[Woodcarver] Carving Contest Ideas

[Larry Yudis]

Hi Chris,

Here's my 2 cents worth:

1.)  It's difficult to have different skill levels.  How would you monitor
that?  Most carvers who get into a whittlin' contest are somewhat
accomplished anyway.  A contest like that generally scares off the beginner
or novice.  Besides having a First, Second and Third Prize or Ribbon, you
can have a special "Most Gutsy Performance" or "Honorable Mention" type
award for someone not so accomplished but gave it one helluva try.

2.) It's really difficult to get much of anything done in less than 2 hours
regardless of the subject matter; definitely nothing less than an hour.

3.) Over the past 30 years, we seen all sorts of whittlin' contests.  Most
seem to go with the same ol' boring chunk of wood (eg. 2 x 2 x 6) and the
contestants are told to do whatever they want with it.

Some other more exciting contests we've seen are:  giving everyone the same
obvious looking cutout (let's say one of bird or a fish or whatever) but
telling them to make something totally different than what the cutout
represents; another contest had the contestants reach into a box of scraps,
without looking, and pull out a piece to work on (these scraps would be
off-fall from cutouts done on a band saw, odd shapes and sizes);  another
contest had TEAMS of two or three carvers who would hand off the piece to
their teammate after an allotted amount of time.

There are all sorts of variations that can be done with a little creativity.
A lot of the contests allow the carvers to use only 2 or 3 tools plus a
strop.  I always like to see them be able to use whatever they want in the
way of tools; what difference does it really make?

In addition to my 2 cents worth, Carol and I would like to offer a $25 Gift
Certificate for the First Place winner, a $15 Gift Certificate for Second
Place and a $10 one for Third Place.  They will be good until the end of
Carv-Fest 2010 and can be redeemed with us when we arrive Friday morning to
set up our displays.

Looking forward to our trip to Faribault again this year.  Don't forget, you
promised it will be nice and cool while we're there!  :o)

Take care, Chris and thanks to all the Whillocks for making Carv-Fest such a
wonderful carving experience for so many years.      

Larry (BIG DOG) Yudis, Owner
The Woodcraft Shop
2724 State St.
Bettendorf, IA 52722
800-397-2278
thewoodcraftshop at mchsi.com
www.thewoodcraftshop.com 

Carol and Larry Yudis, Show Chairs
International Woodcarvers Congress
Affiliated Wood Carvers, Ltd.
PO Box 104
Bettendorf, IA 52722
563-505-2700 (Carol's cell)
563-676-8264 (Larry's cell)
congress at mchsi.com 
www.awcltd.org 

-----Original Message-----
From: woodcarver-bounces at carverscompanion.com
[mailto:woodcarver-bounces at carverscompanion.com] On Behalf Of cjw
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 7:57 AM
To: [Woodcarver]
Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Carving Contest Ideas

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Hello,

I have a question for the group .... next month we will be holding  
our Minnesota carving festival (www.carv-fest.com) ... and we are  
running a carving/whittling contest on Thursday evening ....

I need ideas for a contest .

1- I'd like it somewhat fair, either different skill level prizes or  
a contest that everyone would be equal
2- how long ... hour, 1/2 hour
3- what has worked, what hasn't ... favorites?

Thanks for your input ..

Chris



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