“Taz”…

When I was commissioned to make a pipe intended as a gift for a guy with the nickname, “Taz,” I knew exactly what I was in for.  A branch away from my typical subject matter, Taz is of the classic Looney Toons character, complete with the churning whirlwind.  Because of the restraints of the medium of briar, I had to go for a more conservative facial expression, and not the typical arm waving and tongue flapping pose Taz is usually striking.  Turned out well, regardless, in my opinion.  The pipe is left a little scuffed, signature of the destructive character, and the whole pipe curves and bends as if in motion.  Due to the imminent arrival of my first child, and spending the past few weeks helping my wife put together a suitable nursery, this pipe took me longer than I normally like to take on a project, but it feels good to get this finished and off my bench in anticipation of the next project… which will presumably be after the dust settles from this baby broo ha ha.

Eagle Pipe

This is the first in a series of wildlife themed pipes.  A real pleasure to work on.

I don’t normally do this, but the following is a series of images of the process of production on this pipe:

 

 

 

Aragorn…

Another Aragorn pipe.  This one has an engraving customized to the owner, translated into Elvish.  Up until this point I have been using maple for the stem material on these pipes, but I’ve switched to oak for the reason that maple is much springier and is more difficult to bend.  Bending oak is a pleasure…  This piece of briar has beautiful grain patterns, with tiger eye on one side, and nice swirl on the other.  I’ve just upgraded my buffing equipment, and really enjoyed the finishing process on this one.

Gandalf…

This is a pipe of Gandalf, not Gandalf’s pipe, and it is the second pipe in a series by the same guy who commissioned Treebeard.  The stand is a lothlorien leaf sitting atop a curved post that is decorated with the design from Gandalf the White’s staff.  The pipe and stand combination represents a blending of Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White.  The hat serves the purpose of completing the look, and is easily removed for smoking.

Reddit deal…

I normally get about 40 hits a day… thanks to my brother posting my site to Reddit I’m getting thousands.  Crazy stuff.  So… for the next week, I’m running a Reddit special that’ll give you 10% off my normal quoted price on a pipe if it is ordered in that time.    Just shoot me an email with “Reddit” in the subject line…While you’re at it follow me on twitter.  Refer to my “Pricing” page to see my payment policy…. Cheers!

Africa redux…

Of the pipes I’ve made the original Africa has stood as one of my favorites.  It was created as a gift for my brother-in-law who is planning on working in the vast humanitarian field present on that continent, and it also reminds me of my own time working in the Sudan.  This redux of the Africa pipe commemorates that as well, but this time it is for a close friend with whom I worked in Darfur.  He is getting married in a few weeks, and this pipe is a gift to celebrate our friendship and congratulate him and his new bride… although I doubt she’ll smoke it.  Much love, my friend…

The stummel is briar, and although the grain is beautiful, there are a few blemishes… fitting, though, for a pipe of Africa.  The stem is maple, as well as the stand.

Notre Dame

The second installment in the collegiate line.  Notre Dame was commissioned by a recent graduate, and the timing is kind of appropriate for me as I am finally finishing my own undergraduate work, although at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, and somewhat later in life.  So this pipe is a celebratory piece…

Treebeard’s Stand

Carved from basswood, I made this stand for the owner of the recent Treebeard pipe.  This combo is definitely my favorite project to date.

Roots Freehand

Loosely based on my Fuimus pipe, this pipe takes on the elements of my Roots pipe with the fully carved roots sprouting from the stem and wrapping around the bowl.  Like Fuimus this pipe stands on its own for ease of display, but it fits in the hand quite nicely, allowing a comfortable smoke.  Per request, I tried to make the roots a bit more gnarly on this pipe, and I borrowed some of my improvements to my carving technique that I gained while working on Treebeard.  Some of the roots appear naturally broken, or weather beaten, and while working on them I got the idea to look into incorporating the appearance and feel of driftwood for future pipes.  While you’re here check out my entire pipe portfolio… The Pipes

Treebeard

The first of hopefully a pair of pipes including possibly a Balrog pipe, Treebeard is my favorite pipe by far.  As a casual browsing of my pipes will reveal, I have a special interest in carving earthy, Lord of the Rings, root-themed pipes, and with Treebeard I feel like I have taken my conception of all of that up a few notches.  These pictures do not do justice to this pipe, or the extra detail I tried to incorporate.  With Treebeard, I decided to make the stem an extension of the theme of the rest of the pipe, rather than just make it smooth.  I tried to make the knobs look like old branches that had broken off, and studied quite a few images of gnarly bark to get Treebeard’s bark the way I envisioned.  It isn’t an exact replica of Treebeard as portrayed in the films, but it certainly captures the essence of that design.  There will be more images of Treebeard in a couple of weeks as I’ll be carving a stand for this pipe.

I also made a stand for this pipe – which you can see here – also be sure to check out the rest of my custom pipes.