Yay!
It seems picking your battles works really well.
Yet another A&S competition entered… yet another bell for my trophy box. Here’s a pic of the entries finally, I wanted to keep something as a surprise. Sorry about the slight blur, I need to do some research into how to light shiny things to reduce the shine, and also work out the optimal focal length for my crappy camera.
To put it into context, lets examine the process of this entry. There was a hell of a lot of procrastination involved in just starting it. Even to the point that a friend had to hassle me to start it. Once started, it took around 90 minutes to carve the initial mould, that includes the design on paper of what I wanted it to look like. Once to a point I could pour, there was a few sample pours, to test the mould, and tinker with it to get it pouring correctly. This process took about another 60 minutes, probably less. Then it was just a case of pouring 20 odd castings, filing the flashing off, tinkering with a couple of the castings to work out how to finish them, and even doing an after pour, to create a sample of a casting straight out of the mould. All that took yet another 60 – 90 minutes. So all up to get the 23 tokens that were sent down to Polit, it took me a total of about 4 hours, then there was another maybe 2 hours in preparing the documentation. If I started on a Sunday afternoon, I could be finished for dinner.
OK, so winning competitions isn’t what doing all of this is about, but I can’t deny it’s certainly fun. The fact that I am picking the competitions I enter has a great deal to do with the success rate I’m having… Which kinda goes against the whole idea behind A&S competitions, which I believe is to encourage people to attempt stuff they haven’t done before. So does me actually knowing and admitting to this actually mean I might try and change my ways, maybe enter different A&S Comps? Probably not, but it helps me to understand that my three wins for three entries isn’t anything to be hugely proud of. After all… that’s only 3 entries in about 18 months of being involved in the SCA.
People tend to choose their competitions based on their abilities and interests. It’s not something to feel guilty about. If you’re into pewter, it’s hardly fair to expect yourself to enter a work of embroidery.
And six hours of labour is plenty to put into an entry for an A&S competition. That you put the time you had into an A&S entry is an admirable thing. Especially when I myself didn’t get my act together to give you a run for your money.
- Crispin
Indeed!!! And that was a shame, I would have enjoyed a little competition… Have you anything for the November Crown A&S Comp, which just happens to be Pilgrims Badges?
No. Darn. That’s this weekend, if I recall rightly. I suppose I could enter the spangle I did, but it’s not new.
- Crispin
My entry is only going to end up being a Work in Progress entry with photo’s… That I shall be writing in a hurry late this evening or this afternoon… And emailed through. Having difficulty finding the time to get it done these days… and I’m hitting problems that cause me to get disheartened and try something else.