Slimline Contest

[davinci27]

Originally I was talking with Cav about doing a slimline challenge. My idea was to do some similar to what Butch was doing with the kitless challenge. I talked to Nolan about possibly donating a prize for the winner and cav said we should just roll it into the bash, so here it is. I got the idea when i was making the pens in this thread: http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40692

So the concept is to try to get creative with the slimline kit. Basically try to do the opposite of the kitless challenge. I want to make it so people who aren't comfortable making their on nibs or finials still get to participate. Participants should use as much of the slimline kit as possible. Turners should try to be as creative with the pen as possible. I don't have anything against someone submitting the standard slimline style, but I think people should try to push themselves and come up with new or different ways to present the slimline kit.

For judging, I had 2 different ideas. The first would be to use the polling system and let the IAP community vote. If we had too many pens for one poll we could break them into groups and have a "vote off."

The second option would be to get a couple of people to volunteer to judge the entries. I would come up with a grading scale something like:

Fit & Finish 0-5
Form 0-5
Use of Kit Parts 0-5
Innovation 0-5
Photography 0-3 (tie breaker)

I was thinking of using photography as a tie breaker. I think using the kit and being creative with it would outweigh being able to take a good picture.

So what do you think?
Ben

 

[Scott]

Hi Ben!

Welcome to the Bash Crew! (Sounds like some kind of Wii game!) I have made a couple of slimline pens in the past, so I would be willing to be a judge, if you decide to go that way.

I suggest you be specific about what parts of the slimline kit must be present to qualify as an entry. People will pick you apart if you don't. Maybe approach it from the point of view of which parts you won't require. Centerband? Clip? Finial? Maybe all you need is a nib and a mechanism! Or maybe make it more difficult by requiring the factory clip and finial as well!

Scott.

 

[davinci27]

Thanks for the offer to help judge. I'm leaning in that direction.

Yeah, I'm not quite sure about that part. My original idea is that there would be a required minimum, then the more parts you used the higher score you would get in the Use of Kit Parts category.

I'll have to think this one through a little more. I really want people to use as many parts from the kit as possible. Maybe I say the only optional part is the center band. Do you think requiring people to use 90% of the kit would discourage to many folks?

I noticed last year there were awards in multiple categories. I might try doing 2 different categories traditional and non-traditional. Traditional would be all the kit parts in all the normal kit locations. Non traditional would be anything that varied from the kit as described in the assembly instructions.

Ben

 

[melogic]

Hey Ben. I would like to welcome you to the Bash Crew as well. I love this idea. Will anyone be allowed to enter this or would it be limited to New Penturners? Can more than one kit be used to create one pen as an end result? These are just a few questions that I came up with in my little pea brain thinking. There is a lot of room for imagination here and I like it.

 

[fiferb]

I noticed last year there were awards in multiple categories. I might try doing 2 different categories traditional and non-traditional. Traditional would be all the kit parts in all the normal kit locations. Non traditional would be anything that varied from the kit as described in the assembly instructions.

I would recommend making this two distinctly different contests. The traditional contest would be more inviting to a wider range of members. You're going to get a more varied response to a non-traditional pen and several members have shown they are quite adept at this. Just take a look at the kitless pen challenge. Any of these pens could fit this category of non=traditional.

Also, can a person have more than one entry in a category? Just one more thing to think about.

 

[davinci27]

Will anyone be allowed to enter this or would it be limited to New Penturners? Can more than one kit be used to create one pen as an end result?

I say it should be open to anybody, we already have a new penturners challenge. You can add anything you want, but you have to use the parts from the slimline kit as well.

I would recommend making this two distinctly different contests.... Just take a look at the kitless pen challenge. Any of these pens could fit this category of non=traditional.

The multiple categories came from previous years contest. My idea is that the pens in the kitless challenge wouldn't really fit into this contest. This contest would require you to use the kit, just not necessarily in the way it's meat to be used. Since the whole idea is to use the kit, I don't see a need to seperate it into multiple contests. What do other folks think?

Also, can a person have more than one entry in a category? Just one more thing to think about.

I was planning on letting a turner enter as many pens as we had categories. If we have 2 categories then you can enter 2 pens. It wouldn't have to be one in each category, but if you wanted to compete in each category you can. I also think you shouldn't be able to win both categories.

