Contest The Great Triathlon Exalted!

The hearts are new this week, so don't worry that you haven't seen them.

The donors of these particular prizes selected the the rank of the prize they would donate, so this contest is not winner's choice like the others.
If I were eligible for prizes I would definitely be aiming to win a Pola for my partner, but I also have friends to whom I would love to give the Colin and the Yeon-Ho. The FCS I would keep for myself though.

 

Why aren't all the entries included in voting? It's great that all the entries will be displayed together, but if just-for-fun entries aren't included in the voting, then people who aren't participating for prizes don't get to see how they would have done or get much feedback on what people think of their projects, which kind of makes it less fun. If non-eligible entries wind up toward the top, couldn't they just be pulled out at the end so the final ranking for prizes doesn't include them?

 

There is always plenty of chat surrounding the entries once they have been posted so even those who aren't competing for prizes get lots of positive feedback. We'd rather have the votes count toward those who are actively trying to earn them.

 

Sad that I'm too new to participate, because my first dolly is here and brand shiny new, has no possessions or closet yet, and what's more inspiring than a totally blank canvas!? ^^
She definitely meets the requirement as far as holding a super special place in my heart. I'm sure for so many of us the first dolly will always hold high above all others.
The above rules don't specify whether a member too new to win may participate with the "not competing for prizes" box checked, so is that okay to do? It's a pity I won't have a chance at the prizes (I shyly hesitated to pester someone for a DoA invite for months, til they invited me without even being asked..) but that's what I get for being timid. :P

 

New members aren't eligible for prizes, but you are absolutely allowed to play along for fun! Go for it! Congratulations on your new doll!

 

oh drat should have seen this post earlier so I can get started not sure if I'll be able to hit the deadlines. we shall see.

 

I am telling everydollybody I know about this I had so much fun last year, and it completely changed how I interact with the doll hobby. If anybody is on the fence about participating, DO IT. I entered a few days late, and still had a blast!

I'd actually play along for fun, if it weren't for the fact that the last Triathlon got me so inspired that I am premiering a short Dolly Stop-Motion-y sort of thing at Dollism Plus US next month....which means I'm scrambling under my own deadlines right now! But I will be cheering everybody on! I have subscribed to all the threads, and can't wait to see the fabulous work you guys are going to do! I'm actually nervous/excited/jittery about it all, even though I'm not participating! Good luck all!!!

 

I hear ya MissEmily I'll be volunteering for Dollism next month and participating in a few of the contests there, but I also have some things going on in other hobbies of mine, my band is debuting for the first time a few weeks before Dollism and Halloween is very busy for me. I'm going to try my best to find some spare time to try and jump into this one or the couture contest. We shall see. Will be great to meet you.

 

If we are interested in participating in the Triathlon challenge, can we still participate in other challenges, like the Couture Challenge? (If we manage to find enough time lol!) And if so, can we use the same doll across multiple challenges or do we have to use a different doll? Thank you!

 

Soooo, I'm late to this one! I just saw the new Anniversary forum last night, so I'm super glad the deadline to start the Triathalon hasn't passed yet, even if it will be a bit tight. I already planned a concept (so much for actually sleeping while laying in bed last night) and the supplies I'll need to scrounge from my crafting closet. Hopefully, I won't have to buy a thing, though I may be forced to go scrounging in my actual rented storage room! So excited!

 

Yes, you may participate in as many contests as you'd like! Good luck!

 

Round one entries are up!Look here!

 

Oh holy cow. I thought that was the multi-quote button! Weeeeellllll then

 

The results for Challenge One are ready! Thanks for your patience!

Here are the results for the first triathlon challenge: My Angel!

This is the raw poll data from the VBulletin software.
Which wings are the most aesthetically appealing?


Which entry makes the most creative use of materials?


Which entry shows the best engineering concept?


Because several voters did not follow the rules for voting, some votes had to be tossed out. The following entries lost votes:

• #13 -3
• #15 -2
• #16 -1
• #26 -2
• #27 -2
• #38 -3
• #95 -3
• #107 -3
• #114 -1
• #121 -1

VOTERS: Please keep in mind that you do not help your favorite entries by voting for them more than once! Instead of giving them even one the vote each entry is allowed, you give them nothing!

