January's Competition

[Neil]

I wasn't really having a go at your post Neil, but more likely at how having to submit a custom made pen affected my decision not to enter the October competition. Prior to that competition Jim had mentioned that he might kick the monthly competition into touch because of lack of support. He had many replies, including mine, urging him not to. Although I only had been turning pens for a few weeks I geared myself up for the competition.... turning my newbie 'Masterpieces' with the hope that one would be good enough to enter in the competition.My expectations though, were deflated, when it was suggested that because of the uniqueness of this particular competition a special custom made pen was called for. Because I had neither the expertise or maybe the special tools needed I had no option but to sit this competition out . I am crtainly not against the idea of expanding members abilities at the lathe, but some members including myself are out of their comfort zone still trying to achieve their best yet kit pen; they also may not have the extra machinery needed to complete the task of making a custom pen either.
Please don't get me wrong here I am not against lovley pens being made by those who can and then being shown in competitions. What I am trying to say is : Should I as a newbie even bother to enter, say, a competition for custom made segmented pens when members such as jttheclockman have also entered ?
Maybe just so that everyone gets a chance of winning a competion two months out of the twelve could be set aside for a novice only kit pen competion ?

Not sure if all this twaddle makes any sense ...I'm hopless at converting my thoughts into words.

Luv you all

Ed

Ed,

Wouldn't have minded if your were having a go, honest, can't abide by everyone agreeing with everyone all the time, yuch, its not what healthy debate is about. Hear what you say, about the ability to make a "custom" pen as a new turner. But here's the truth, I've been turning pens for a few years and I'm OK at it, I don't aspire to do what jttheclockman or Peter have done, they're great what they do but not my thing. I like turning wood for the sake of turning wood, I have over two hundred species in my stock and can probably identify most of them more by smell than by look. I had never made one of those bullet pens before I made that trial one included in the "how to" post. Since then there have been some cracking pens posted. In that I am making pens as a living at the moment, I make a pen to a saleable standard and get on with the next one, I don't do custom made pens, the public don't know they are custom made. There was nothing in the making of that pen that could have not been achieved by anyone who has made a pen before, they had the kit to do that, they could have made the bullet.

A custom made pen is simply, in my opinion, one that doesn't conform to the assembly instructions on the website or kit package.

However, I understand that there is an element of experience that will give the more experienced turner an advantage and if that can be overcome by judging ingenuity highly then the playing field may be flattened.

One of the things that should be agreed before the competition goes ahead, is what is the objective. Make a pen isn't very challenging, if we all entered a JR Gents fountain, who would win it - the wood or the turner? Making a pen isn't rocket science and it would be a case of he with the best wood wins, not he with the best developing (or developed ) skills wins.

Pens with a difference challenge the mind as to items like work holding (closed end pens) sequence of working (Jims blackwood centre bands) or turning a wooden cap instead of a metal one for a fountain pen.

I agree (yuch again) with Woody that it is important to develop a competition whereby ingenuity can ascend over experience as otherwise there is little point in having a competition, but the objective has to be defined.

I think.

Dangerous I know.

 

[Jim]

Thanks for all the comments and offers of help, and Ed, i do know where you are coming from and how it can scare members away from entering a competition because it's a custom made object that they do not feel comfortable with .. I guess this would be the same for me entering a bowl competition against the likes of some members in here .. But we will have to raise the bar at sometime and maybe the suggestion of Bi-monthly competitions from Neil, could be the answer? Peter, i like you idea of trying to contact suppliers etc, i know on other sites there is a cost to advertise products, we don't do that here, all i would ask for is a small discount to us members should suppliers want to add items in here, even adding a forum similar to that we had for Timberbits to add their promotions etc. .. So if anyone does know of suppliers please do ask them we have nothing to lose ... We will leave this open a little while to see if more can be learned in running the comps ..

 

[Buckeye]

Jim, I do think that before contacting suppliers, you formulate a plan, it would be better if there was a method in contacting suppliers rather than just a scattergun approach. If someone knows the owner of a supplier personally they might have a better shot at success than 10 different people phoning up the same supplier.

I never saw Timberbits forum or sub-forum here.

Peter

 

[stevenw1963]

Agree the comps should be blind, with the voting as before, open to all qualifying members.

