Why do you make pipes?

[Captain Glass]

Mike you need to go into shops that don't carry any of that shit or atleast very little of it. Then you won't get asked to do it.

[ROGUE]

Well, that's the problem right there. Everybody in this area does carry it now. The place I was going didn't, but then they expanded and once they did that they exploded the old store with Chinese. So the new store since went out of business and now everything is back at the old shop with tons of Chinese.

Did you talk to your buddy down there to see if he wants any of that stuff?

[yoloswag420]

A gang of pipers hypnotized me with their shiny color spirals and mind-altering ninja smoke.

Also, I would like to forward the motion that China should be destroyed.

[yinzer]

because pipes

[Kool]

If I was in your position and frustrated by this question, I would probably just flip it.

Annoying Person: "Why do you make pipes?"

You: "Why wouldn't I?"


Like you said, they are trying to make you feel ashamed... just throw that right back at them. Deliver your line with a tone that demonstrates you are mystified by their ignorance.

[hashmasta-kut]

i'm pretty sure the only real true answer is, because its what pays best. one can make more per hour making pipes than goblets or pendants i think. most people anyway, and the market is bigger. especially for heady pieces. i cant make good money selling drinkingware and other things, but with smoking ware its much easier i think, for most people. I mean, even Robert Mickelson started making them too, and anyone who read what he has to say about it, will see that what i say seems to be true.

[ahreno]

what else are you going to smoke out of?

[LooseSeal Baller]

i'm pretty sure the only real true answer is, because its what pays best. one can make more per hour making pipes than goblets or pendants i think. most people anyway, and the market is bigger. especially for heady pieces. i cant make good money selling drinkingware and other things, but with smoking ware its much easier i think, for most people. I mean, even Robert Mickelson started making them too, and anyone who read what he has to say about it, will see that what i say seems to be true.

i have to disagree. making pendants and jewelry pays alot better than you imagine, making a dollar or 2 per minute doing simple implosion pendants. just sayin

[Aymie]

Without a doubt, pipes pay better than my other work, but I don't do this for the money. It's more about supporting my art habit. I do auctions to keep money in my paypal account, which I use to buy gems and paints and other fun things to create with.

[LooseSeal Baller]

alright then we'll have to agree to disagree

[ROGUE]

I mean, even Robert Mickelson started making them too, and anyone who read what he has to say about it, will see that what i say seems to be true.

I was actually pretty dead set against making pipes for a while because I couldn't find a direction with them, but then I discussed this with him, I believe on here, or maybe at Zen in person... either way. When you look at an artist as talented as RAM breaking into the pipe industry it makes you come to a quick realization, it's pretty essential to get your name out there or else you're literally nobody.

[hashmasta-kut]

i have to disagree. making pendants and jewelry pays alot better than you imagine, making a dollar or 2 per minute doing simple implosion pendants. just sayin

ok let me say it like this, i have not much market for jewelery and pendants. i have gotten exactly 1 pendant order in 4 years(and its on hold). and when i sell pipes, the dollar value for the item is higher than drinking vessels, even when a similar amount of time is input. more competition in glasses, less in pipe makers.

[fUmEsNiFfEr]

Even when I was a wee Mclarty in Jr. High school I was obsessed with Pipes. Pipes were some of my most valued possessions and I have gone without weed more than once for a nice piece.

Some people like the laughing fat guy and some people pray to the emaciated white guy nailed to a board but I find the Pipe to be the sacred symbol that helps me find peace.

I had been a Pipe carver for years before my friend asked me if I wanted to learn flame working and I used to never sell my work. I would only gift Pipes.

Nowadays I use lampwork to help support my family and I am thank full for it. Besides, what would happen if I didn't sell a lot of the Pipes that I made? My friends and family would all have been buried alive by the pieces I made just learning how to work glass in the first place.

I am proud to be a Piper and this is my dream job.

[nicko0]

Head shops must be different in your area. I can't stand going into head shops and getting asked to make cheaper things. Then I look around the shop and it's filled with $100 Chinese bongs. I find that very defeating. I guess it's all about your mindset though.

mmmm alot of the stores here are terrible little china slingers that should go out of business. but most of them are appreciative of quality work and aware of actual prices, and sad they cant buy or sell any of it.

when a shop tries to get me to sell at crack head prices i show outwardly insulted for even thinking they could pull that shit. i also ask them if they know anything about glass and would they like to learn, and would they like to have help making there shop proper. So yeah there is definitely some bs owners and shops.

i was reffering to the consumer too, many a pipe collector appreciate the art form to the degree of knowing the names of techniques like encalmo or retti. encalmo or retti a vase and the general vase collector wont understand why it cost 10 times more than the plain one that matches their couch.

until one goes really high end but i havent broken into that realm yet.

tangenty: in high art it seems that the buyer understands that they dont and cant "get it" and that elevates the art even higher.

[blueburnsorange]

I make glass because I wanted a fun hobby that I can keep growing into for the rest of my life, I will never stop being amazing by those more skilled than I am... but it will never be a full-time job for me.

I make functional glass because heady glass artwork is a part of the counter-culture that I love surrounding myself with.

I make pipes because I'm a newb and have learned more in 3 weeks of pipe making than 6 months of bead/sculpture work. I've never even smoked out of one of my pipes!... but only because I'm an oil-head so I have used a fair share of my own domes, dabbers and dishes :-)