Complete list of Challenge One vote totals by alias:

Princess Luna 58
Unikitty 56
Wasabi 55
Kallisti 47
TheKeeper 36
Meowzer 29
Gibson 29
JewelMcCool 28
PrincessButtercup 26
Betsy Bobbin 26
dinah 23
Areliss 22
Cherina 21
Mad Madam Mim 18
Icarus 17
Wobbajack 17
Unna 15
Aslan 14
CrypticChaos 13
Rawrcakes 13
Sandman's Apprentice 12
Zombie Cupcake 12
Small Two of Pieces 12
Phoenix 11
Panda 11
The Rat 10
cr88tiveFantasy 10
There is no if 10
Ashen Phoenix 9
Icantus 9
Steamrat 8
Wild River 8
Daphne's Champion 7
Atin 7
InkWing 7
La Follette 7
Bella Muerte 7
Chupathingy 6
nightsilas 6
loveegyptiangold 5
Alouette 5
Scout 5
Striker 5
A. J. Holly 5
Nimb 5
Eru 4
Forest Angel 4
Rosiel 4
SteamAngel 4
Triforce 4
Duckling Mum 4
KabutoMushi 4
Centaur 4
the pant alchemist 3
HazyDreamer 3
Sunfox 3
Woodsorrel 3
Emperor Mateus 3
August Zzzombie 3
Ramblin' Evil Mushroom 3
Owlet 3
Skypig 3
obi1jinn1 3
Detective Derp 3
Striker Eureka 3
Bearded 3
Ghettojinn 3
Weird&Gilly 3
Obi 2
platypus 2
Arietty 2
Kib 2
Rubber Ducky 2
Kit Fox 2
Starshine 2
Hermione Granger 2
renoir 2
dayu 2
Humanity's Strongest 1
Foxteeth 1
Lunar Lily 1
Jazzykins 1
Humble 1
Lehua 1
Sigil 1
Mokuba 1
Zylphia 1
Moss 1
TenshinoNeko 1
Chester 1
lead 1
Shadowfax Dawn 1
HunnyBeeVampire 1
ICan'tBelieveIt'sNotButter 1
The Wandering Geologist 1
LazyAlias 1
yay paperwings 1
Godric 1
Chiko 1
July Journey 1
dragonmother 1
Desadonte 0
Bunni 0
PixelBits 0
HighQ Hime 0
jbeeler17 0
Nandina 0
Labadaba 0
ninnymuggins 0
MsUnderhill 0
teacherelf 0
Summerfox 0
flamingo 0
LadyBird 0
Eustache 0
iwantcake 0
PureVanilla 0
Iris 0
silent_storm 0
Pinku 0
Fukamint 0
AlwaysLastMinute 0
BarbaraGordon 0
blunderbutt 0
Little Fox 0
Dollinator 0
Malaika FUN
MechaAngel FUN
Fark!theChocobo FUN
T. D. Wu FUN
It's a Rock FUN
Gulwen FUN
Neverland FUN

 

Great job guys!

 

ALSO: Entries are up and voting is open for Challenge #2!

You thought voting for the wings was hard, wait until you see these: CLICK HERE!

 

No kidding O_O I am completely stunned. They're fabulous.

 

The voting is always heart breaking....

 

ugh...I think sometimes its better not to know until the very end, doesn't give me much motivation to finish..lol. Great job to everyone.

 

LETS do this! I was kinda Down myself over the scoring, but Need to keep working!

 

If I have time perhaps, so many other projects that need to be completed though may prevent me from doing this one..no biggie always next year.


And wow...the 2nd entries are amazing and so creative, I am so outclassed..lol. I wish would have had more time to do something more creative than what I did, but I guess my display doesn't look too bad hanging in my living room. lol

 

As someone not participating and only watching/voting, keep going everyone! It is wonderful to see all of the creative and awesome things done so far. I am a little disappointed, it looks like the person who did my favorite pair of wings from the first round did not move on to the second, or at least, I don't see that 'angel' anywhere in the ones received. It's too bad, I was looking forward to seeing what she was going to pull off. But still, I am not at all let down by the other creations whatsoever. Spectacular stuff all around. So envious of all the talent!

 

Oh, I've just noticed that one of the wings I voted for didn't make it into the next round either, and they had twice as many votes as mine! That's a shame.