Now, my tuppenceworth, I'm not a pen turner, I turn wood into what I feel like doing at the time, whether that is a pen, a bowl, a hollow form, a platter or whatever.
I didn't enter the bullet pen comp because I felt as Ed did, I felt my own ability was lacking in being able to turn anything suitably fitting for that competition.
I no longer keep a vast supply of pen kits, full stop, never mind some of each make / model / flavour etc so if a comp is said to be a JR gents fountain pen say, then I'm afraid I probably won't enter.
I think we need to be careful that we don't make the comps too 'involved' or ''off putting'' to all by making too may rules and stipulations.

Simple is best

Oh & can we have one for something other than a pen ???

 

[Jim]

Ok, if you can add to this list what you believe should be there please do..

• One entry per member unless otherwise stated at the start of each Competition.
• All pictures added to any competition cannot have been shown on this or any other forum before the Competition starts, and not to be posted on this or any other forum other than in the Competition before it ends.
• The Competition to be anonymous (I.E. PM pics of your entry to Jim/Comp Secretary who will post them in the entries thread without naming the creator).
• The top Five nominations made from the entry thread will then go into a poll where all members can vote for their favourite pen, this will give us our winner. Names will be added to entries after the competition has closed.
• The competition is open to any member with 25 posts or more.

 

[paulm]

Ok, if you can add to this list what you believe should be there please do..

• One entry per member unless otherwise stated at the start of each Competition.
• All pictures added to any competition cannot have been shown on this or any other forum before the Competition starts, and not to be posted on this or any other forum other than in the Competition before it ends.
• The Competition to be anonymous (I.E. PM pics of your entry to Jim/Comp Secretary who will post them in the entries thread without naming the creator).
• The top Five nominations made from the entry thread will then go into a poll where all members can vote for their favourite pen, this will give us our winner. Names will be added to entries after the competition has closed.
• The competition is open to any member with 25 posts or more.

That sounds good Jim.

 

[bellringer]

Ok, if you can add to this list what you believe should be there please do..

• One entry per member unless otherwise stated at the start of each Competition.
• All pictures added to any competition cannot have been shown on this or any other forum before the Competition starts, and not to be posted on this or any other forum other than in the Competition before it ends.
• The Competition to be anonymous (I.E. PM pics of your entry to Jim/Comp Secretary who will post them in the entries thread without naming the creator).
• The top Five nominations made from the entry thread will then go into a poll where all members can vote for their favourite pen, this will give us our winner. Names will be added to entries after the competition has closed.
• The competition is open to any member with 25 posts or more.

sounds good one other thing if you have a facebook page dont put it on there till it ends as for example if David or doug entered posted a picture of there comp entry i would see it as i liked there page but that just s thought

 

[Woody]

Question Jim why only one entry per person it may be more interesting with more entry's being posted especially if there are only a few people entering at least till the number of entrants grow

 

[bellringer]

Question Jim why only one entry per person it may be more interesting with more entry's being posted especially if there are only a few people entering at least till the number of entrants grow

i see woody point

 

[Jim]

Question Jim why only one entry per person it may be more interesting with more entry's being posted especially if there are only a few people entering at least till the number of entrants grow

With it being a nomination of the top five Woody, we could end up with all five belonging to one member in the final poll ...

 

[Woody]

With it being a nomination of the top five Woody, we could end up with all five belonging to one member in the final poll ...

Good point mate I didn't think of that one

 

[edlea]

Jim I am obviously missing the significance ... but will you explain why there has to be a nomination process and then another vote on those nominations ..why not a straight vote for one entry first time round ?

 

[Jim]

Jim I am obviously missing the significance ... but will you explain why there has to be a nomination process and then another vote on those nominations ..why not a straight vote for one entry first time round ?

Sorry Ed, I never got round to replying to your question...

Nothing to be honest, and we will go with the rule we used in the last comp we ran where all the pics were added to a thread and the winner was the one with the most nominations ...

Also reduced the post count to be able to join the comp to 20 .. We will run this months comp as is and hopefully by the end of it we will have a Comp Secretary along with some other recommendations already suggested in place.. Don't forget guys, if you think of something post it up ...