My first A&S competition is done!

Well it is all over. I have survived my first A&S competition. While I debated with myself long and hard about if and what I should enter, I did end up submitting five entries. These are all items which I have at least mentioned here in the past. I am proud and a little embarrassed to say that all five entries scored a first place and are now eligible to submit in the Kingdom A&S competition.


The five entries I submitted are as follows:

Blacksmithed Round Jaw Tongs
Division III - Ironworking and Tool making

Late Period Ruff

Division II - Costume: Single Component

Plain White Linen Shirt

Division II - Costume: Single Component

The Suit: A 16th Century Man’s Red & Black Outfit

(Consisted of Leather Doublet And Slops, Black Flat Cap, Leather Belt And Pouch, Red Silk Sleeves, Red Worked Chemise, Leather Cannons and Black Linen Tights)

Division II - Costume 1451-1600

 

Wrapped Buttons

Division II - Costume: Accessories

All in all I am quite pleased with the way things turned out. It was rather a hectic day though. I judged four entries throughout the day while also having all five of my entries judged face to face. Due to the fact that I'm not big on speaking in public, I found the face to face judging very stressful. I found myself feeling very queasy most of the day and I never did fully calm down until I was back at the hotel. I think next year if I submit entries I will not volunteer as a judge. Trying to balance my nerves with the nine items I was either judging or being judged on was very tiring.

My biggest shortcoming was my documentation. I suck at it. I hate it. I consider myself an artist and not a writer. I love to read, love to research, just hate the process of having to be a good research paper author to get a decent score. While that still sticks in my craw, I have already started planning for the pentathlon for next year. Let's just see how well that year of stress goes.

This is the stock we started with.  It was a piece off of an old tractor.

This is a piece the instructor showed us.  He did a demo on how to form each side and then let us go.  He made flat jaw tongs, but I opted to go with a round jaw that would fit a large portion of the round stock I have at home.

Here is my first formed piece

Here is the matching side I made.  The second half was a bit of a rush.  I had to wrap things up as the class day was ending.  I reworked it a bit the following week before punching the hole.  The idea is that both pieces should look the same.  You can also see a flat jaw tong which I started as an extra project made from some flat stock.  I used a pattern I spotted on a YouTube video.

Here are the pieces a little more cleaned up and shaped to match before punching.

Here are the matching sides after they were cleaned up and punched.  I got to use the round punch to make the holes.  The round punch was a project from earlier in the day.

Here are the finished round and flat jaw tongs.  I made a small elbow shaped piece to fit into the pritchet hole.  When my round tongs were almost done, I heated them up and hammered the jaws closed around the piece so that the jaws would fit well on that sized stock when completed.  My camera ran out of space and so I was unable to take all the photos of the flat stock and riveting.  I used a standard 3/8 inch mild steel rivet for both tongs and just peened the rivet closed while cold.  The flat jaw tongs hold 1/4 inch stock.  The round jaw will hold 3/8-1/2 stock very well.