Now that I know I can't really win I decided I should get my last challenge done as soon as possible. I have some huge real life deadlines coming up that I was getting very distracted from!

So, I worked non-stop Sunday and today and submitted everything this evening. I recently gave my doll a story, which is something I've never been inspired to do before, so I was really happy to get it into book form and I like the outcome. I know there will be a hundred more creative and impressive entries though!

This challenge has been so much fun and so inspiring. I never would have made wings for my doll but she hasn't taken them off yet, they suit her so well! I'd been meaning to make something to display her in and now it's done, and it's more creative than it would have been because I explored the dollar store for materials! And, I actually got my doll's story down on paper. I also made a gif for the first time.

I wish we could do competitions like this more often!

 

Wow, Minimoon! So industrious. I spent the evening doing life stuff, like grocery shopping, but I stopped off at my parents's house to get a few power tools I left there when I moved. Then I did some planning and some technique practicing. My original idea will not work with the tools available to me, but with some swapping around, I think I'll be able to make it spiffy looking. I then worked n some embellishing type things, and now I'm going to bed waaaay too late!

 

not that I care what my votes were..because I know they were very low in the first one but my name was not on the list.

 

Well...I miss-read my score and thought I had more that I did. Well...clearly I'm not going to go far in the next challenge. Having said that though, I'm over the moon with the way my photos for the last challenge turned out so even if I don't get anywhere, I am still happy with the end result.

 

I'm tickled to death with how many votes my entry got. It still wasn't many, by any stretch, but I would have been happy to get one to add to the big single point from round 1 . Somehow having even a few people give mine top marks in a category made up for failing to finish round 3, so yes! I am a HAPPY camper!

Dunno why it makes me so happy but it does It meant a lot to me, and I guess it means that I somehow managed to communicate that through thick and thin (thick Krylon and thin supporting structure?)

 

Take another scan through the list, your alias is there!

I totally get it. The year I entered the Triathlon I totally bombe the first challenge but managed to get fourth place in the second and never has a hastily painted piece of cardboard and some random repurposed trash made me so happy before or since.

 

It's sad when you don't get ANY votes though and i'm still For Waiting till the end or at leat round 3 is submitted be fore we see any totals. we had what? have the people drop by the 3rd?

 

More contestants made it all the way to the finsh line this year than any year before.

 

Congrats on your niche! I know how you feel about the points. I got about 5 times as many than the first round and even though that's still a tiny number and it's no where close to winning me any prizes it did make me happy!

I don't think people seeing their scores and deciding not to continue is necessarily a bad thing. I joined the competition knowing that if I wasn't making things I actually liked I would drop out if my score was low, to avoid wasting time and materials.

It turns out I really liked all the challenges so I stayed in despite my score. But if I'd decided to drop out instead it would have been my choice and not the fault of how the competition was run. So, while it did make me sad when I saw my low score, at least I could make an informed decision!

 

Is there a special prize for the people who managed to get zero votes? We worked hard to earn them! We racked our brains too and were sleep-deprived along with everybody else! It's a special art!

 

Definitely! I would love to have as many votes to give, as there are and were in each of the legs.
Like if there were 126 entries, we would have up to 126 votes to give - of course only one vote per entry, but at least that way you could give a vote for every single entry you wanted to. ^__^ Not everyone would vote for every single entry, but you could if you wanted to!

I am not at zero, but very close to it! Back when I was running (I'm very slow), I got used to bringing up the rear. Someone's gotta do it - might as well be me! Besides, that way you get to see more of the scenery.

 

Well, I hate that I have to be bummed out that I haven't gotten any votes ... but it is just how I am! I am honestly curious if entries somehow get opened up after the Triathlon so that people can comment to their hearts desire on all the wings, niches and books. I would be curious to see if my stuff would get a comment if it can't get a vote!

Oh well, at least my doll now has a book with her story! It was at least very productive work for me to say the least. I enjoy seeing other people's art as well.

 

I believe that after voting is over and the winners are announced all participants are welcome to open up threads compiling all their works for the competition so that people can comment (I'm not sure where they'd go, the gallery I guess?), I know that I had planned to make a thread because I wanted to show all three parts together as well as get to better explain my thought process when creating my entries.
though I think we will also maybe be able to just talk about stuff in the threads here, but I'm not sure how long these threads will stay open after the fact?

