pipe 017 - critique me

[Tyleram]

So I'm new to this forum...and I've been making pipes here and there since last summer. Started selling them in November to help with expenses as I learn, and now after lots of similar advice, I'm finally coming here to receive some constructive criticism. Basically, if I want to get any better I am going to have to get knocked down a few pegs, start back with the basics and move on, as I have been told I'm missing key elements. In a way, I've been dreading this moment haha, I suppose being judged by the experts seems daunting and scary in a way but oh well! This will be pipe 1/4 I'll be posting. I'll be making separate threads of them however, just to keep track of the advice.

[ronps]

Like your shaping on this one and grain is very nice.

The stem seems a bit thick coming off the shank and perhaps the bottom could be trimmed a bit. Junction of the stem to shank needs a slight adjustment; not quite flush (one of my problems as well).

[Tyler]

Why didn't you make this round?

[Tyleram]

Thanks guys for the feedback!

Tyler, to be honest I am not quite sure. The block itself was oddly shaped and all the shaping was done freehand. Once I liked how it looked from the side I left it, but perhaps I should have tried to make it round. All things aside I really had no other reason, I just went the flow I suppose.

[Tyleram]

Ron I think I see what you mean with the stem. Almost like it just ever so slightly flares out a bit from the shank.

[Tyler]

Thanks guys for the feedback!

Tyler, to be honest I am not quite sure. The block itself was oddly shaped and all the shaping was done freehand. Once I liked how it looked from the side I left it, but perhaps I should have tried to make it round. All things aside I really had no other reason, I just went the flow I suppose.

Yep, make it round next time. The bottom view shows a similar lumpy and accidental looking shape. The pipe should look good from every angle.

The block being odd shaped doesn't matter. It's your job to fix that and make it beautiful. Most high end pipes are made freehand. That doesn't matter either.

As for the side view, you have a mix of straight lines and curved lines that don't really go together well. The shank is straight and to front of the bowl is very curved. It would be better if the curve of the front of the bowl continued through the shank.

[Sasquatch]

One word. Lines. Your lines are just all over the place, and that's what you aren't seeing yet. That's what Tyler's poking at, that's what ron is seeing. Big here, small there, a curve, a straight, some other curve. No uniform shape, no uniform idea. Just wobbles everywhere. Is it a pipe? Yeah. It's a stummel with a stem stuck in it. Until you learn to see it as a piece requiring to be given grace as a piece, as an idea, you aren't going to move as a maker. I added two "mathematically correct" curves to your stem and shank, and suddenly the optical problem of the fat stem goes away. One smooth curve for the eye to lick.





Your transition from stem to shank is pretty bad, you are not shaping and sanding with the stem attached, or something. That's got to be a better fit and the wood to rubber jump has to be a lot more flush.

The idea of the pipe is great, the proportions pretty good, the finish not bad at all.

[Tyleram]

Thanks Tyler! I wasn't so much using it as an excuse as much I was just painting the mindset of a new maker. When I saw the block I just thought damn....but I'll make the best I can of it. You are right though! No argument here.

I was wondering when you'd pop up Sasquatch. So what you're saying is what you so to the bowl you should also do to the shank? That is...if you have a rather straight looking bowl you'll probably have a rather straight shank. If the bowl is curved/rounded, so too should be the shank to stem lines. I feel like I just left the matrix and am viewing the world from a whole new angle...pardon the pun.

[Tyleram]

I see what you mean with the lines. I really see it from the front view

[Sasquatch]

How you interpret this idea is up to you, but yes, ordinarily, if you build a slender, elegant bowl and put a huge fat shank on it the pipe will suffer. Likewise a pencil-shank Canadian with a 3" across bowl is probably not going to work.... too many ideas in one pipe. Make your curves flow,make straight stuff straight, analyze the pipe as a whole, as a design, not as pieces.