The Fair opened yesterday and I could not get a hold of BJ who was down at the Volunteers for Minerals booth in the Hall of Gems & Minerals to find out how I had 'faired' in the judging. BJ had sent me an email on Thursday stating that I had won an Award of Merit - which is a good start.

What does Award of Merit mean; we will get to that in a minute. 

Let's start off explaining the judging process. Every entry is judged on a scale of zero to one hundred (0-100) and those who get the highest points in their category win first place and a cash award of $35;  those with the second highest score win second place and a cash award of $25; and those with the third highest score win third place and $15; a rather logical process.  Since the entry fee for the Jewelry category is $10, you get your fee and a little extra back, if you place in your category, which is a good thing.  

For educational displays,  you are judged on educational value (40%); Presentation (30%); and labeling (30%). IF you earn a minimum of 85 points out of 100 points you receive an Award of Merit.  This earns you $50.  

And I have "at least" earned the Award of Merit. Whew. 

When I decided to do this display case for the San Diego County Fair, I knew it would time consuming but I had no idea how much time it would really take. 

But, as my father taught me, if you are going to do something, do it well. 
In other words, don't do it half assed!

In mid-March I contacted my friend BJ, who has done cases at the fair before, and she lent me her case liners.   I set them up on my dining room table so as I worked on the sample pieces and started to type up the text, I could see it all come together.  This is the first picture of the display.  As you can see it is some hammers, tools, pieces I made, and a few text panels.

Then as I started to finish the samples, I added them and more items I made and printed out some pictures of repousse through history.... 

I then added some risers and used my web color guide to find a good color that would coordinate well with the beige/fleshy color of the liners. Once the risers were made and covered I started to play with the arrangement and text that would explain it all.

I trimmed down the text more and shrunk the over all size of each text/image page.  I purchased some glasses to hold the tools and put wedges behind the copper samples.  This image is the layout I thought I would go with but BJ was on her way over to do a look-see and appraisal. 

This is the aftermath of the appraisal with BJ, we discussed flow, eye focus, typos and word changes, a few more risers and the final printing. 

After the appraisal, I printed it all again and worked on the positioning of each piece. A few more typos were corrected and sentences changed. The pedestal risers were made but had to be covered.

Then the final printed could start. I did this on photo paper so the colors would be more vibrant and give a more professional look. I did one final change to the title banner and bought smaller glasses to hold the tools.  All I had left to do was break it down and take it to the fair.

This is the final and I mean final setup. It took 3 hours to do. I found out during my packing last night that the back and bottom panels were switched and the left and right panels were rotated by 90 degrees. So when I got the fair I had to un-pin and re-pin everything.  Then because the case has light in the top and that large top border in the front blocks the top 5", everything on the back and side panels had to be moved down. Once the back items had been down, the finished pieces on the pedestals on back riser now blocked a good amount of text. So all those items had to move and I removed one finished piece.  

The case has now been locked and will remain this way until July 5th, when I go back to take it all out and home again. The judging will be on Tuesday and I will know how I did by the weekend. I have spent over 150 hours on this but I think it is fantastic and when you go to the fair and see it, you can say "I KNOW WHO DID THIS!".

Saturday I spent the day finishing my final piece for the educational display.  This piece which I did using sterling silver, is now cut, patina applied and mounted in the lid of a round wood box. I estimate that this piece alone took about 16 hours.

I now have 6 pieces of copper, each showing the various steps of the process and for the repousse and chasing sample, I did not finish half of the piece so the viewers can see what that step looks like during the repousse and the chasing.

Late on Saturday, I printed out the text to go into the case and pinned them to the walls of the liners. I also arranged the case as I THOUGHT it should be. I felt so good with it that I almost called BJ and told her not to come by on Sunday.

Remember that line from Star Wars "Don't Get Cocky, Kid!"....

On Sunday, BJ came over and we shuffled the set-up of the case around and discussed what works and what did not.  The result is that the case layout is totally different.   I have some printing to redo and some new printing to take care of - thus I am not done yet.

..what I have been working on for the San Diego County Fair.

So what is it?
       It is an educational display..

       It involves chasing and repousse.....

       IT IS AN EDUCATIONAL DISPLY ABOUT CHASING & REPOUSSE

The educational display will be part of the Gems, Minerals and Jewelry competitive exhibits.  I am entering  Class 68 Gems, Minerals, Fossils or Jewelry related educational exhibit.  An educational display fills an entire case that measures  45½” Wide by 24” High by 22½” Deep and I  have to fill it all. 
Last year, I entered the Calamari Cuff in Class 51: Constructed jewelry, all metal. Amateur. Which I won. 

