“Niche Awards craft contest starts up next week - National Jeweler” plus 2 more

Niche Awards craft contest starts up next week - National Jeweler
Turkmenistan and Ashgabat, the city of love - Today's Zaman
5 people who will try to take over your wedding day - WTVF

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Niche Awards craft contest starts up next week - National Jeweler

Posted: 07 May 2010 09:11 AM PDT

May 07, 2010

Baltimore--Niche magazine will begin accepting applications next week for the 2011 Niche Awards Competition, an annual contest celebrating excellence and innovation in American and Canadian craft.

Categories for the contest include jewelry, as well as clocks, ceramics, fiber, glass, metal and wood, with new category introductions for the year to include basketry, outdoor art, wedding jewelry, paper, and religious or inspirational art.

Beginning May 15, 2010, Niche will begin accepting applications, which can be found and filed online at NicheAwards.com. Both professional and student craft artists are invited to participate by submitting up to three high-quality digital images of separate pieces of work.

For those submitting jewelry images, the designs must be photographed alone against a plain background, not worn on a model. Entries for the professional division must be received by Aug. 31, 2010, and entries for the student division must be received by Sept. 30, 2010.

Finalists in the contest will be invited to display their work in the Niche Awards exhibit at the Winter Buyers Market of American Craft, taking place Feb. 18-21, 2011, in Philadelphia. Winners will be announced at a special ceremony during the show, and will be featured in the Spring 2011 issue of Niche.

Judging will be based upon three main criteria: technical excellence, both in surface design and form; a distinct quality of unique, original and creative thought; and market viability (for professional entries only).

For more details about the Niche Awards, including application guidelines, visit NicheAwards.com.

Turkmenistan and Ashgabat, the city of love - Today's Zaman

Posted: 12 May 2010 04:29 PM PDT

While health and education services are provided by the state, privatization is taking place in every sector. Turkmenistan, under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, is rapidly progressing and its cities are undergoing a speedy process of development. The president works day and night to make the country more advanced, monitoring projects closely and ensuring that they are completed as quickly as possible. He is a leader who loves his country and his citizens. Turkmenistan is a country where the words "The state is for the people" is put into practice. In fact, the phrase "The people should not work for us, we should work for the people" belongs to none other than Berdimuhamedov.

The license plate of the presidential car features the five stars found on the Turkmen flag, representing the country's five provinces.

Ashgabat, the city of love, is changing rapidly. There are very beautiful, modern and tall buildings in the capital. Behind the Kopet Dag mountain range, in the southwest of Turkmenistan, lies Iran. The distance between the capital, Ashgabat, and the border is 35 kilometers.

Turkmens are proud of their flag, which flies in every part of the country. The Turkmens even have the world's tallest freestanding flagpole, which made it into the Guinness World Records. This 133-meter-long flagpole carries a giant flag of Turkmenistan that is 52.5 meters long, 35 meters wide and weighs 420 kilograms.

Famous Turkmen horses

The Turkmens have a great affection for horses, with Turkmen Akhal-Teke horses raised on special farms. The president attaches great importance to raising them and has ordered stud farms to be built in all five provinces. Everyone in the country knows how much the president, a very good horseman, loves these animals. But horses here have been taken to a whole new level, with Horse Day a national holiday. Indeed, days have been set aside for other aspects of Turkmenistan and Turkmen culture that are deemed important. Among these are Carpet Day, Wheat Day and Melon Day.

Desert bazaar

I visited a famous desert bazaar near Ashgabat. The bazaar is open four days a week, with Turkmens crowding its stalls on Wednesdays, Thursday, Fridays and Sundays. It is one of the biggest outdoor bazaars in the world. Even people from Iran come to shop here. The bazaar's busiest day is Sunday. People can find everything here. The renowned Turkmen carpets capture our attention the most. These hand-woven carpets feature beautiful designs, with Turkmen women showing customers the carefully woven carpets. I found prayer rugs for $50. There are Turkmen carpets at the desert bazaar that sell for between $2,000 and $3,000.

I put on traditional Turkmen dress in one of the sections of the bazaar as well as a kalpak (a type of hat). Black kalpaks are generally worn by older people. White ones are worn on holidays. The summer months are very hot in Turkmenistan. Those in the market feel the scorching heat of the desert, when temperatures range between 45 and 50 degrees Celsius. But it can get even hotter sometimes.

