[MR] Display vs competitions

[Craftydoni at aol.com]

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Hello the Tavern!

I've been avidly reading everything on the list the last few days, and the
subject is near and dear to my heart, being someone who has actually been
bludgeoned with harsh criticism and judges who never should have set foot in
an A&S hall. That being said, I still put my items out when the categories
allow, and I still put out a display if at all possible. I've been told not
to enter certain items, and I've been encouraged to enter others. I've been
told point blank that my entry wasn't welcome once (but that was purely
political, and we won't go there! I laughed that whole competition off, and
chalked it up to petiness), and I've entered items purely for their
laugh-inducing qualities. (I'll note that I did put on the judging form that
it was solely a novelty entry and shouldn't be taken seriously! But it was
well-documented...)

I've won one or two local A&S competitions, and those moments were indeed to
be treasured. But the displays I've put out have given me more confidence
than winning ever could. I've learned more from comments placed with my
collection of string stuff, and I keep each and every token in a special box.
When I feel badly about myself and my work I will take out the notes jotted
down on slips of paper or index cards, or hold a hand-made glass bead that
Mistress Whats-her-name left for me. That invariably gets me back on track
and back to work to make something even more spiff.

Knowing that in a non-competitive venue my work has been appreciated and my
craftsmanship acknowledged makes it much easier to sail through competitions
where only three people 'judge' and I don't 'win'. I can take the bad with
the good, and look to that box of tokens to remind me that peoples' opinions
are so very different.

What I have noticed is that when there are competitions and displays, more
tokens seem to be left with the display items than with the competition
items. (This is my perception, I could be wrong!) I would encourage those who
leave tokens to be equal, and to leave just as many with the competitors as
with the diplays. I think that one bad comment from a judge could be soothed
over quite effectively with a handful of tokens and 'You rock!'  or 'this is
so cool! I never would have thought to do it this way!' comments from
non-judges.

They say it takes seven positives to overcome one negative when dealing with
human emotions. Since bad judges are few and far between, the rest of us
should have a decent chance of making up for their negativity if we just put
forth a little effort.

Just my two cents' worth.

Seraphina
Barony of the Sacred Stone

A Little Bit of Everything
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/donisfuff/index.html

http://www.marykay.com/DonyaBeasley