My garden club district held a flower show during their semi-annual meeting. I am glad that I entered. It was a great experience. I made the above three brooches and picked the one to submit in the parking lot of the flower show.

I know that my brooches are very simple. My design aesthetic tends to be simple. So in hindsight a typical brooch is not suited to my aesthetic. I should have pushed myself out of my comfort zone. But I like my brooches and I did not enter to win. I entered for the experience. I do not have design experience so my goal was to not be disqualified. There are many ways an entry into a flower show can be disqualified before the judge sees it. But I followed the rules and my entry was submitted for judging.

I signed up to clerk during the flower show. Clerks assist the judges by holding up or moving the item to be judged. Clerks also attach ribbons and do other tasks as necessary. I could not clerk for judges that were judging my entry but the judges I was assigned happened to be close to the judges evaluating the brooches. I was able to hear a little and watch in a mirror. I could see in a mirror that they spent a long time judging but did not spend time looking at mine. They focused on the other three.

My entry was in the Artistic Crafts section, Class 1 “Sparkling Friends”. I consulted the contact for the flower show and was told that my brooch did not need to be sparkling. But the judges focused on the word “sparkling” during their review.

Some things I was able to hear the judges say (I am assuming that it was about my brooch).

• “Not sparkling.”
• “Not enough plant material.”
• something about the “proportion of a bow.”
• “My 3 year old grandson could have done that.”

Ribbon and Comment Card

Some comments and observations from attendees of the flower show.

• “I like this one”
• “Very nice”
• “That is too delicate!”
• Some visitors took photos of it.

First place brooch

Second place brooch

Third place brooch

Honorable mention brooch