6-12 "Blulu"

[Ocelot55]

About two weeks ago I had a customer contact me wanting a zulu. He wanted it pretty traditional but also wanted it with a twist. Here is what I came up with.











I tried to make this as traditional as possible besides the blue color and the wider shank. Since it is blue, I decided to name it the "Blulu," Blue+Zulu.

Of course any critique is necessary and welcome.

[Growley]

The fact that you started the post off with "I had a customer contact me" shows you're doing something right That's a great place to start.

I don't have any critique to offer since this shape is pretty new to me, but I have a couple of questions. How wide is that shank at the widest part, about an inch? Also, was there an artistic or aesthetic reason you made the bottom totally flat? Did you make the stem, or were you able to find a preform that wide? Just curious.

I guess I do have one point to offer. I'd suggest sanding the blue die out of the top of the bowl so your customer doesn't feel like he's smoking smurfberries.

[Ocelot55]

Thanks, Brian. The flat bottom was my attempt to mimic Dunhill style shaping, which always leaves a flat spot on the bottom of their pipes for nomenclature. I wanted this to be extremely classical, so I looked at a lot of classic Zulus.

The stem is probably over one inch wide near the bowl. The stem was a pre-fab. I'm still having trouble facing the stock I have and inserting a delrin tenon so that there is no gap at the stem shank junction.

I agree with sanding the blue dye out of the bowl, but I was afraid to scratch up the rim in the process. I've found blue an extremely difficult colour to do right. Apply too much stain and it bronzes, apply too little and its hard to get the colour even, especially when you buff it.

Smurfberries... I like it!

[The Smoking Yeti]

I've been wanting to try a blue stain for a while... from what I'm seeing here its really hard to do right- I like where your going with it man. Deep blue is awesome!

Did you perchance try to do a couple coats of black first to bring out the grain more?

[Ocelot55]

I've been wanting to try a blue stain for a while... from what I'm seeing here its really hard to do right- I like where your going with it man. Deep blue is awesome!

Did you perchance try to do a couple coats of black first to bring out the grain more?

That is exactly what I did. Unfortunately the grain on this particular block was very unspectacular. The best look at the grain is from the top where you can see some subtle flame. Basically I used Fiebing's USMC Black for a couple of undercoats, sanded that off to a pretty dark grey finish and added a couple diluted layers of Fiebing's Light Blue. Some spots look better than others. Its tough to get the consistency of the finish even.

[K.Anastasopoulos]

I like very much the color!