The Mistake Pipe

I was very excited about making this pipe. I liked the idea of bringing the lines off the Diamond saddle stem all the way up to the top of the bowl. I liked the idea of the rim being square with the uneven corners. Unfortunately  I did not anticipate correctly the sweep of the front curves, and so as I was sanding along you might imagine my horror as I discover a hole in the front right curve. The horror increased as I discovered that this was a result of a failure in my own geometry. To fix this problem I carved a small piece of briar to fit against the hole from the inside of the bowl and used epoxy to fix it in place. The front left curve didn't break through but it is very thin. As a result I decide to start breaking the pipe in before finishing the sanding, or the finish.

When the pipe didn't just crack when I finally worked it up to a full bowl, I decided to finish it. I have become rather attached to it and enjoy telling people that it is my mistake pipe.

The black spot is where the bowl cut through the side.