 

Uhg, I don't know about you guy's, but I'm so happy to be able to share my pics now. I was dying to hit that "visible to everyone " option. XD

 

You are welcome to chat about any of your entries here in this thread! This subforum is permanent and the threads will remain open. We host all of the entry photos on the DoA server so they will be here for as long as we are!

 

Thank you! That's really good to know, because I want to delete the small photos on my flickr and upload bigger ones, and all the extra ones together. Except I forgot to save a big copy of some of them

And thanks for running all these awesome competitions, DoA mods! I had such a great time. I wish I'd had more time to spend on my book, but I'm going to finish my masters in the next couple of days and then I'm going to remake it, and maybe improve on my room a bit too. It's really given me the crafting bug!

 

I was excited to upload the bigger images and make everything visible on Flickr yesterday evening. I scored MUCH better on this final round than on the other two! Which is awesome, but at the same time disheartening since round three I didn't even start until Wednesday, while the other two rounds took hours every single day.

I really enjoyed this, but I think if I try next time I'm going to have to take a hard look FIRST... am I competing for a prize, or just to make fun stuff for myself? Because while I don't think I would have won anything either way, I am pretty sure if I'd abandoned "needs to be sturdy long-term" and "want it to match my room so it looks nice as a permanent display" and spent all my budget instead of only a small part of it, I could have scored higher on the Aerie. I love it as-is, but am kind of regretting making it match my walls and current doll furniture and not going a bit more out-there with it. Now I know better how the competition works and what sorts of things score well!

And I'm tempted to make a second aerie built the same as the first, using a different theme (but not put together in just one week!). I can always use more doll storage!

(Oh, and congrats to the winners! Your work was spectacular!)

 

Congratulations to the winners for well deserved wins. And kudos to those who didn't place or didn't quite finish all three challenges. It took a lot of work and commitment to finish each project within a week. I was so pleased to have finished all three and that at least some people liked them enough to vote for them (Forest Angel). I really enjoyed seeing all the different interpretations of wings, aeries and books. Such an immense amount of creativity and talent among the members.

 

I'm already planning on doing a photostory with my book as a prop, which I could never have done if I had maybe tried to be a little more creative with its cover. So I guess even though the simplicity of it meant I didn't get many votes, something that might have gotten more votes wouldn't be worth keeping.

 

For anyone who's interested, I've posted my progress journals for this year's Triathlon on my Tumblr:

Challenge 1
Challenge 2
Challenge 3



I'm looking forward to seeing how some of the other entries were done

Congrats again to the winners, and a massive round of applause to everyone who made it through this year!

 

I had a great time and I'm glad I stuck around until the end. All the things I made weren't really amazing or anything so I knew I wasn't going to win but I did have fun. It was amazing to see all of this creative work from this community.

 

Thanks for sharing - I loved your cave especially and it's even more impressive seeing how it was made. Wow!

I think I voted for your bat wings as well. They're super cute :-)

 

I wish I'd had the foresight to take in progress pics of my things, but because it was all secret I didn't bother! Oh well. I've posted all my entries here, if anyone was wondering which were mine.

Thank you everyone in these threads for being welcoming and friendly, these contests were a great way to get more involved with the community.

 

I actually really liked your Aerie! There were so many that I absolutely adored, but didn't have enough votes to go around (your book was another I really enjoyed, I loved the idea behind it). I'll admit, I didn't fully understand how they tied together until the final round, but once I saw it, I actually liked it that much more.

I've actually done a small one, which I need to post now that I can. I hope you'll link it here! I definitely know what you mean about the simplicity of the cover; I don't think mine could have possibly been more simple, but adding anything changed the symbolism of it within my story. And really... I knew I didn't stand a chance at winning from the point when the first round was posted, and decided to just make something I enjoyed instead.

You had another of the sets of wings I adored, I'd love to know more about how you made them!

I need to sift out the smaller submission-sized photos and add some titles, descriptions and tags to the rest, but here's my own gallery unlocked, if anyone's curious.

 

Here's my gallery, if anyone's interested. I think I managed to set the privacy setting correctly so you can see it.

Also, hah, I'll have to wait a while to take the pictures of the photostory I want to. One of the dolls I want to use for it, and my book, are at my parents' house, because I didn't want to crush the book in my backpack on my way home from visiting.

