Pipe by Steven Lalioff

The original pipe that inspired me to carve this is labeled in the book as; Pawnee, circa 1840, Nebraska. The original was of curly maple. The wood I used was called "quilted maple". This quilted maple has a very opalescent quality in the light and not so well defined stripes as in curly maple.

The mouth piece and the smokestack I cast in leaded pewter. The pipe is 15" overall in length.

I started this pipe two winter's ago and pecked away at it only as my time permitted. I find carving a much better pass time than watching T.V. of an evening! I found that laying a fleece on my lap does very well at catching all the little chips as I carve. S.L.

Photos by Karen Abercrombie.