Fish and horse.

[Odissey]

Good day!
I finished with two more princes on Thursday. This time both are in English style. I photographed them and uploaded them to the cloud. I was going to post it on the forum on Monday at work. There is not enough time for anything, all weekend without straightening my back I worked on another smoking pipe. I don’t like to make plans, but I think I’ll finish it tonight. I come to work, climb into the cloud, but there are no photos. Where did they go? ...

But since I was going to show something, I will show two of my smoking pipes made last year. These are from the first ten pipes I made. This is a fish and a horse. These are models, not finished pipes. These are topics that still need to be worked on to bring them to perfection.
So the fish.







And this is a horse.









If anyone has any ideas or comments, share them.
If the briard was a little better, I could try to send it all to Pipesart ... If they take it of course. Who has experience of communicating with the owner of this trading platform, tell me how you can communicate with them. You can send a response to my personal mail.
Thanks in advance.

Regards, Odissey

[Odissey]

Small addition.
At that time I could not do classical forms with high quality, since I did not have the necessary training and skills. Even now I cannot do them very well.
Like most of those present here, I have never worked with wood before. So I learned and acquired the skills I needed by working on these simple forms.
As Todd Bannard (sasquatch) correctly noted, making a dozen random lines is much easier than making one perfect line.

[LatakiaLover]

Somewhere in England there was (maybe still is) a pub called the Fish and Horse

Chris will confirm

[DocAitch]

Odissey,
These are beautiful, well crafted pieces of sculpture and I am sure that many folks would love to have them.
However, when I consider a tobacco pipe’s main function- that of a device in which to enjoy tobacco, I imagine trying to clench/smoke either of these and I cannot.
These would be in a well lit display case on the mantle or in the den.
If this is where your talents and desires take you, then proceed. I am sure there is a market there for you.
DocAitch

[Sir_Saartan]

I believe this kind of pipe won’t see much action regarding actual smoking.
That being said: they are awesome. I would like to be able to do this.

I love classic forms. Todd and Michael encouraged me to try them years ago. I am progressing quite ok. So: yeah do those. But occasionally go back to something crazy.

[Odissey]

Good day!
Thank you for rating my earliest work. But I don’t have any talent. I am no more talented than any of those who live on this forum. I have only a technical education and can't even draw.
All this is the fruit of hard and very painstaking work, first with pine models, then with briar. Hard but very interesting work.
It is not economically feasible for me to make such sculpted pipes. Each such pipe takes 10 to 12 days of work. During this time I can make 3 - 4 classic shapes. Even if I sell them for $ 250, it's already $ 1000. Who will buy a fish or a mermaid, a bull or a horse from a pipe cutter without any name, at least for $ 700? I do not see the answer to this question.
Therefore, it will not be profitable for me to make such sculptural forms now.
Trying to sell finished pipes is another matter. They still stand and gather dust on my shelf. Better to sell them somewhere. In my opinion, the best place for this is Pipesart.com. I really need to find an opportunity to earn 1500 - 2000 $ in order to buy equipment for my workshop. Now I have practically nothing but a drilling machine. And I need a lathe and a milling machine, I need a large French wheel, I need to buy some kind of polishing machine for muslin rag disks. My salary as a leading engineer is simply not enough for all this. During the quarantine, my wife lost her job, so now I can completely forget about buying equipment for the workshop.

Best regards Odissey

[Sir_Saartan]

A French wheel and a polishing machine can be run on an old electric drill... one you’re not going to use again because this will ruin your bearings.

Still: that can be done for less then 100 altogether for a decent start.

My mini belt sander is 70. I can link it. It’s not great but can be modified to pretty good for just a couple of bucs.

So: really small money can help you out. Hang in there.
A lathe is great but if that’s out of the equation for now: don’t worry. You‘ll get there.

[Odissey]

A French wheel and a polishing machine can be run on an old electric drill... one you’re not going to use again because this will ruin your bearings.

Still: that can be done for less then 100 altogether for a decent start.

My mini belt sander is 70. I can link it. It’s not great but can be modified to pretty good for just a couple of bucs.

So: really small money can help you out. Hang in there.
A lathe is great but if that’s out of the equation for now: don’t worry. You‘ll get there.

Yes, everything is there and a French wheel and a polishing machine based on an electric drill, otherwise the finish of smoking pipes would be simply impossible.
I'm talking about more serious machines. For example, you need to have a French wheel with a diameter of 200 - 250 mm (10 - 12 inches), it is simply not realistic to put this wheel on a drill. You can buy a new one with the required dimensions for about $ 250. It's pretty expensive for me. The polishing machine will cost another $ 50 - $ 100 more.
I am not at all worried, I know for sure that I can earn this money by selling my smoking pipes. But I'm not ready to start selling them yet. Firstly, because I don't know where I can sell it. In Russia, after the pandemic, smoking pipes are practically not sold. And the competition among the masters is very, very high. It is necessary to somehow build sales, but I still have no idea how to do this.