Kansas State Fair 2007 Summary of my Entries

Always a pleasure, Mark

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

What an achievement, Mark.. congratulations, you sure deserve it!

-- Martin, http://lumberjocks.com | My Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Martin_Sojka/1357216976

Congradulations Mark – Excellent effort

-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)

I’m not surprised that you took so many first place ribbons.
I’m surprised that even one of your’s took second place.
Who had no taste?

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Mark, as normal you have great projects once again!

As for the picture taking try placing your project in front of a black or gray background then when taking the pictures zoom all the way in and back yourself up until you get the project to fit in the picture. This is how I took the pictures of my Apostles Creed linen that did so well. Good luck!

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Mark;

Don’t worry, there’s alway’s next year!

Great job!

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Mark,
Congratulations, especially on the Best of Show. That is quite an honor at a state fair. Of course that rocking chair is so exceptional that it was a shoo in. I wonder if they would let you show the scrimshawed horns in the art portion of the show maybe in graphics? Although I guess it is a folk craft. Good show.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

(hahah@ Lee)

well done Mark!!! Very exciting.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Mark Congratulations. on all of your entries. They are great.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Thanks everyone. I have built several “involved” things this past 12 months that I could have taken to the Big Fair, BUT, borrowing them back, AND hauling them to the Fair was just not something I wanted to do.

I hauled a full 24’ rental truck of stuff to the Western Design Conference last September, and I’m not much on hauling things again like that if I can avoid it. So, I looked for small items. Also, the transmission on my Ford Ranger is shot, so I borrowed a ride with a friend, so I could only take something that would fit inside of his Chevy Equinox, a very nice ride I might add. He and his wife entered paintings and art they did.

For Next Year? How does a guy top a Maloof Rocker? I’ve been thinking through that question quite a bit, and have been for a year now. I have been looking at Gilmarten Rockers a Lot lately, going, “hmmmm?” I can’t even come close to drawing out in Sketchup what my mind is picturing, but a Maloof/Gilmarten is something I’m wondering about. I’ve been trying hard to do some Contemporary pieces, since there have been so many times people have asked if I could do Contemporary Design pieces. Kansas if filled with Mission and Country Oak decorated homes, so Contemporary is something the Big City folks have been asking about.

Also, I’ve been doing some thinking about how to make the State Fair Woodworking bigger for the Craft for next year. I am working on trying to find a Corporate Sponsor that will give some effort to the competition, and then I will start with the Kansas Lumberjocks to see if we can get a lot more entries in the Fair next year. Then, after that, I’ll start contacting all of my other non-lumberjock woodworking buddies to see if I can stir up some interest.

I’m not really after the Ribbons/Premiums, I think the Rocking Chair will win a whole $12 for it’s awards, and that is at least $11 in Canadian. So, the reason is for the advertising. The Fair Fine-Art Hosts were saying that they have answered a lot of questions from people about me and my work, after folks saw my entries. So, I took over some post card photos of my work with my name, phone, website name on them. The Hosts will give these post cards to folks that are interested in learning more. The Fair won’t allow me to advertise by putting out business cards, or other methods of attracting attention to my business.

Photos: I use a black velvet backdrop for my photos of small items. It isn’t the backdrop that I’m having trouble with, but the diffused lighting, reflections, and fuzziness of the photos. A Powderhorn has scrimshaw artwork that wraps around the circumference of the horn. This means that in one place the artwork is in focus, where another place it is not. If I put the Digital Camera on “Flower” which means it has no flash and focuses things closer than 28”, it gets fuzzy on the edges. I’ve taken hundreds of photos of my Powderhorns over the years, and always struggle to get them to look good. At least with the Digital camera, I’m not running to a One-hour developer, just to find out that all of the photos were bad again.

The professional photos I have had taken in the past don’t suffer from these problems, but paying the fees to shoot a powderhorn will run about $200, and all I will get is a couple of digital images that I can “borrow” if I give photo credits when I use them. What a racquet. I wish I could get paid each time someone looks at one of my projects.

The lighting is critical to shooting a good photo of a powderhorn, as the polished surface picks up any reflections. For instance, if I set the horn by a window to get good natural light for the photo, then if there is a nice blue sky that day, my photo will pick up the blue reflection in the surface, and the white horn takes on a bluish tint in the photos. It is pretty frustrating.

Some Lumberjock showed a link to an eBay photo instruction guide awhile back (I think it was David), and it showed using a large white plastic bowl to cover the item and diffuse the light. Since I read that article, I have been on the hunt for big bowl that would cover a powder horn and display stand. I haven’t been able to program the light sensitivity on my camera like the article suggested, so I guess I need to get the manual out, and read it.

Oh, #3,023: “You might be a lumberjock if have never read the manual on your digital camera.”

thanks folks,
Mark

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

Congratulations Mark. Well deserved.

-- Dave J. Oakdale, MN

Nicely done Mark. I hope you get some business from the show.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Congratulations Mark and I think it’s great that you participated in the fair. Fine Art is one of my favorite stops at our fair. Although there are many great exhibits every year, I too would like to see woodworking expanded. I thought you might find it interesting that another (perhaps Maloof styled) chair also took first place in the 2007 New York State Fair. This is a chair by Charles Trabold, a long time and highly respected woodworker in the area.

-- Matt - Syracuse, NY

Hmmmm. The “Kennebunkport” = the only comfortable Adirondack chair.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

macro setting is probably using a shallow depth of field in order to blur the background and focus on the subject.
The professionals are probably using a greater DOF setting… the “scenic” setting may work better for you (if you can still get close) and pop the camera on a tripod. ... or find someone with a camera where they can adjust the DOF.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Hey Thanks MattD. Why did they put that ugly collection of potholders over the top of the chair?? Fair people just don’t understand!

I’ll look through the manual Debbie and see if I can find anything about DOF or Macro settings.

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

I was happy yesterday to pick up my Fair Items and discovered that I received a $62 Premium check for the ribbons. Since I hitched a ride over to take my stuff to the fair, and only had to pay for the gas on the way back to pick up the things, I won enough to pay for the gas and eat a sandwich at the gas station. Wahoo!

Seriously, I have been considering starting new Forum Topic on Show Awards, so it could serve as a journal of all of the jocks and their awards, regardless of what show, or what award. If you like that concept, go over to the Forum, and add your listing.

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

breaking even means you got FREE advertising! Well done.

(and that collection of potholders probably took as many hours to make as went into the chair!)—not that I’m a fan of “potholder” throws”. I do love the quilt on the wall though

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Mark: The winnings pile up. Did they take out taxes?

You and Tiger neck in neck. I wonder if he ever made anything of wood. I mean his name is Woods.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

very nice project’s – well deserved achievement , congratulation’s

Sounds like you had a great show! Congratulations!

My wife made the potholder throw…. just kiddin! I don’t know what that is. (Gotcha Mark)

-- Matt - Syracuse, NY

Good job Mark !!.It’s always good to get your work out there for people to see you never know who will end up being a customer.

-- Scott NM,http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

Really amazing work MARK … you are in the zone.

-- ..... art for lifes sake