 

I wanted to properly document my process and progress but I changed lanes so much that it made a mess of my home and my pc with all those extra pictures I took of materials I didn't end up touching but...

Other than the elements that served to attach them my wings were made entirely out of paper, After planning and drawing out the files on my computer I cut about 60% of my wings out on a laser-cutter. Keeping in mind that I wanted my wings to look great on both sides I cut multiples of key pieces but after I wasted some paper due to testing laser settings I ran out before I got to the larger pieces. I changed the backing of the largest pieces to tracing paper and modified some pieces I had already cut by overlaying tracing paper on textured scrap booking paper. The textures and semi-transparent parts play off lighting well.

​

I decided to make my vitrine out of Masonite, a material I use often to make headbands. In order to fit in the laser-cutter that has a max cut area of 24in x 18in I divided my design in panels, after finishing the 3 back panels I calculated that I did not have enough time to cut 2 more full panels and make the seat so I engraved half the panels and cut the rest. This pressed wood material has the tendency to release a residue on the top when burned so I had already covered each piece with painters tape. I intentionally left the masking on the engraved parts then airbrushed over the masking to the middle of the side panels in a gradient. My original plan for my display was to make a faux-stone floor but due to constant rains and high level of humidity in my work area the "quick dry" polyuretane would not dry. So using a toothbrush, some plastic bags and some glittered floral arrangement twig I made a hand painted "marble-ish" floor.

Digging in the community scrap material bin at my maker-space I found some plywoods and heavy weight pressed papers, I used them to make a chair. The combination of 3 types of wood, pressed paper, and the adhesive marks from the gorilla glue made it look really Frankenstein'd so It was airbrushed black to match the rest of the display.

After 2 weeks I was really burnt out, I made a vague plan but didn't even start working on my book until the day of the deadline. Using the scrap paper left from the wings I cut some paper in the same manner of my vitrine, engraved some vectorized images of Reiji on some whitecore cardstock (the burned areas appear white against the color of the paper), and cut out text about about being watched on earth in Swedish. I knew the size of the text and language would not being widely readable so I put English subtitles on my gif, but really I did not care for my book at all If i had worked on it the whole week it would have turned out better but really I was about done and I just pat myself on the butt for getting it done.

I tossed some of the photos I took during the process in a flickr album please take a look if you're interested.

Good job to everyone, especially those who stuck with it and those who tried their best.

 

Your book certainly matches mine for simplicity! As for your wings, I loved the little detail of the tiny paper cranes on them; it was really a cute idea!

 

Aww thanks, I think the wings were the thing i was most proud of from all these contests. I just checked out your link, I really liked your wings, and I love the pics you've done with your doll getting the book as a gift and unwrapping it.

My wings were knitted from an awesome yarn that is stainless steel filament wrapped in silk (made by a company called Habu), the metal gives the yarn enough strength that you can pull the finished fabric into shapes and it'll stay there, so I could get the edges of mine to either go straight, or pull into scalloped patterns. It didn't have enough strength to totally hold up under its own weight, so I sewed a bit of silver wire along the inside edges. I made some cords from the same yarn so they would hold in the spirally shapes if i wanted them to, then hotglued the whole lot to a big silver bead to hold it all together, and to act as an anchor to tie the cords to make them easy to put on/remove.

For anyone who is good enough at knitting to understand how knit fabric is put together, this is how I made them...for anyone who doesn't knit/can only knit from step by step patterns, this probably won't make sense!

Each wing is essentially like a bog standard triangular shawl worked from the centre top down. When the bottom part of the wing was big enough, I left it alone and did short rows starting just before the centre and working to the opposite tip to make the top part of the wing longer. I think I did a few where the short rows ended on subsequent stitches, then some with 1 stitch between, then 2 between, to help with the shaping and keep it wider in the centre tapering to the tip. I left 3 edge stitches in garter (the rest is stockinette) and increased with a YO on either end, and instead of making a centre 'spine' with YO's either side, I moved the increases around a little around the centre of the wing to get the slightly tattered look. To add to that look, I did a few YOs at random throughout the wings, doing a decrease somewhere on the same row to keep the stitch count even. Once it was big enough, I did a row of k2tog YO to get the matching set of holes round all the edges, then 3 rows garter before binding off. The second wing was the same, except I started the short rows from the opposite end so the wings were symmetrical rather than identical.

