Bill Shalosky: Sandblasted Bent Dublin with Mammoth (554) Tobacco Pipe

Bill Shalosky's pipe making began not with briar, but with clay, as he was experimenting with crafting pipes while working on his degree at the Columbus College of Art and Design with a focus in ceramics. Once he graduated, and ran the ceramics lab for a year, he started work at Smokers' Haven, heading restoration and repair while also making pipes with Premal Chheda, as well as carving for himself. In the Spring of 2015, Shalosky started work at BriarWorks, where he was exposed to a seasoned team of carvers and each of their own styles, including Pete Prevost, Sam Adebayo and Micah Redmond. His deep appreciation for pipes of all styles from around the world, as well as his background in the arts, lend themselves to a unique style of shaping, and his carving experience affords him a keen eye for line work, something that's exemplified by this bent Dublin.

I'm immediately reminded of the work of Poul Ilsted here, and not just because the shank is paneled, but rather that it is paneled and still manages to take on a sinuous curve from the transition to the end, the paneling present there serving to frame its outline and accentuate its presence rather than just firm up the aft end of this pipe. The crispness of these lines is quite palpable, and their reach extends to the heel and the mammoth accent at the shank end as well, beyond which starts the reach of the saddle stem, the base of which nestles into a small hollowing at the face of the accent. A nice bit of visual separation is offered by the junction here, creating some negative space that draws the attention of the eyes from the bowl, creating interest in the aft side of the piece, though still keeping the visual weight anchored at the transition, while the flare to the stem's base keeps things balanced by mirroring the flare of the mammoth fitment.

While the two may not be immediately similar, I also can't help but think of this piece as something of a sister pipe to this bent Dublin, as the angle and shape of the transition is nearly identical and, despite the ridges sharpening the heel here, the sweeping build to the bowl is extremely similar. The implied line here is so potent that, were you to obscure the heel with something, the similarities become immediately apparent, and that's to say nothing of the comparable stem shapes, mammoth accents, or the nestling of the stems into said accents, all of which are present in both examples. A trumpeting flare possesses the bowl here, its walls expanding outward dramatically as it blossoms forth from its framed base and lifted heel, terminating in an undulating crown of plateau whose peaks and dips provide a visual dynamism to the composition, as well as a touch of organicism that elevates the structured outline. Dressing this piece is a similarly hued sandblast to its sister, presenting with a vibrantly contrasting, earthy palette that unveils concentric ring grain cascading over the bowl, with textural birdseye peppering the underside.