A Yew vase I did for my club competition which was judged last Sunday, which unfortunately I was unable to attend due to the fact I was recovering from my spinal decompression operation, but the piece was entered on my behalf by a close friend and fellow turner.
Because its not been returned to me yet I'm only guessing the size 10" x5" as this was two months ago and a lot has happened since I finished it.
This vase had to be completed over a period of eight weeks because prior to my back operation I was unable to stand at the lathe for many minutes at a time,and I must mention that I received a tremendous amount of encouragement to complete this project for my club competition from my wife,and had she not persisted this project would have fallen by the wayside solely due to unbelievable pain standing at the lathe, whilst my entry only came second in the judging competition, I personally still need one more first to move up to the intermediate section, but if it was that easy everyone would be a the top section.
Its a shame I was not able to take Steve's advise a make another one for comparison, as the judges apparently commented on the opening being to large, I've included Steve's modified picture of my yew vase as the last picture with a smaller opening, hopefully I'll have better luck at our next club competition.
Steve Schlumpf has asked me to explain how our club in the UK generally run their in house competitions and rules for members,these are divided into three groups, Beginners Section, Intermediate, and Advanced,and when you have won three 1st in the club competitions you then move up to the next section, and start again until you get three 1st again,its all very competitive, and really good fun forcing you to go that extra mile to compete.
Generally the competitions are judged by two senior advance turners, and each class section has its own table, and each entry is given a small sticky label by the club competition secretary which has got a random number which is allocated just to you,and this is placed on the bottom of the piece so the judges generally have no idea who has entered any specific piece,entry's are awarded points out of ten for Turning Skills,Design,and Finish, and these points are added up in each class, and then announce the first, second, and third placing in each category and also the club is told how many points has been awarded for Turning skills,Design, and Finish for the first three in all sections,also for a bit of fun whilst the club officials are adding every entry scores up, members are given a slip of blank paper and invited to look over each entry and mark down the number on the bottom they think should be first second and third in each category and these are announced after the winners are placed, its interesting to note that members don't always agree with the judges decisions but they are never far out and this part is purely for a bit of fun.
The club hold three competitions per year, and we are told the project for the competition, and it is
demonstrated by one of our advanced senior members two months before the competition, you are also told the criteria each entry must follow.
Also at the end of the year club meeting its announced who gained the most points throughout the year across all three sections, receives the turner of the year trophy for that year, and its returned the following year for the next winners inscription.
I hope this has not been too boring, and may be of some use to your own clubs and hopefully given you some ideas of how clubs in the UK generally operate their in house club competitions.
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