Jekyll and Hyde

[Quietfly]

This was a freehand experiment. It's only my 16th pipe.

[DocAitch]

I apologize in advance. I am tired from spending hours in my shop and my diplomatic skills suck anyway.
I can perhaps understand the desire by a new carver to incorporate a bit of plateau, but it should be part of a theme. Your plateau is just way out there, serving no purpose and adding weight in the wrong place.
Additionally, I discern no unity in your piece. It reminds me of a mutant ant with a lumpy head joined to a lumpy thorax.
Is this a kit? You worked the stummel with the stem detached. They should be worked as a unit.
Please consider making a Billiard or some other standard shape. When you do this, you begin to understand symmetry and transitions. It generally takes 10-20 attempts at a Billiard before you begin to master some of the basic skills required.
I will guarantee that the things that you learn making a Billiard can all be applied to more exotic shapes.
Don’t be discouraged, everybody’s first pipes are a mess.
Perhaps someone who is not as tired and grumpy as I am will chime in.
DocAitch

[seamonster]

I agree with the good Doc here.
BUT there are some things that are working.
The shape of the bowl is pretty good, for pipe number 16
and it seems that finish coming along.

As for the shaping over all, if this is the kind of pipe you like to smoke
and/or look at, go for it. Make a whole bunch, and see how you can make this type of pipe better.
There are things that can be improved upon, even with this type of pipe.
If this is indeed what you want to make, we can have that conversation.

Jeremy.

[DocAitch]

Modified observations. Less tired today .
I apologize for hurting your feelings or for appearing to denigrate your work on this piece. Posting in the Gallery can be painful, and we all have gone through that.
I agree with Jeremy, the head/bowl does look pretty good, but the plateau is superfluous.
The thorax plateau is also totally superfluous, and there is no unity of design.
There are a couple of paths that can be followed when making a pipe.
One recognizes that a pipe is an instrument in which to smoke tobacco. An efficient shape has enough briar to contain the heat, has proper plumbing, and is sturdy enough to withstand being dropped or knocked to the floor. Unity of design derives from these basic requirements.
It also should not strain your jaw or teeth when you use both hands for another task. IMHO, the aesthetics are an add on, and increase the visual and tactile pleasure of smoking that pipe, but are constrained by the efficiency requirements. The care and precision with which the design is executed are also major factors in appreciating that pipe. A good billiard fulfills these requirements (as do other classics), and that is why these designs persist and sell.
Another pathway is one where the aesthetics trump efficiency, (within reason). There is some extra weight devoted to aesthetics. Flares following grain add weight that is not strictly required for efficiency but they do add to the unity of the design. These designs can be eye catching and again, depending on the execution, they are appreciated for their beauty. A blowfish is an upper limit design in this genre.
Stick with the pipe making and pick your pathway.
I am a strong advocate of the “Make a billiard “ school because everything you learn while making a satisfactory billiard is applicable to ANY subsequent pipe that you attempt.
Believe me, I was very resistant to this idea when I resumed pipe making, and reluctantly followed it, but my pipes are better for it.
DocAitch

[LatakiaLover]

I strongly recommend that you commit your fanciful designs/ideas to paper for the time being, and hold off executing them until you've mastered your tools.

Or, as they used to say in the South, "Son, you've got more tools in than suitcase than you can carry."

[Quietfly]

Thanks for all the feedback! I'm here to learn, not to have my ego stroked. I'm pretty thick skinned so, the constructive criticism is truly appreciated.
With that out of the way, this was a wacky spur of the moment, let's make something decision. An experiment.
As a rule I try to learn something every time I attempt to create, whether it's a gain of efficiency, or a discovery of preference of process. Every endeavor is an opportunity to add a tool to my tool box.
Often I find I learn more from my failures than I do from successes. That being said I have not had much of the latter, but have had an overabundance of the former.
I have, as many have suggested, started with attempting to make billiards. My progress with them, has well progressed. I am at attempt number 4 at them. I will post them for critique in the gallery at a later time.
The strange build process of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The thought process behind building the monstrosity that is Jekyll & Hyde was to have two completely opposing forces or sides joined only by the commonality that they share the same space.
Mr Hyde’s features were small, deformed and disgusting. I created the segmentation or thorax with plateau to represent this. Hyde has also been described as indefinably evil and horrific. The plateau on the bowl is there strictly to destroy any hint of goodness or beauty.
In contrast to Mr. Hyde, Dr Jekyll is described as having a rather bland personage. The swept stem melding to an angled and ultimately rounded shape was the largest contrast I could conceive to counter the utter chaos and cacophony of the unchecked plateaus of the opposite side.
All in all I was excited with the overall creation, and pleased by the troglodyte grotesqueness of this putrid pipe.
TLDR: I’m still learning this crap and plan to get better at some point.