Traveling back home this afternoon, after
having attended the Missouri State MOTeam Industrial Arts competition
earlier today, I had time to think about what I had seen; what the other
judges had commented on; and the questions about judging their entries that
I was asked by the students afterward. I thought I would jot down some of
those things in the hope that it might help the teachers and students. Of
course, these just come from my own opinions in judging the wood divisions
and those things that stood out from those other judges that I was chatting
with. These are not official judging rules, requirements or
guidelines. None of these thoughts are, individually or in
combination, going to guarantee a high score at any competition.
However, these things, along with many many others, are a few items that we,
as judges, look for ... both good and bad. Make your
competition entry stand out by keeping these things in mind.
- Wow. Completely impressed with the level of craftsmanship. There were
so many entries so close in quality that it was often terribly difficult to
separate them. Being a "State" and not a divisional or local competition,
the high and even level of quality should be expected, though. All of
the wood division judges were very very impressed with all of the entries.
- Wood Finish ... Yes, it's that important. It can't really
make a poorly designed or made piece better but it sure can destroy an
otherwise beautiful one.
- Bumps, knicks and scratches happen when unloading and setting up. The
judges know that. For the most part, we can recognize those and they don't
enter into our scores. However, realize that a customer or gallery will not
care how it happened, just that it did and you have to fix it if you deliver
a piece in that condition to them. Take time and care of your pieces so that
they don't get damaged. That's a part of craftsmanship too.
- Yes, we do look underneath. Not so much to see the finish, but to see
the construction methods and quality. This becomes especially important when
determining a "Best of" and when the leading contenders are so close in all
other aspects.
- Enough with the Pledge and other furniture polishes, already! Yes, it
makes your piece shiny but it's oily and sometimes gives the look of an
uneven finish absorbtion into the wood in some light angles. Buff your piece
up, if you like, but don't leave it an oily mess. And the smells give
us a headache.
- Missouri is blessed with an abundance of wood species. Try exploring
something other than red / white oaks and walnut.
- Try using handcrafted hardware such as drawer slides and glass or
mirror clips instead of the store-bought metal slides (especially on period
pieces) and plastic clips that production cabinet and woodworking shops use
to save time / money. Let's see what unique solution you can come up with
here.
- Using pre-made woodturned pieces such as finials, feet or reeding saves
you time (and skill?) from having to turn those yourself but it's sad to see
the exact same things bought from Lowes / Home Depot / etc. used in multiple
entries. Set yourself apart from everybody else and make it yourself.
Frankly, anything pre-made that you buy instead of make yourself just leaves
a bad impression on your entire piece. You're not fooling the judges
... we know where you got those and it makes a bad impression.
- Place accents where they make sense. Not just to fill in space, but
where they contribute (not distract) from the design. In reverse, if you
have a large "open" space, consider adding some kind of accent. It can be
something such as a simple round-over or edge treatment but it can also be
something else like a finial, scroll, or carved piece keeping your overall
design in mind.
- More woodturned entries, please! Segmented pieces are great but
they are not the only type of turning we'd like to see represented. A
firewood pile is a fantastic place to find those interesting large chunks of
wood and are very cheap to obtain.
- Refrain from using "buttons" to cover recessed screws. Grain-matched
plugs are better. Much better still is a unique joinery solution. You can
make it part of your design and earn extra points.
- Think of what your piece requires in the real world. A gun cabinet
should have a solid lock in the design. A bed should be sturdy and solid
without sharp edges/points where you can hurt yourself. A salad bowl should
sit solidly on the table. A table or chair must be a useful height and made
of a material to suit the intended purpose. Tiny feet for large, heavy
pieces or huge, bulky feet for dainty pieces don't work. Judges look at the
usefullness and suitability of the entry and its' parts to its' purpose too.
- All of the technical documentation such as diagrams, construction
pictures and so on (which, by the way, is often a requirement in these
competitions so you better do it) are given a brief look-over to make sure
you've done them but the judges aren't overly concerned with them. If
your entry has some sort of interesting joinery or construction technique to
it, then we'll look at the documentation to see how you did it, but,
otherwise, we just mark it off the list of requirements.
- Bigger isn't better. That's right, just because you made and
hauled in a huge full-wall, Victorian-era-ladden and inspired entertainment
center that takes 2 trailers to haul and 14 men to put together, doesn't
mean you're going to get a great score much less a best-of-show award.
It may have taken a year of planning and every spare weekend to make during
the school year, but the judges just aren't going to be impressed by size or
complexity alone. In fact, what we are looking for is a balance of
many things. If you're going to make something massive and impressive
in size ... you're just setting a bigger target and more for us to find
fault with.
- By all means, please ask the judges about your entry and score.
Especially, in the wood divisions, there are normally multiple judges that
determine your score and often your score comes down to a "feeling".
Each judge gives weight to different things in a design or construction so
we collaborate and come up with a score that satisfies the competitions
requirements and our own thoughts. So, an individual judge can't
always fully explain your score but they certainly can explain what they
thought about your entry and the score they gave it. You will
learn far more by asking us than simply dismissing your pieces' score.