the first one and dial them in, before you go hog-wild on fancy stuff.

[Alden]

I think negative comments are great for pointing out what needs to be fixed. At the same time, on the positive side, I like that you're stepping outside of the box on the second two pipes. I dont think what you came out with works really well, but I think with time you could do that and have it work better (odd shapes, extensions).
So, I will have to agree with Sas that you should get the basics a little cleaner before moving on to do oddball stuff to pipes, but at the same time I like the direction you're trying to head.

[cmueller]

Thanks guys for the comments. I am going to re-work the 1st and 3rd one and will post updated picts soon. I actually thought about rusticating the bottom portion on the 3rd one to break up the bowl a little. Any specific suggestions on the 2nd one to make in more complete? THANKS

[Sasquatch]

The second pipe is basically a straight-angled stummel with a slightly bent stem - this almost never works. To fake it, you might knock the back side of the rim down a bit, give the pipe bowl some angle to match the stem - wouldn't need much.

I like the angled shoulder on the stem - it matches the bowl nicely.