American Estates: Todd Johnson Partially Sandblasted Freehand (Hoplite) Tobacco Pipe

Freehand forms like this are relatively rarer from Todd Johnson compared to his Danish-inspired designs and organically inspired creations. However, this particular piece does a magnificent job of demonstrating his stylistic diversity as well as his ability to pull off a striking dual finish and meticulous eye for precise line work.

The rim is concave in orientation, with a ridgeline emerging from each edge of the rim, eventually wrapping around the firm, protruding heel underneath. Another ridgeline wraps around the shank portion, emanating from the shank face and coming to a subtle point with the shank being set slightly higher in comparison to the bowl. Those ridgelines also serve to demarcate the smooth portions of the briar from the sandblasted areas. The smooth areas along the bowl's fore and the back of the shank display a lively array of flame grain while the sandblasted finish has coaxed out a concentric array of rippling ring grain. It's certainly impressive how Todd pulled off the sandblast in such a tight area, one tiny mistake throwing off the rest of the composition. For a subtle accenting touch, Johnson even sandblasted part of the stem base so that it seamlessly blends in with the rest of the piece and shaped the stem so that it flares to echo the composition's bulbous shaping.