Smooth Bent Blowfish with Plateau (3) Tobacco Pipe

I've never seen plateau orientation like this ever before on a blowfish, but the idea is so obvious, having now seen it, that I'm amazed I hadn't seen it previously. Plateau is, of course, the edge of the burl; the grain runs from the center of the burl outwards, so plateau is basically birdseye in relief. Obviously, it's not easy orienting an already complicated shape to have its side like this on a fairly flat area of plateau, but it's also a highly intuitive design decision. The rest of the composition is a fairly straightforward blowfish, though that's almost a contradiction in terms for a shape as complex and difficult to properly execute as the blowfish. The grain is excellent, sporting superb cross grain around the center line of the bowl, with birdseye running up the shank on the side with plateau and balancing the plateau with a large field of birdseye on the opposite side. Strikingly impressive, this is the sort of creative play that I absolutely love to see from pipe makers.

-- Sykes Wilford