Since then, I had been pondering what to enter this year - another cuff, a piece of jewelry with some cabs, maybe an educational display? Oh, around and around I went.  Finally I realized that many people do not know what chasing & repousse is; the educational display would be a great choice and then the planning started. And as usual, I got side tracked with classes with Valentine; new projects at work; weaving. 

When the fair entries opened in March, I had to make my decision - entry or no entry. I went for it; I was committed - would I have my name attached to an EMPTY display case; not me! I then called my friend BJ who has entered cases in this category before and so she could give me some good advice on how to set up the case and what NOT TO DO.   

During this time, I stared a document where I was gathering notes and images about my subject. I had sections on:

• Definitions of the Terms
• History
•  Tools & Equipment
• How to Do Chasing & Repousse
  
• Possible titles for the display

In early April, BJ and I met for brunch. I had, in advance of our meeting, sent her my *research document*. I figured that since she was not familiar with the technique, that if she could understand it, then my display was truly educational, different than anything I had seen before and possibly a winner.    We talked for almost three hours and came home very excited because she thought it was a great subject. 

I now had to get started. 

I gathered images of pieces, illustrating chasing & repousse through history. I started to build text panels explaining the tools and equipment; what the terms mean; and the steps  of the process. 

But most of all, I started to design and make the same piece 6 times, to illustrate the process: tracing the design, lining, repousse, and the final chasing. Yes, this is only four steps, but I needed extra just in case I made a mistake and to select the best of each step. That meant I had to trace 6 pieces;  then line 5 pieces; do the repousse on 4 pieces; and finally do the final lining and chasing on 3.   

In between all the copper pieces, I would work on the display which was set up in the dining room - I was refining the text, tweaking how the various items would be arranged. I also realized as I worked on the copper, that I could cut back the overall number of pieces of copper.  Yes, I had lined 5 pieces, but I only did the repousse on 3 and I only chased 1 - which has saved me quite a lot of time. 

And now I only have to do one more, final piece in Silver - this is what I am working on right now. 

So here is a teaser, just one picture showing the display only partly arranged and filled. 
To see the final display, you will have to go to the fair which opens on June 8th and run s through July 4th.  

All together now... RE-POUS-AYYYYYY, yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!Today I will be doing the repousse on the last copper piece.  Then I can do the chasing.   After I finish that I have to do ONE MORE piece but that will be in Silver.It will be just a bit more time before I reveal what I a working on for the fair, but I think you will be impressed with the amount of effort that has gone into this.

Wednesday, I went to the San Diego Fair for exhibitor appreciation night and first thing I did was go to the hall of Gems & Minerals to see how my piece fared. I was very nervous walking up to the case and so I approached it from an angle so I could not see anything until I looked at it face on.

THERE WAS A BLUE RIBBON WITH A #1 THERE.

I WON THE CATEGORY - \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/

I was so excited my hands were shaking. I wanted to jump up and down but all I kept saying was "I won, I won. Oh my god, I won".

So after taking a look around at the other pieces in my category, and all the other winners too. I finally took a picture of my piece. 

Then later in the evening, i was able to see what my score was and even talk to the judge.

I received a 95/100 points. Talk about being happy. 

I lost two points in workmanship (58/60) because I had issues with a solder joint when I mitered the corners. I knew the gap was there but it does reinforce that next time, I should do better.

I lost two points on uniqueness/design (18/20). The design was very unique – he loved it but he had a issue with the squid head not being centered and the area just under the head was a little empty. I had thought that myself when I was making it and I thought I should have gone back an put even a little starfish in to occupy the area, but did not.

I lost one point in Quality of Material (9/10). I did not ask why, but should have. This may also tie back to the solder joint as that does lower the quality of the piece.

I had a 5/5 on presentation. The judge normally does not like rotating turn tables but he said that in the is case it was the perfect way to display the cuff. He also said the black velvet on the stand made it pop. So Erich and everyone who convinced me to change it was right!

I had 5/5 on my Label. I spent 4 hours making that damn thing – looking for a good font, messing with the alignment and spacing, writing the description. I was one of the only people who had a nice font that was not hard to read and was not the plain old Arial or Times New Roman – nor was it a light font or too “script” making it hard to read.

SO, with all of this the judge said that I am good a determining what needs to be “fixed” so next time I can/will do better. He also has done some C&R and thought my technique was very good considering I have only been doing it for 3 years (and not constantly)

Before I left, I asked if we get our ribbons - real ribbons when we pick up our pieces when the fair closes. The answer was NO. They don't give ribbons anymore as there is no place to put them in the cases. WHAT? Wood gets real ribbons and they are quite big; the other competitions do; but for this competition they don't. I was quite disappointed at this news. 

Enjoy this picture with my "PAPER" ribbon.