 

*cough* I accidentally strung the embroidery floss to attach them to her back so that there were three extra dangling ends that I didn't need on each side, and rather than cutting them, I had to make them look like they were intentional... So I folded cranes and strung them onto the floss. It was thick enough that once I strung them on, they didn't fall off too which was good

 

Thank you so much! And wow, I had no idea something like that existed! I'd really been wondering how they were holding that shape, thanks for sharing that. I'd guessed they were knitted, but couldn't work out the shaping or material itself. I can't knit to save my life, personally (and didn't understand more than a few words of the construction notes you gave), but I'm still wanting now to find some of that thread just to play with it.

It was a great idea, because it really did make a nice little touch to the wings to add them on!

 

Thank you! The whole time I was working on the Aerie I knew it didn't really LOOK like it went with the wings or with Riddick's style (because it's not, it's at his parent's house, and his mother's style is very different than his!) but I looked back at last year's competition and knew there was a high chance of there being some sort of story involved for round three and knew he was going out that window! I hoped some of the concept info would be included with the Aerie post, I think that might have helped explain things a little better.

I was originally going to make the workshop where the wings were made, but I had nowhere to store something like that, while the window seat could be hung on the wall as a permanent display. That's also why it has curtains, I can close them to protect from light and dust.

I loved your entries as well, especially how your wings fold! I had intended mine to have a sliding brace to allow them to fold up, but that would have taken some extra time and limited how I could include the copper wire, so I ended up not doing that. Mine just rotate up and down from the attachment at the back.

I'm going to go look at the in-progress things people have posted - I didn't really take many in-progress photos, but I may put up the shot of me drilling the holes in the wing frames and of the Aerie before it was painted, and maybe write about them on tumblr! Everyone's entries were so different and amazing it'll be fun to see how they were made!

And I put my write-ups on my Tumblr! I found at least one in-progress photo for each piece, which I'd forgotten I'd taken.

 

Oh, I loved your journal! So many little details. It was one of my favourites. And your window box may have needed some explaining but it looks so professional. It's going to look really nice on your wall.

I've been enjoying looking at everyone's progress pics, so I'm slowly getting mine onto my blog. I did the wings today: http://minibjdkei.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-45.html There's not really anything that mysterious about how they were put together! I'm pleased with them though and my doll's been wearing them a lot.

 

AmyAngel, I feel like I wish I'd realized they'd all tie together in a story, because I might've felt a little more prepared for the whole thing. This is the first year I've even really paid much attention to the Triathlon, honestly, which I think is a bit of Ed's fault. (Oh well, that's part of why he was chosen to be Exalted...) If I give it a go again next year, though, I'll definitely be more mentally prepared! I'm just glad he has such a solid story so I didn't have to scramble for anything....

And thank you! Making them fold properly actually took a bit of work... it looks pretty straightforward, but moving the wings was causing the nuts and bolts holding them together to loosen every time I posed them; eventually, I found the right tension, managed to keep it there, and then glued them together before covering the ends of the bolts with the little gears. I like how yours originally would have posed, too; I thought maybe they could have, from the contest pictures, if not for the copper wire. And I love that you built them as a radio antenna! It's definitely one of the more unique concepts, and a shame nothing about the concepts was involved in the first round.

minimoon, you may not think they're anything special, but I still enjoyed seeing how yours were built. It makes me wish I'd done some in-progress photos on my own. There's a lot of really neat little details coming out in these projects from people's progress work!

 

Wow! Seriously it's really interesting to finally find out how some of these things were made!

Um just in case anyone cares to know here's the link to my stuff (really hope it's ok to link to another forum):
http://www.dolliehsanctuary.com/sanctuary/viewtopic.php?p=121972#p121972

I really enjoyed getting crafty/the challenge of making these three rather large projects to a tight deadline. My one regret is that none of the things I chose to make photograph well at all! So I have 3 lovely objects that I can never really capture with my (admittedly poor) photography. I mean the aerie's parlour trick is a two-way mirror, which whilst super awesome in person really impossible to capture in a single photo!

...And yea I really didn't think to take any in progress photos.

 

I loved your aerie! That was such a great idea. It's a shame you couldn't really show the two-way mirror trick, but I voted for it anyway :-) Now I'm even more impressed.