Want to show you work to the world? Want a place to post photos of your work and solicit the opinions of those that have gone before you? Post your work here.
There's some good things going on with this one. The contrast stain is good.
For the next one, work on the shape of the front of the bowl. You have a Dublin going on in front and a billiard going on in the back. Don't be afraid to let that curve come out in the middle. Remember that the middle of the bowl is the furthest point on the horizontal plane for a billiard bowl.
The stem needs some more work up by the saddle. Also, the button and shank face are about the same size, which has me wondering why you went through the trouble of a fishtail instead of just a straight line on the sides of the stem.
Your lines look relatively straight to me, but the blab doesn't completely hide that you didn't finish shaping the bowl/shank junction. The radius between bowl and shank needs to be sharper. And your blast looks decent except right by the end of the shank where it dips in. Try to fade the blast in at the shank. (As a side note here, I heard someone complain about that same issue, because Michael Parks doesn't fade his blast on the end of the shank. )
Other than that, it looks like your work is getting better. Keep up the good work!
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Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.
Your stem need work for sure. When you make such a nice stummel with sharp defined lines, any wobble or unfinished area in your stems tend to stand out.
Acting like a loon in the front yard, close to the road.
I think Jeremiah's critique and oklahoma red's are really good. If we are going to be making a billiard in any of its forms, then the goal should be to have it shaped to size before any sandblasting or rustication. When I first looked at the pipe I the pipe I thought it was a little awkward (dub in the front and bill in the back), but also the dimensions seem off a bit. Maybe the shank it a little bit too long or the bowl is a little too short. Also (it might just be me) the taper down the whole shank might be too much of a taper.
That being said, I think this pipe is better than the ones you were making before you went to Chicago and it is nice to see that! I don't no anything about sandblasting, but it looks nice on this pipe. I look forward to seeing your progress over the next year. Next time you post a pipe try and remember to give us all the angles (left right front back top bottm button) so you can get better critiques.
The only thing I would add is about the stem. In the first image, it appears that the stem is wobbly and has a thick outer edge. Work towards straighter lines on the top and bottom of your stem with a slight radius into the saddle.
On your stem's edges, either go for a narrow tapered panel which ends at a point behind the button, or create that same taper, but round the edge.
The reason your bowl looks off is largely because you made the top of the bowl parallel with the shank. The bowl should cant forward (it appears it might), but the top of the bowl should be perpendicular to the axis of the bowl not parallel to the shank.
Like this :
Here's one that looks like yours. The good news is it's a Dunhill, the bad news is it's not a good one.
Tyler wrote:
Here's one that looks like yours... it's a Dunhill...
Wow, there's no need to insult the man, Tyler.
Hope you're well, Ian. Looks like you blasted too heavily at the stem. The stem work itself could be a bit more crisp, and it would be better if the saddle stem wasn't cut in on the sides (as seen from the top). If you change the name from "Lovat", I have no problems with the bowl. It's more of a long, pencil-shanked, straight zulu.
Lighten up the blast towards the stem so the transition isn't so abrupt and jarring. If you're going for a deep blast on the rest of the pipe, you'll want to exaggerate the shank taper a bit then even it out to where you want it by starting light at the stem and gradually blasting more aggressively as you work your way towards the bowl. If you don't exaggerate your taper and you do this you could end up with a no taper or, even worse, a reverse taper.