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Welcome to *CatharsisJB's first ever artist's contest! This time around, we're trying a Polymer Clay Contest! We want to see how good you are at using polymer clay!

THIS IS THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING OF THE CONTEST! READ THE RULES AND LOOK FOR THE THEME BELOW!

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The rules of this contest:

1. YOU HAVE UNTIL 11:59 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 20th CENTRAL TIME (which is GMT 4:59 AM Monday, April 21st) to send in your submission. Absolutely NO late entries or excuses will be accepted. DeviantArt's clock is the time-keeping device I am using.

2. All items made for the contest must be NEW. You may not enter something you made previously. It must be something you made, and not something you purchased from a store, or from another artist. ONE in-progress picture will be required (which you may send directly to me instead of posting in your scraps if you don't want people to "look at your work") so we know you made it, not someone else. If you do not provide ONE in-progress shot, you will be disqualified. In-progress shots may be sent to my Notes at any time before the end of the contest.
Edit as of Tuesday, April 8: If you could please send me two different Notes, one with a link to your WIP and one with a link to your final, I would appreciate it. I am keeping WIP links in separate inbox folders


3. This contest is for items made of oven-bakeable polymer clay only. Please, no oil clays, earthen clays/ceramics, air-dry clay, or other kinds of clays. Some brands of polymer clay are Fimo, Sculpey, and Kato. Polymer clay is hardened by baking in a regular type of oven, and not a kiln; neither is it left to air-dry. If you need help locating polymer clay, let me know and I can point out some places!

4. Additions to the polymer clay which ARE allowed in this contest:
*Wire, for armatures and hanging, if necessary
*Foil, for armatures
*Findings/clasps/earring wire, for jewelry-based items
*Paint

Please keep in mind that this is a contest based on your prowess with polymer clay, not painting, and not wire-working. We want to see items that are _mostly_ worked in clay, with paint and other items as secondaries.
For example, a sculpture of a man will score much higher than a flat piece of clay which has a man painted on it. Jewels that you make yourself out of polymer clay will rate much higher than rhinestones/etc. you've purchased.

5. Each person is allowed only ONE entry. You MAY make a set of items (for example, if you work with jewelry, you may make a charm for a necklace, charms for earrings, and a bracelet charm). However, just because you make more than one item doesn't mean that you get more "credit."

6. YOU MUST upload your finished piece to deviantArt AND SEND ME A NOTE with the link to the item before the deadline. No Notes will be accepted after the deadline!

7. Keep it rated PG at most, please - no gore, no pornography, as this is a contest for all ages. If you would put it under a "mature content" flag on deviantArt, it doesn't belong in this contest.
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How you will be rated
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Judges will look at the items and rate you from a scale of 1-5 on the following criteria:

*Professionalism: Did you take your time to make the item(s) look nice, or did you obviously rush through it?

*Originality: If we run a search for descriptions of your item, will we find seven just like it on deviantArt, or will yours be the only one?

*Topicality: Is your item VERY OBVIOUSLY adhering to the topic/theme? Or did you have to explain it to us?

*Design: Does your item do what it's supposed to do? If it's a wall-hanging, does it hang flush with the wall? If it's jewelry, does it fit comfortably or is it too heavy, or could it easily snag hair and clothing? If it's a sculpture, does it sit flat without wobbling? Make sure you take several shots of your item "in action" so we can judge it! Poor photos may especially hurt your score in this section.

*Effort: Is there good detail in your item? Or is it something that looks fairly simple?

*Use of medium: Did you mostly make use of polymer clay, or did you fall back a lot on paints, wires, or other external additions?


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Your judges will be:
~thechaosgod
~PyroBlaze
~butterfly-dragon
*CriticalPhotography
*Sejuay
and me! *CatharsisJB

Please remember: CLEAR PICTURES HELP! If our judges can't make out what it is you're showing them, it's not their fault if they give you a low score. Be sure you can take good photos of your items. MANY DIFFERENT ANGLES ARE ENCOURAGED; you can include all angles in one deviation as I do in this example. Just one shot of your entry will probably not be enough for us to get an accurate judgement. If you need tips on taking better photos, please talk to me! I might be able to help you with your camera settings


THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO PRIZES GUARANTEED.
The Grand Prize, for the top scorer (you can view this prize here)

and the Most Improved Prize (view here), which takes into account what you have in your gallery. So if you don't have a lot of your polymer clay items in your gallery, now is a good time to get them uploaded (let us know WHEN you made those pieces, if they're not posted on/near the day you finished it). If your contest entry really shows a marked improvement over what you have in your gallery, you might win the Most Improved prize So really put some effort in!

To make it easier on our judges, please have the items you want us to judge "most improved" by in your deviantArt gallery. We won't be shuffling through your other websites, sorry!

Also, if we have over 10 entries, I'll pony up for a Runner Up prize as well.

If we have over 20 entries, I'll make sure there's a Second Runner Up prize!

ALL entrants who follow the rules will have their submission thumbnailed in at least one of my journals

At the end of the contest, while we will not release our judges' scores for all to see, you MAY request a final critique. Please be aware that I chose judges who will not beat around the bush, so if you are one of those folks who can't tolerate honest feedback, please do not request a final critique!

****ON TO THE THEME!****

The theme of this contest is:
"WATER LIFE"

Any creature that lives ALL OR MOST OF ITS LIFE in water (though not necessarily breathing it) is fair game for this contest! That would include things like fish, dolphins, clams, otters, and tardigrades. If you work with an amphibian creature like the frog, make sure you stick with the forms and species that stay in water most of the time (ie, tadpole form, bullfrogs).

Examples of things that would NOT be appropriate for this contest:
Humans (though I hope you do shower often), hedgehogs, hares, hens, horses, and really anything else that does not live out most of its life in the water.

PLEASE AVOID: Fantasy creatures. I encourage you to use creatures that actually do exist (or that we have fossilized proof of) instead of using fantasy creatures like mermaids or sea dragons. There is a TON of fantastical life that abounds in the seas, rivers, ponds, and oceans in our world - get to know some of it You can "fantasy-ize" or get creative with whatever life form you choose (perhaps you want to put a bikini on a fish? Weirdo) but there is enough life in our waters that you should be able to find something cool that actually does or did exist.

If it is alive and it lives in the water, you should be good to go. If you have a question as to whether the creature you have in mind is appropriate, PLEASE ASK ME! Remember: if it's not clear to the judges as to why you chose a certain creature, you may be marked down in the area of "Topicality."

Any questions can be left in comments here, or Notes if you don't want to give your ideas away!

GOOD LUCK! Happy sculpting!

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These folks are in my NEW super-secret special club. Mwahaha.