Ben

 

[DocStram]

Ben .... we appreciate you putting your time into developing this. Looks to me like you're heading on the right track. One important suggestion ..... when establishing the rules, always try to be as specific as possible. Present the rules in a very clear, easy to understand fashion. Penturners are great at working all the angles. So, be precise and use explicit language! Also, when we have judges for contests .... we'll discuss who the judges are going to be here in the Bash Planning Forum ..... but, we keep those names anonymous when announcing the contests.

 

[Scott]

I like the idea of requiring entries to have all the parts of the slimline kit except the centerband, which would be optional. I would also specify that it be a slimline kit, only one slimline kit, from any manufacturer, not including any kits based on the slimline such as the Father Sing or the Streamlined Slimline. This just keeps everybody on the same page.

I kind of like dividing it up into two "classes", one with most of the slimline parts, and the other one a "freestyle" class. For that one I would suggest that you specify the only part from a Slimline kit that the pen must have would be the transmission.

If you allow people to enter both categories, which I think is the best way, I don't think you should limit them to only winning one of the categories. If they make the best pen, they should win.

We have found in the past that if you say who the judges are, somebody is always going to disagree with who was chosen. Just say they are qualified judges, and leave it with that.

Scott.

 

[DocStram]

Just say they are qualified judges, and leave it with that.

Scott.

Yeah ... Scott's right. Or, maybe even jazz it up a little like

"Highly Qualified and Respected Judges ....."

 

[davinci27]

Qualified I can see, "respected" might be a bit of a stretch:biggrin:

 

[melogic]

Another note. If you can, you want to keep the entrants a secret from the judges. In other words, come up with a system to make it where the judges are judging Pen "A" for example. Not "davinci27's" Pen. And make sure the judges are using the same judging system so everything is as fare as possible. Just a few thoughts.

 

[DocStram]

Another note. If you can, you want to keep the entrants a secret from the judges. In other words, come up with a system to make it where the judges are judging Pen "A" for example. Not "davinci27's" Pen. And make sure the judges are using the same judging system so everything is as fare as possible. Just a few thoughts.

Yep, good idea .. keeping things anonymous. Maybe we can have the entrants send their photos to Mark and then have Mark post them in a thread with just the picture and no name. That way everybody will get to see the entries and the judges won't know the penturner.

 

[melogic]

I can do it if that is what Ben and everyone else wants.
Then after the judging, add the entrants name to each picture, with the winners being posted first.

 

[dntrost]

I really like that idea and think it will be well received by the majority of the members.

 

[davinci27]

I kind of like dividing it up into two "classes", one with most of the slimline parts, and the other one a "freestyle" class. For that one I would suggest that you specify the only part from a Slimline kit that the pen must have would be the transmission.

I'm all for the two classes, but originally I wanted both the freestyle and the traditional to use most of the kit. I didn't really want to do a kitless challenge which is where it would end probably end up.

I was thinking one winner would be the pen put together according to the instructions the "traditional". These folks would win on the blanks and shape of the 2 barrels on the slimline.

The other winner would have to use the slimline kit, but would use the kit in a manner other than the standard assembly. These would be "freestyle" but still need to use most of the slimline kit.

Take this pen (http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41027) for example. It doesn't fit in the traditional slimline category, but it also doesn't compete with with a clossed end slimline that only uses the transmission and clip out of the slimline kit.

Maybe I'm overthinking and should just say if you use 4 parts you fall into the traditional regardless of how you use them, and if you use less than 4 or more than the whole kit you fall into freestyle.

Another note. If you can, you want to keep the entrants a secret from the judges. In other words, come up with a system to make it where the judges are judging Pen "A" for example. Not "davinci27's" Pen. And make sure the judges are using the same judging system so everything is as fare as possible. Just a few thoughts.

I was already thinking of doing this. I was going to have participants email me the photos and post them in a different thread. I was also going to come up with some judging criteria to make sure everybody was looking at the same kind of thing.

I'll work on writing up the post detailing the instructions, rules, etc today. I'll add it to this thread for final comments.

 

[wdcav1952]

I know I am late to this thread, but wanted to add my 2 cents.

Al is RIGHT, be specific. My thought is as expressed earlier: All parts of a single slim line pen kit must be used. The center band may be deleted if the turner wishes. All other parts of the kit must be used.

My thought is to keep things as simple and easy to run for the person running the contest. I would consider just doing one contest. Let people go wild with the slim line kit as per the rules. I am willing to bet that someone will ask if three parts of the kit is acceptable, then follow up by asking if they get more points if they only use ____ parts.