I made this bowl for some friends of ours out of a tree that fell over in their yard. They asked me to help chop it up to get it out of there, and I would up with some ambrosia maple log segments.
I was going to just give this bowl to them as a souvenir, but the Middlesex County Fair was just a week away, and my wife told me that I should enter this bowl in the Home Arts competition.
Somehow, I wound up with a first place ribbon!
I have no idea how I won, as there was another NJ turner that entered a lot of stuff, and it was clear to me that he was much better and more experienced at turning than I was. He got second place in the bowl category. But I have some theories as to how I got the blue ribbon:
1. The other turner took first place in every other category that he entered, including getting a Best of Show award, so my blue ribbon was a pity award.
2. The other turner is from northern New Jersey, and I'm an actual resident of Middlesex County, so I got home court advantage.
3. The other turner's entry into the bowl category was a really large natural edged hollow form, made of walnut, I think. His piece came in near the top and then flared out again, and I think the judges might have figured that it was more of a vase, not a bowl, so he got docked points for his piece not really being a bowl. Besides, he had already entered something else in the vase category, which he won.
Still, a blue ribbon is a blue ribbon, according to my wife. She thinks that I just made a better bowl. I should probably listen to her more often.
Reply With Quote
