The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things of shoes and ships and fountain pens of cabbages and kings and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings. Okay that's enough philosophy for today.
Yesterday I received the first pen entry into May's Competition, so come on, get your fingers out and start getting your Competition Entry ready or if you have already finished it, get it over to me.
If you are new to the forum you can enter the Competition if you have a post count of 25, which is easily and quickly achievable, just introduce yourself and ask a few question. Here is what the competition is all about.
Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to produce a pen or pencil from any material, but must include metal other than the kit parts. You could segment the blank using metal and other materials, make watch part blanks or the whole blank could be metal. The Oyster is yours, to decide what the pen or pencil will look like, be as innovative as you wish.
The competition will end on 31st. May 2016 which means I must have your photos before midnight on the 31st. May 2016. If I get them even 1 minute into June 1st. 2016 then your entry will not be included in the competition.
I will upload all the images on the 1st. June 2016, and all members will have 5 days to vote for the pen or pencil they think should win the competition, you may not vote for your own creation and you must not show your pen/pencil to any other member, it must not be shown on any other website before the end of the competition.
If you have any questions please ask.
You can use up to 3 images of your creation if you think they show it off more fully, but you must stick to the rules below.
The Prizes
Click here
The Rules for the Competition.
1. You must have made 25 posts by the time you enter the competition.
2. You may enter 1 pen or pencil into the competition and it must be your own work and at least part of it must be turned on a lathe.
3. Your photographs must be taken on a clean piece of white plain paper which does not have a texture or creases, photocopy paper is ideal.
4. You must not use any props in the photographs.
5. Your photographs must show the pen in a horizontal position as shown below.
6. Your images must be 800 pixels wide.
7. I must have your final photographs before midnight on the 31st. May 2016
If you PM me your images to enter the competition and later make a better pen you can PM me the photos of the new pen or pencil and I will discard the original images, that way you can be sure that you are in the competition with your first pen and if you have time to make another which you think is better you can use that one as long as I have it before the deadline.
Make sure that you keep a hi res photograph of your entry as the winner will also receive a penturners.co.uk Awards Certificate with an image of your pen. The Awards certificate is A4 and can be printed out, if you wish to use it on your craft stall, by the likes of snapmad.com or photobox.co.uk, snapmad.com would be the cheaper option if you spend £2.99 as the postage will be free, photo box will charge a minimum of £2.99 postage.
I will tweak colour, density and white balance of your images, if you request it, when you PM them to me.