Dang it, sometimes I just surprise myself. What do you guys think of this awesome NEW idea I have: How about if the turners ALL got busy and entered in a little friendly turning contest? What’s that you say? Oh, it’s been done before so, it’s NOT a new idea, huh? Well fine then, but I thought I was on to something! “Scuse me, Scott? What was that?” Oh, yeah…The idea actually belongs to Scott Donley. Sorry ‘bout that, Scott!
OK, in all seriousness, how about it, boys and girls? Scott PM’d me yesterday, saying that it’s been a while since we’ve ventured into the contest thing. After conferring with my right-hand man, Andy Hoyt, we figured that with Christmas right around the corner and all that, this would be an awesome time for everyone to get involved.
So, what are we to turn? Well, you tell US!!! This is YOUR forum, your work and hopefully, your presents to give to someone special. And you may ask, “So what’s the prize(s)?” Fair question. There are none other than the satisfaction of a job well done and a little friendly competition! If you’re looking to make a killing on this, fo-get about it!
Rules? Well, there really are none. However, Scott made a very good point about there being quite a few “newbies” here and we do NOT want to exclude anyone!!! Hence, when thinking of suggestions for categories, please, keep that in mind. A couple things you may want to pass on for category suggestions might be hollow forms or natural edge bowls/forms. Remember, we’d really like to appeal to the masses. At the same time, for some of you more advanced spinners, it may be fun to get back to more of the basics. For folks such as myself, it would give me the opportunity to try and find the “ON” switch for my lathe! BTW, any entry(s) I would post would NOT be entered for consideration, just for fun!
Again, with Christmas in mind, think along lines of confetti lamps, candle holders, knick-knack boxes, potpourri bowls and such. Stuff suitable as stocking stuffers or small gifts for co-workers or similar. When considering possible categories, please remember that some of the newer turners don’t have 4-jaw chucks and the like, so we really need a category or two for spindle work. Not everyone has a vacuum chuck or cole jaw setup either so, maybe plates might be a little tough, as well. You get the idea…
So, if you’re up for a little challenge, please reply to this post with category suggestions. As a rough guideline, how about if we target Sunday evening (10/22) for getting suggestions in? Then, a couple of us will tally up the recommendations and get this thing kicked off! What say ye???