Switzerland, anyone?

[pallin]

Many of you woodcarvers should enter the woodcarving contest being sponsored by Woodcraft & Pfeil. The major prize is a trip for two to Brienz, Switzerland with a 3-day course with a master carver. The second prize is the Pfeil 25-piece "Brienz Collection" of carving tools in a beechwood case. The details and rules can be seen at Carving Contest| Pfeil Carving| Win a Trip to Switzerland from Woodcraft.com | Woodcraft.com Blog Network

[pallin]

I posted this under Relief & Chip Carving because it may appeal most to carvers using Pfeil gouges, BUT the rules do not limit the entries to relief or to work produced by Pfeil tools. Both the Switzerland trip and the Brienz Collection would be exciting to win!

[pallin]

The deadline in the Pfeil/Woodcraft contest is a few days away. There are many nice carvings submitted. You can see them by going to the link in the #1 message in this thread, then click on Contest Gallery.

[brent]

Glad I am not one of the judges trying to pick a winner out of that group of carvings! Whew!
Of course, the black walnut rocking chair is kind of a favorite IMO.

[pallin]

It is sad that so few of the woodcarvers on this website consider their work to be worthy of entering a free contest.

[Thor]

Phil, I entered, but what a wonderful photo gallery of work! I am truly awed by the entries.
I agree that it would be a tremendous task to pick a winner and 2nd place out of those carvings. I have my favorites, but I don't know what they are looking for.
Good luck to you with your entries.
Christina

[chuckbolton]

i totally missed this contest and after looking at the fantastic entries-- dont feel that i have anything ready that i could enter -- im blown away with many of the entries and rather glad i dont have to make the decision-- the only problem i see --is lack of guide lines -- so that the winner may totally be based upon the bias of the judges and im sure that there will be more than one judge.

that being said-- the lack of guidelines allows for a wide array of entries--

[pallin]

Yes, there are many interesting entries - over 300 by my last count - with more arriving today, the deadline. I tried to make a rough tabulation of the types, but the site is running slow. There appears to be a nice mix of full form, wildlife, architectural, signs, whimsical carvings, but not many caricatures. There is also a significant mix of materials from exotic woods to cottonwood bark. With all entries in the same pool, the judges will have a big task.

[pallin]

A rough tabulation of the contest entries shows over 50 "in-the-round" (full form) carvings (sculptures), about 50 reliefs, over 50 wildlife, and over 50 "architectural" carving (mantles, newell posts, furniture, etc.) There are many impressive works - take a look.

[pallin]

The winners in the Woodcraft/Pfeil (Swiss Made) contest were announced in early April. Nairi Safaryan of Glendale, CA won the trip to Switzerland for his jewelry box carved in pearwood. Roger Strautman of Woodburn, IN won the Pfeil Brienz Collection for his carving of a cross with a shroud. There is a brief story with photos of Safaryan's entry in the Blog section of the Woodcraft site. To see Strautman's entry of "The Shroud" you'll have to find page 54 of the Contest Gallery at that site. Congratulations to the winners!