I like to put "Cosmic" in the title to warn folks, not so much to just be a raging braggart, but besides my pipe club, there's really no where else I can show what I have been up to.
As you've seen with my Spigot Dog Post, I've been playing around with spigots. I guess being a jeweler, I am attracted to bands, tampers, and the metal aspect of pipe designs. This one is an Oldencott Corona dublin that I picked up in a pipe club trade in 2015, and I immediately took it to the studio and inlayed an opal and made a band for it with a small leaf.
I really liked shape of the dublin, very stiff, rigid... German, but when I added the leaf, it almost looked like a feather, and the rigid shape, color and grain of the briar, the leaf, and the stone, made it look tribal... Native American or Thailand, maybe Hilltribe. So, I always referred to it as my Tribal dublin.
This pic is from 2015, I may have even made a post about it.
Anyways, I broke the stem last year, and the stummel has been in a drawer. So, after making the spigot connection for my bulldog, I figured... one more redo.
I love the bowtie shape it gives the whole pipe, like it has been pinched.
The triangle design is actually a five pointed star, like an old West sheriff badge, draped over the cap... well, it is made to look draped. And, the recesses, have been textured and blackened for contrast. And, the stem is acrylic.
To me, it holds that "tribal" look, without having to appropriate anything. No Native designs, no arrow, no peace pipe aspect. Just textures, shapes, materials... Things that brings to mind conchos or Hilltribe designs, without it being one. And, going to International gem shows, one sees a lot of Native American and Hilltribe designs... as well as Australian...
The spigot connection has passed the sling test, and holds great.
Opals are really hard to photograph. This one is a crystal from an Australian boulder opal. I love the way it looks like a galaxy that has washed up onto a beach. The colors move and shift as you move the stone. It is all an illusion of light as it passes through layers of crystal with microscopic droplets of trapped water refracting the light into colors that change colors or patterns as it cools or is heated. The perfect stone to watch as you smoke and let you mind drift off into the cosmos...
Spigots... you can break them down while smoking, or carry your pipe separated to make it more easily fit into a pocket, less leverage to break... held compressed against the sterling of the cap and briar. Plus, they are fun to make for people who love to play with angles, the geometry of making a cone in sterling, and lots of metal to play with the design.
I can't remember why I chose to start smoking aromatics in this. It was a great smoker... not superb, but great. But, at this point the pipe has had so much vanilla, and lightly scented lakelands, that I will have to keep smoking aromatics or switch to Lakelands for this pipe... which means that I probably won't be smoking it a lot, but when I do, I'll have a great pipe for gazing with my early morning cup of coffee... my mind wondering around in the Smokie Mountains or the Hills of Thailand, or the boulders of Australia.
I am still recovering from my loss of voice, but I am feeling better. Hopefully, I can smoke it n the morning with a Christmas Even cup of coffee.
What do you think?
As you've seen with my Spigot Dog Post, I've been playing around with spigots. I guess being a jeweler, I am attracted to bands, tampers, and the metal aspect of pipe designs. This one is an Oldencott Corona dublin that I picked up in a pipe club trade in 2015, and I immediately took it to the studio and inlayed an opal and made a band for it with a small leaf.
I really liked shape of the dublin, very stiff, rigid... German, but when I added the leaf, it almost looked like a feather, and the rigid shape, color and grain of the briar, the leaf, and the stone, made it look tribal... Native American or Thailand, maybe Hilltribe. So, I always referred to it as my Tribal dublin.
This pic is from 2015, I may have even made a post about it.
Anyways, I broke the stem last year, and the stummel has been in a drawer. So, after making the spigot connection for my bulldog, I figured... one more redo.
I love the bowtie shape it gives the whole pipe, like it has been pinched.
The triangle design is actually a five pointed star, like an old West sheriff badge, draped over the cap... well, it is made to look draped. And, the recesses, have been textured and blackened for contrast. And, the stem is acrylic.
To me, it holds that "tribal" look, without having to appropriate anything. No Native designs, no arrow, no peace pipe aspect. Just textures, shapes, materials... Things that brings to mind conchos or Hilltribe designs, without it being one. And, going to International gem shows, one sees a lot of Native American and Hilltribe designs... as well as Australian...
The spigot connection has passed the sling test, and holds great.
Opals are really hard to photograph. This one is a crystal from an Australian boulder opal. I love the way it looks like a galaxy that has washed up onto a beach. The colors move and shift as you move the stone. It is all an illusion of light as it passes through layers of crystal with microscopic droplets of trapped water refracting the light into colors that change colors or patterns as it cools or is heated. The perfect stone to watch as you smoke and let you mind drift off into the cosmos...
Spigots... you can break them down while smoking, or carry your pipe separated to make it more easily fit into a pocket, less leverage to break... held compressed against the sterling of the cap and briar. Plus, they are fun to make for people who love to play with angles, the geometry of making a cone in sterling, and lots of metal to play with the design.
I can't remember why I chose to start smoking aromatics in this. It was a great smoker... not superb, but great. But, at this point the pipe has had so much vanilla, and lightly scented lakelands, that I will have to keep smoking aromatics or switch to Lakelands for this pipe... which means that I probably won't be smoking it a lot, but when I do, I'll have a great pipe for gazing with my early morning cup of coffee... my mind wondering around in the Smokie Mountains or the Hills of Thailand, or the boulders of Australia.
I am still recovering from my loss of voice, but I am feeling better. Hopefully, I can smoke it n the morning with a Christmas Even cup of coffee.
What do you think?
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