Took me a while, but think I came up with a winning design for my framing competition. Just finished her up this afternoon, and I think it came out pretty awesome. Comeptition is June 1st, so will let you know how I did later. But here she is:

The framing is beautiful but is that all that you are judged on? No judging on what is in the middle?

In this particular case, yes, just the framing will be judged. It's for a framing competition (I'm a picture framer by trade), and the Mucha-style tile was made specifically for this competition.

It's a beautiful framing job. Didn't know they had competition for framing.

Did you make the tile in the middle too? The whole thing is just great.

This came out great!  I really like that you went big on the framing to give the tile the stature it deserves.  Good luck in the competition.

Well, tonight's the night I find out how she did. Wish me luck!

 SO exciting - good luck!!!!!!!

Well, all in all, she did pretty good tonight. I took home 2nd place out of 7 entries, which is my second 2nd place prize for these competitions. I also took home a special prize. I don't know if the prizes were special for this particular competitions, but I was also awarded "Best Use of Fabric" for the embossed fabric wrapped matting I used. Now I just need to decide if I want to send her off to the National Competition or not.

 Thanks for the well-wishes and all the support. I appreciate it.

 excellent! you done us proud : )

why not send it off to the Nationals?

Ehh, sometimes even great pieces get kinda lost in the multitudes of entries they receive at the National level. I've been told that because the judges are given such a short period of time to judge (a single day to judge upwards of 50+ pieces) that they will often seriously judge only half the actual entries, while the rest are kind of only cursory judged. So pretty much what happens is that pieces are subjectively chosen. This could mean that whoever chooses the pieces might not like the black matting I used, or really not like the frame I used, and my piece could be summarily dismissed from the final judging even though every part of it is technically perfect. Not saying that I think mine is the absolute best and should take it all, but it's a little disconcerting to win a top prize at the local level, then learn that the same piece was all but ignored at the National level due to time constraints. The National competition isn't until January 2010, so I may still change my mind about sending it. We'll see how I do with my print competition piece later this year. If that takes a prize too, maybe I'll send them both.

I think you should go ahead and send it.  It has a "what the heck is THAT factor" because of the polymer clay.  Even if they aren't supposed to judge what's in the frame, use it to get their attention.  They are bound to be visual people and something different will catch their eye no matter what.  Besides, you never know who else might be looking - that could lead to something too.