Not Your Everyday Clay Pipes, from J Talmage Pipes

[justintdunn]

so, i know they are not the most popular things on here. but here are my first go round at clay pipes. i only have one completely finished from its final firing, but all these are in the works now.

The Scotsmen (my very first)

photo 1-1 by xjdunn, on Flickr

The Deceiver

photo 2-1 by xjdunn, on Flickr

The Precious

gollum by xjdunn, on Flickr


gollum2 by xjdunn, on Flickr


gollum3 by xjdunn, on Flickr
The Dawn Treader

photo 4-1 by xjdunn, on Flickr

The Dirty Harry

photo 3-1 by xjdunn, on Flickr


photo 1-2 by xjdunn, on Flickr

i will have a completely finished one up here soon. whatcha think?

[Alden]

I like the Precious, very good work. For actually smoking one though, I'd say you should at least model the size/shape of the tobacco chamber and end of the stem to match historical clay pipes. The bowl seems rather large and a bit clunky, and the stem looks like some strange bastard child of briar and clay.
I think the shape and dimensions of old clay pipes evolved into a certain pattern because they worked really well, and to be successful the "functional" parts of your pipes should mimic them.
But kudos to the imagination on the rest of the pipe.
As these sit, I would consider buying one to set on a shelf but if the bowl and stem looked more user friendly, I might even light one up from time to time.

[justintdunn]

Edward, that is fantastic advice. i made most of these together, not thinking of that, and my first one that i just got back from its final glaze fire is a gift so i havent used it. my next go round, i will certainly try to model the traditional clay pipes. i am interested to see how they smoke. thanks for the thought.

[taharris]

I love the pipes!

Edward has give you great advice on smokability, but your bowl sculptures are blowing me away.

Keep it up!

Todd

[justintdunn]

hey edward, so i just got something to shape the perfect form for a traditional clay pipe. so this one, Spideypipe will be the first to have the traditional look to it. heres a sneak preview
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/13597 ... .jpg[/img]
IMG_2209 by xjdunn, on Flickr[/url]

[Charl]

Interesting stuff! Keep it up and keep on showing!

[Alden]

Looks good ! You have a good sense for where to put in lots of details, and where to live things sort of plain.
I've been meaning to post some ideas I had here, but if you will spend a bit of time with google there are some great sites out there on clay pipemaking and the use of molds and presses in the old days. Heather at http://www.dawnmist.demon.co.uk/ probably knows more about clays than just about anyone, that site is full of info and from what I hear Heather loves talking about clays and answering questions.
I dont think you plan to do things the old fashioned way, but it might be easy enough to make a mold thats just for your stems, so you end up with a perfect stem, a perfect airway and a perfect mouthpiece every time.
My thoughts were (if you plan on doing enough of them) just using a large wooden dowel, drilling out the right shape inside it and then splitting it down the middle. or cutting it in half first and then using a dremel to shape the right size cavity for molding stems.
When its done, you could fill it with a roll of clay, clamp the two halves together in a vise to squeeze the clay into shape, and then drill your airway by pushing a straightened out clotheshanger through the mold.
Then its just a matter of attaching the perfectly formed stem to the bowl with slip, or however.
I dont know, just a thought.
If you really sucked at this, I wouldnt reccomend going to all this hassle, but the pipes are actually pretty neat. If the "pipe" aspect of it can be done as well as the "art" aspect of it, I think you have something there.