The First Annual Good Friday Kiln Jockey Invitational

Within the studio is a group of highly competitive individuals that love a challenge. The first annual Good Friday Kiln Jockey

Contest was conceived to address this.  The goal of the contest is simple: Using an electric winch, lower the 500 pound lid of a kiln as close as possible to a farm fresh egg without cracking it. There are many detailed rules that may be available for future perusal as a PDF

download, but suffice to say this is a very structured event that requires much planning and forethought.

Tom is carefully measuring the eggs to insure                                           The egg in position on the lower edge of kiln

compliance with the strict contest rules. Accuracy                                       4. The judges have checked for any possible

to mere thousandths of an inch is required!                                                 cushioning agents that would disqualify the

                                                                                                                                contestant, and result in banishment.

Jasmine, with intense concentration is "bumping"               Tom is trying to gauge how far to push it in this high

the 500 pound lid of the kiln. She is in the zone.                    stakes contest that takes no prisoners.

Stephen, affecting nonchalance, is in                                     Jasmine's strategy worked. At a critical moment she

reality a bundle of nerves. Jasmine,                                         startled Stephen, causing a momentary loss of

pushing it to the limits of the contest                                       concentration, resulting in this unambiguous defeat.

rules, is trying to psyche out her

competition, a technique she may have

learned from the chess master Bobby Fisher.

Tom's sadness was palpable when the echo of                            Jasmine took home the gold. This intact ovoid will

the crack reverberated through the studio. He vowed                   take a proud place in the showroom display case.

to return next year.