Asymmetry makes my brain hurt.

[NathanA]

So I haven't posted much recently and thought I would throw one in here for critique because it is way out of my comfort zone. I don't like things that are asymmetrical but these blowfish are pretty fun to make. It is really challenging to let the wood rather than the maker dictate the shape. I would love to hear what you guys think.

[wmolaw]

Stunning.

[Sasquatch]

Very cool in a lot of ways. Crisp shaping, nice texture.

My eye is drawn to the long lean stem though - to me it is almost like it would be worth re-bending, shooting for the curve to be a little further along - the long straight section just seems wrong somehow. I think it would work if there was a flare on the underside, but as it is, the stem bugs me in a very subtle way. I'm being ultra picky though - it's a nice shape.

[Hudson]

Absolutely gorgeous; the shaping, the textures, the colors orchestrated into a beautiful piece of smoking art.

[TRS]

I agree with Sasquatch's comment on the stem. Other than that, it's looking really nice; glad to see some more pipes from you.

[d.huber]

Also agree with Sas. However, that's a sweet pipe!

[Alden]

I disagree with Sas, out of principal alone.

[Sasquatch]

Good to see that someone has some integrity around here.

[NathanA]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Sas, when you say the bend should be "a little further along" do you mean closer to the stummel or closer to the button?

[Sasquatch]

Closer to the button I think. Nice thing is, you can try it out in a few incarnations and if you hate it, it's easy to undo.

[Growley]

I've got nuthin' on a blowfish, so I'll leave critiques to those that do. Great looking pipe though! It's odd, as soon as I saw it I thought of a snail. If you had done the half saddle on the bottom it would look like this:



My mind is probably just a bit off, but I think I might try one!

Nice work.

Brian.

[JMG]

I have a theory that your twin daughters are really the pipe makers and just use you as the face of the operation. They make great looking pipes, BTW.

[TRS]

I have a theory that your twin daughters are really the pipe makers and just use you as the face of the operation. They make great looking pipes, BTW.

Yeah, on his site you can see the picture of them clearly doing the majority of the design work while Nathan farts around in the background...

[NathanA]

Agreed. I am trying not to be the dad who pushes his kids into sports so he can live vicariously through them but I sure am trying to hype up pipe making so hopefully at least one of them will want to hang out with me in the garage.