Admittedly inspired by Adam Davidson's 'Fig' shape, here Jeff Gracik's 'Gourd' boasts a more bulbous posterior bowl, and a bowl anterior of a straighter line than Adam's popular shape. Another interesting touch, and certainly one expertly done in a way only Jeff can do, is the carver's use of a small bit of plateau for the foot of the pipe. The piece is marvelously sandblasted to reveal peppered bird's eye along the face of the pipe with striations of fanned grain along its flanks. And, as you can see, the short briar shank resolves quickly into five knuckles worth of excellently worked blonde bamboo. Good stuff from San Diego.
-- Ted Swearingen
