This year I was unable to go to Oregon so I guess I overcompensated and prepared 12 trays for California competition.  I brought home 11 ribbons and no measles.



Click on Image to go to full tray

Div. I Class 10-12.4 (42 sm)
Metals w/original decorative finish or tint.  First Place. (1 tray) Rats, no competition, but fun tray to put together.

Div. I Class 20-13 (24 m/l)
Men, specialized to metal.  OME/DF allowed.  No women or children.  Third Place.  (5 trays) Wow, on award which I thought I'd try and came in 3rd to Lucille Weingarten and Dorothy Tunison, Great Metal collectors.  Judges comment was winner had more OME.  Which is definitely a bugaboo for me.  I like plain buttons and must force myself to consciously buy OME.

Div. I Class 23-6.8 (42 sm)
Waistcoat/Vest buttons.  Second Place (6 trays)  At our club meeting before the show we discussed waistcoat buttons and the article written in the NBS regarding the shank types acceptable in this competition.  3 of us decided to go ahead and enter our trays.  Ronnie Wexler got the Blue, I got the Red and Helen Roiz, the third.  All three form the ABC club. What a coup. Very close competition the judges wrote, try to look for other examples not mounted in metal.

Div. III Class 12-0 (20 lg)
Synthetic Polymers assorted.  Realistic Shapes, balance sections and poly types.  First Place (1 tray)  I thought for sure I'd have great competition, but I guess more people need to get out their hot needles and learn the different classes.  It is fun and very educational.

Div. IX Class 1-0--15-5 (25 var)
Assorted materials with painted surface as only decoration.   First Place. (1 tray) This was a tray I put off until the end because I wasn't sure how it would go together.  But it gave me a chance to use the odd buttons that I bought because I liked and did not have a great place to display them.

Div. IX Class 1-0--15-5 (25 any)
Assorted materials specialized to bears.  First Place.  (3 trays) Judges comments, great job of completing the award as written!  Can add a great panda for another point.  So I guess Pandas are acceptable as bear family.

Div. IX Class 17-5 (25 Any)  Hedgehogs.  Second Place (2 trays)  Of course didn't expect to have but one other competitor.  My friend loves hedgehogs so I was picking them up for her and she mentioned that I should get myself a card of them also.  Many years later when she decided to enter I had to fill in a few spots, but was able to compete and guess what? The judges comments were winner had 1 more OME and very close competition.  Fantastic.

Div. IX Class 17-2 (20 lg)  Birds assorted.  First Place (3 trays)  Judges, great birds, love the wren and peacock.  Lots of varieties.

Div. IX Class 17-2.2 (25 Any)  Owls.  Second Place (7 trays)  The judges said it was a very close competition and I should have used more multiples of owls.  I did realize that I didn't have multis but tried it out of course since I had so many wonderful owls.

Div. IX Class 17-3 (25 Any)  Fish.  First Place (5 trays)  The key here was the assortment of fish recognized.  This was also a tray which I had done before so was only going to add a few buttons, but realized the tray I was starting with was a realistic tray.  So I started from scratch after all.  It was very tough to pick and choice just 25 fish.

Div. IX Class 17-6 (25 Any)  Snakes.  Third Place (4 trays)  Once again, lack of OME's dropped my tray out of blue ribbon contention, but I had added more variety of snake so now I'll have to look for OME to upgrade.

BONUS--MY no-harm button entry.   My "Popper and Polymer Minoan Fantasy" necklace entry.
The stones around the neck are poppers, the main piece is a synthetic polymer and the dangle is also a popper.  Done in brass, handmade settings and clasps.