Caravan Beads

Above:  a small beaded creature—the Miyuki Fan Club rabbit.

In this contest we invite you to create a beaded creature. It can be real (a snake, water buffalo, walrus, pelican, jellyfish, tarantula, gecko, porcupine, etc.), imaginary (griffin, unicorn, winged horse, dragon, etc.), or extinct (T-Rex, Triceratops, etc.). If you think your creature might not qualify, email and we'll discuss it. 

If you'd like to see some amazing imaginary beaded creatures from a past contest, get a copy of our Myths and Folktales book which we published after the 2nd International Miyuki Delica Challenge competition. It's available from many bead sellers and also from our shopping cart.

For this contest, there will be two categories:  two dimensional pieces and three dimensional pieces. 

•  Your entry must consist of 90% Miyuki beads. Other beads may be used as accents, eyeballs, etc., but the bulk of the creature must be made of Miyuki beads. There are no size restrictions; your entries can be as large or small as you like.

•  Email us at least two clear digital photos of your creation—one closeup, one showing the entire piece. You may send up to five photos if you think it will help us understand your entry. (See note "a" below for some tips on taking good photos). The initial judging will be done from the images, so the clearer they are, the better your chances of winning.

•  If we can pick winners from the photos, we will do so. If not, we may request that the finalists ship their pieces to us for the final judging.

This is the third in a series of contests Caravan Beads and the Miyuki Co. are sponsoring.

Contest rules:

1.  Contest #3 is open to beaders of all skill levels, from the amateur to the professional. We also welcome entries from beaders in other countries. (Sorry—Caravan Beads employees and family members are not eligible.)

1a.  Beaders in Sweden can find more information here, in Swedish. (If it's not there yet, it will be soon!)

2.  All work entered in the competition must be original. 

3.  Entries must be the work of a single person. One entry per individual.

4.  Please use the entry form on our website:   

We have had a number of requests to allow more time for entries to be created. Good idea!  Images and entry forms for Contest No. 3 must be received by February 1, 2009. Images should be saved as .jpgs and if possible, compressed in zip format before sending. (See note "b" below.)

8. Finalists (or perhaps winners) will be notified by March 15, 2009. If we are unable to pick winners from the photos, we will at that time instruct finalists on how to submit their entries for the final judging. (Note that although there is no entry fee for this contest, finalists will be responsible for all shipping and insurance expenses involved in sending entries to us. International entrants will also need to make arrangements to pay for return shipping.) 

Judging and Awards 

1.  The staff of Caravan Beads and members of the Miyuki design department will select the competition finalists and prize winners.

2.  The Grand Prize winner will receive a $600 credit to use for the purchase of Miyuki products on the Caravan Beads retail shopping cart at www.caravanbeads.net.

3.  In addition there will be up to three Honorable Mention winners. Each will receive a $150 credit to use on the Caravan Beads retail shopping cart at www.caravanbeads.net.

4.  Caravan Beads and the Miyuki Co. retain the right to use all submitted images and artists' text, to photograph all submitted items, and to use said photographs in any lawful way, including but not limited to publicity, publications, electronic media, etc., with full credit to the artist. 

--------------------------

a)  A few tips for taking good photos:

Avoid 'noisy' backgrounds: A neutral background such as gray or white seamless paper works best. (We sometimes use white posterboard as a quick backdrop.) Please avoid patterned, textured, or brightly colored backgrounds; they will distract from the piece. Necklaces will show up better on a commercial jewelry display form than on a person. 

Use a tripod. Handheld cameras usually shake which results in unclear images. 

Focus and center the image. If the image is out of focus or off-center, the judges will either mark it down or skip it. The close-up you submit should show clear details of your entry. The overall photo should fill the image area so the judges can see what you have created. Take multiple images and submit the best two.

Good lighting is important. Avoid overly bright highlights or very dark shadowed areas. Soft indirect lighting is often the best. If you're using daylight from a window as your principal source, you can bounce light from a piece of posterboard to fill in the shadows on the 'dark' side of the piece. (There's a ton of information on the web about photographic lighting. Here's an excellent article about building your own nearly-free setup for small item photography.) 

b)  How to zip files:

Windows XP: Put the cursor over the folder you wish to zip and click the right mouse button. Go to Send To, then Compressed (Zipped) Folder.

For other versions of Windows that do not have the built in zip utility, there are free utilities such as PKZip(http://www.pkware.com/) and WinZip(http://www.winzip.com/) that will zip files on a PC.

Macintosh (OS X): Right click or control click on the file or folder to be sent. Select "Create archive of [the file name]' and save it.