::: SHOP CLOSED//FLOODING :::
Posted by thos.martin
at 7:24 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 19 March 2007 5:33 PM EDT
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::: SHOP CLOSED//FLOODING :::
After searching for nearly four months, the CAlabash gourds are on their way to the states, the paymnet is on its way to S. Africa. I'm feeling a bit of a let down as there is nothing left to fo but wait (and make pipes).
So, I thought a little Van Gogh was in order. See Slide Show.
South Africa POS Mail Tracking:
accepted on 12-Mar-2007 15:25 at the MORGENZON (RPO) post office
Date last tracked (scanned): 12-Mar-2007 15:25
Current Status: In transit
Delivery Office:
| Scan Description | Place Scanned | Trace Information | Item Status | Date Scanned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| O-ACCEPTANCE DOCUME | MORGENZON (RPO) | 12-Mar-2007 15:25 |
To help The Calabash Project in South Africa you can buy a pin, magnet, or pipe. Read more.
[THIS ENTRY IS BEING POSTED AUTOMATICALLY. I AM AT THE NEW YORK PIPE SHOW]
Pictured: (Top) Medico Calibash with new bowl added. The pipe is 1940ish. They were basically the Kaywoodie "seconds". Note briar extension to account for short stem. It also holds a filter. The gourd has some marring. (Bottom) My 2nd and final Calabash prototype. Note black stain and lattice/meerschaum bowl. Junction of stem to gourd to be improved. It is a nylon stem with threaded insert commonly used for New meerschaums. This pipe is most large.
| Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:05 am Post subject: |   | ||
I wrote, and I Quote: There are of course suppositions, but the most common was that he was bi-polar. Concerning his spiritual state, there was mention. When I get home tonight I'll respond. I don't want to misquote but thats an excellent question so I want to give it a good answer. | |||
Feb 28, 2007 12:21 pm
Short Answer: He was ecstatically pious.
Long Answer:You need to look at the question, "Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear?" The author of this book, at first specualtes that he was somehow emulating or trying to right the wrongs of "Jack the Ripper."
Vincent & Gauguin would read and follow crime in the local newspaper.
Jack the Ripper was international news. Vincen had spent some time as an evangelist near London. This was to be his vocation but he never finished (was kicked out) his education, and his congregation thought him mad and had him removed.
JTR had hacked off one of his victims ears.
His victims were mostly prostitutes. When Vincent cut off his ear and delivered it to a prostitue at one of the brothels he frequented, some say he was making this offering as a gesture of goodwill, empathizing with their lowly stature.
Others speculated he cut off his ear to put a stop to his auditory hallucinations.
Gauguin's interpretation was more Biblical.
He said that when Vincent presented his ear to the prostitute he said to her "you will remember me, verily I tell you this." When asked why he did it, Vincent replied that his reason were "quite personal."
After subsequent attacks Vincent said he was plagued be religious fears, what he also dubbed "religious exhultation. and frightful ideas about religion." He identified greatly with the story of Christ's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane when he foresaw his arrest, torture and crucifixion.
In the new Testament, after Christ accepted his fate, Judas burst into the garden with armed men, [sic] to arrest him. When the disciples saw what was going to happen, they thought of defending Christ by force, "And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear."
Vincent also read avidly the works of Emile Zola.
In his fantasy novel, The Sin of Father Mouret , the central figure, a priest, was ecstatically pious and collapsed in front of a stutue of theVirgin and later awoke in an overgrown garden. The priest is nursed back to health by a woman who was to become his lover. They were later driven from the garden by a viloent and local friar, Brother Archangias.
The priest, FatherMouret, later returned for his lover's funeral. When he finished his prayers, he calmly pulled a knife from hi pocket, opened it, and cut of the friar's ear!
In his writings, Vincent implied that his spiritual struggles were more compelling than his struggles with the flesh.
So, its hard to say whether Vincent cut off his ear to: punish himself the way the friar Archangias had been punished, or as St. Peter punished the soldier in Gethsemane, or as the prostitute had been punished by Jack the Ripper. But remember, it was Gauguin his "comrade" who refers to his actions as "Biblical mortifications."
Serioulsy though, I'm glad you did. Thanks.
Tonight @ 7: SHPC Boston
Read the article I wrote on beginner pipemaking in the March 2007 Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of Boston newsletter. If your reading this in mid April , 2007 or after, go to http://www.shpcboston.org/mar07.htm.
I thought I was nearing completion with Pipe 708 but my wife told me what I alredy knew but didn't want to admit. It needs to be either carved or smoothe. I had sanded down some of the carving trying to tone it done a little and it just looked a little crappy so I need to continue sanding and make it smooth. IT will be nice.
My brother once told me, while fishing with a rubber worm, "if you think your reeling it in too slow, your not reeling it in slow enough." This translates to piemaking as well:
"When you think your done sanding, you need to sand some more."
Just added to the personal collection, for restoration:
Save the Calabash !
[PICTURES OF PIPE 708 TO FOLLOW]
In continuation of the Van Gogh peasant pipe inspiration, 708 or pipe proletarienne, I hand carved with a knife, complete with cuts and divots.
Unique to this pipe are the matt black cuffs: the rim of the bowl and the end of the shank. (see pics above) These are in response to the four "dress black" pipes I tried so earnestly to make, never satisfied with the black. Short of soaking the briar, I tried everything. Anyway Cuffs; you saw them here first.
Other pipes in the series:
Also important to note, growing up, this (Artco) planter sat on the windowsill, above the sink. I own the house now, and it still sits thereabouts reminding me of my childhood and forcasting the pipemaker I came to be!
TMpipes is working on getting its own Blackfriar blended by someone who can legally sell it to you. Until then, I will give to you the recipe. Use, preferrably McClellands blending tobaccos and Black Cavendish as it has hints of vanilla. The recipe is:
Blackfriar
'N Joy!
Note a/o 3/13: The name has been Changed to Blue Monk, and McC's 5100 has been added in the same proportion as the Latakia. To my taste, its a fine blend and will only improve with age as the Va.s mature and the flavours marry.
I just finished reading "The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles". by Martin Guyford. For the most part well written and researched. Both artist were ardent pipe smokers (the bohemian and proletarian alternative to the cigar.)
Funny thing hapened while smoking Stokkebye's Bullseye Flake... This is a true story, and it could happen to you. I'm at a red light lighting my pipe and a very attractive woman walks by. Let's just say I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, (lighting my pipe).
I can only imagine what would happen if I peeled the tags off my mattress!!!!! |
The second and third calabash prototypes are in the works:
