Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
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Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
A couple months ago I posted some pics of a pipe I made as an experiment. A driven-by-curiosity thing, mostly, since I'm a repairman and not a carver.
It turned out OK, but after a few days I decided it wasn't truly right. I smoked it to see if it was worth keeping (it was), so finally just chucked it in a drawer to deal with later.
Yesterday was the day. I came across it when looking for something else, and realized it had either grown fat and ugly while sleeping, or I had deluded myself into thinking it was finished when it wasn't.
Since pipes don't eat much, the latter seemed far more likely. It was so obvious it was ridiculous. "WTF was I thinking?" was the phrase that kept running through my head. The pipe looked like shit. It looked abandoned, not completed.
So, out came le tools and off came more wood and acrylic. As Sixten Ivarsson reputedly said years ago, the pipe wasn't bad looking, it was just still inside trying to get out.
The first time, it weighed 39.7 grams. Now, it weighs 34.3. That's a 13.7% reduction. One SEVENTH of the old pipe is now gone.
Does it look better? Closer to "right?" I think so. Is it all the way there, yet? Actually, no. While messing with it this morning, I noticed a couple areas where still more material should have been removed. I'll probably do it eventually. (Too much KC show prep to mess with today, though.)
The moral of the story? Besides the obvious business of knowing what tools to use and how to use them to impose your will on a block of briar, YOUR OWN MIND is an enemy in this pipe-making game. It will try to trick you incessantly to stop working... not because a pipe is finished, but because you subconsciously WANT it to be finished. And if you are an amateur, you'll fall for the lies offered up by your Inner Rationalizer every time
This one thing, I think, is the closest thing to a secret that the pros have.
We'll soon know by their reaction to this thread. A sneaky bunch, those pros.
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Here's where I stopped the first time:
And here's the pared-down version:
It turned out OK, but after a few days I decided it wasn't truly right. I smoked it to see if it was worth keeping (it was), so finally just chucked it in a drawer to deal with later.
Yesterday was the day. I came across it when looking for something else, and realized it had either grown fat and ugly while sleeping, or I had deluded myself into thinking it was finished when it wasn't.
Since pipes don't eat much, the latter seemed far more likely. It was so obvious it was ridiculous. "WTF was I thinking?" was the phrase that kept running through my head. The pipe looked like shit. It looked abandoned, not completed.
So, out came le tools and off came more wood and acrylic. As Sixten Ivarsson reputedly said years ago, the pipe wasn't bad looking, it was just still inside trying to get out.
The first time, it weighed 39.7 grams. Now, it weighs 34.3. That's a 13.7% reduction. One SEVENTH of the old pipe is now gone.
Does it look better? Closer to "right?" I think so. Is it all the way there, yet? Actually, no. While messing with it this morning, I noticed a couple areas where still more material should have been removed. I'll probably do it eventually. (Too much KC show prep to mess with today, though.)
The moral of the story? Besides the obvious business of knowing what tools to use and how to use them to impose your will on a block of briar, YOUR OWN MIND is an enemy in this pipe-making game. It will try to trick you incessantly to stop working... not because a pipe is finished, but because you subconsciously WANT it to be finished. And if you are an amateur, you'll fall for the lies offered up by your Inner Rationalizer every time
This one thing, I think, is the closest thing to a secret that the pros have.
We'll soon know by their reaction to this thread. A sneaky bunch, those pros.
-------------------------------------------
Here's where I stopped the first time:
And here's the pared-down version:
Last edited by LatakiaLover on Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
I dunno, maybe it's the photo, but to me it looked better before...
What you're saying is true of course, that is one of the reasons why I refuse to ever finish a pipe in one day (the other is that I'm too slow and spend too much time drinking coffee and smoking in my shop), you always find something that can be improved once you've let the pipe and your head rest a bit.
What you're saying is true of course, that is one of the reasons why I refuse to ever finish a pipe in one day (the other is that I'm too slow and spend too much time drinking coffee and smoking in my shop), you always find something that can be improved once you've let the pipe and your head rest a bit.
Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
You also have to know when to stop. Sometimes your eyes will tell you to take off just that little bit more. You'll say to yourself, "I'll just tweak this line a little more," or, "I'll just take a little bit more off the top."
As important as it is to any artistic process to force yourself to do better, it is just as crucial to know when you've tweaked enough.
It's finding that balance that's the hardest part. In the work of masters, I see incredible examples of this skill.
As important as it is to any artistic process to force yourself to do better, it is just as crucial to know when you've tweaked enough.
It's finding that balance that's the hardest part. In the work of masters, I see incredible examples of this skill.
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Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
True when referring to experts, but rarely the case for beginners and first-year guys (which is PF's primary demographic). I'd guess a casual click-through of the Gallery archives would show a ten-to-one ratio of "improved by further shaping" examples to "whoops, he went too far" ones.UberHuberMan wrote:You also have to know when to stop. Sometimes your eyes will tell you to take off just that little bit more. You'll say to yourself, "I'll just tweak this line a little more," or, "I'll just take a little bit more off the top."
As important as it is to any artistic process to force yourself to do better, it is just as crucial to know when you've tweaked enough.
Sez me, anyway, and I have a cooler cat than you. So there.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
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Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
Definitely slender-er. I think you should shave off the nub and call it a dublin.
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Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
Those little pig-bitches are a serious pain in the ass. Take damn near as long as the rest of the pipe. So now that it's there it's gonna damn well stay (out of spite if for no other reason.)The Smoking Yeti wrote:Definitely slender-er. I think you should shave off the nub and call it a dublin.
Had I known what awaited me when I started, though, I wouldn't have even considered it.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
- Kirk Fitzgerald
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Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
For what it may be worth, I think it's a gorgeous pipe and I would be proud of myself if I had made it, you should be too.
Keep Calm And Smoke A Pipe!
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Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
I think you're dead on. The pipe looked great to my inexperienced eye before but it is definitely more sleek and graceful now.
Rodney
Rodney
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Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
I took another after pic to get rid of an eye-tricking shadow in the first one. It's much more "apples to apples" now.
Also, I almost gave in to the urge to put a narrow-ish (5/64" or so) flush silver band on it last night, but ran out of gas. Probably do it eventually, though.
Also, I almost gave in to the urge to put a narrow-ish (5/64" or so) flush silver band on it last night, but ran out of gas. Probably do it eventually, though.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
Them's fightin' werdz, George!LatakiaLover wrote:Sez me, anyway, and I have a cooler cat than you. So there.
Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
Also, you're right.
Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
Just not about the cat!
Re: Rest periods, weight loss, and re-setting your eyes
Deleted as irrelevant.