Turkmen wedding

On one of these hot summer days I attended a Turkmen wedding. People rode horses in front of the wedding car. The bride was brought to the groom's house and people danced and had fun. Traditional wedding ceremonies are still held here, and the Turkmens are keen on keeping their customs and traditions alive.

The mother-in-law took the bride's hand and put it in flour and then oil so the marriage would be blessed. In line with Turkmen traditions, the bride also held a baby so that the couple will have many children.

The groom's name was Şahnefes, and the bride's name was Sülgün. Sülgün is the name of a bird. The bride kept part of her face covered throughout the wedding, but because the heat caused her discomfort, her friends and family tried to cool her down with a fan.

I approached them and congratulated the bride and groom. I was unable to see the bride's face. Her wedding dress, veil and jewelry weighed 40 kilograms. A Turkmen bride wears her wedding dress and veil for 40 days so that everyone knows she is a newly married woman.

Turkmen rice and tea are served at the wedding. Fresh Turkmen bread is also served while still hot. The locals call this bread çörek. Turkmen rice serves as the main dish and is offered to guests at all weddings. Of course Turkmen the rice comes with meat.

While at this wedding I learned that the Turkmens cook rice every Thursday evening. This is one of their traditions. They make the rice in large amounts and share it with their neighbors. After eating the rice on Thursday nights, they pray and remember the dead.

Is wrestling ever absent from a Turkmen wedding? Of course not. The field was prepared and the wrestlers took their positions. Turkmen wrestling is different from Turkish wrestling. A belt is tied around the two wrestlers, who try to bring each other down by holding on to the belts. The wrestling started in the heat of the day as curious eyes watched them. The wrestlers first try to figure out how strong their rival is, and then the match ends quickly.

This time the winner was Tahir. He is 30 years old and has been wrestling for 10 years. His father was also a wrestler. As the winner, his prize was a camel. In the final round, he quickly pinned his rival again.

5 people who will try to take over your wedding day - WTVF

Posted: 12 May 2010 10:38 AM PDT

1. The Testy Bridesmaid

The Problem: "I love my maid of honor, but getting her in a dress that wasn't black or covered every inch of her was a task. If we found a color or a print, she would tell me that she didn't want to take attention away from the bride."

Our Advice: If one of your bridesmaids is a little nervous about showing some skin or wearing a bold color, it's better to find her an alternate option than to force her into something she's not comfortable with. For a modest maid of honor, make a strapless dress more conservative by incorporating a wrap, a fun cardigan, or a vintage bolero jacket in a complementing shade. Or play up your color palette in a subtler way with jewelry or hair fascinators. And look at the bright side -- compromising now will give you a little leverage when you serve as a maid in her wedding.

2. The Wedding Know-It-All

The Problem: "My future sister-in-law is telling me I shouldn't wear a white dress because it would be too harsh with my skin tone, wants to register for gifts with me (as well as tell me what to register for), and is suggesting where we honeymoon!"

Our Advice: When wedding suggestions cross the line from helpful to aggravating, it's time to redirect that input so that you don't end up arguing over something that might not seem so significant a few years down the line. Assign specific tasks to keep her busy but still involved, like helping you confirm orders with vendors or assembling favors.

3. The Doesn't-Know-Her-Place Wedding Guest

The Problem: "One of our guests keeps insisting that we invite everyone on her 'party guest list' to our destination wedding -- I even found an open invite on her MySpace page!"

Our Advice: Some wedding guests take it upon themselves to suggest a few invitees. And then some guests invite everyone on the Internet. Unless you want Tom from MySpace raising a glass to toast your union, make sure it's clear that there's only one guest list for your wedding. Luckily, rationalizing a small guest list is a lot easier when you have a destination wedding -- just explain that you're having an intimate wedding with close friends and family only (she should feel honored that she's one of them!).

4. The Over-Eager Wedding Guest

The Problem: "A woman my mother works with wants to do my ceremony music, and a customer of my mother's always volunteers to help and acts like she is family. I hardly know her!"

Our Advice: You know that expression about too many cooks in the kitchen? Meet its wedding equivalent. Having a lot of people offer to help you plan sounds like a blessing, but when assistance comes from left field, it can feel like more of a hindrance. If you feel like someone's eagerness is a bit more than you need, let her know how grateful you are for the offer, but that you're in great shape, planning-wise, and that if anything comes up that she could help with, you'll be sure to call.

5. The Children-Or-Bust Wedding Guest

The Problem: "My husband-to-be has a niece and nephew (both under five), and his sister, her husband, and his parents said they would refuse to come if the children aren't allowed."

Our Advice: A lot of couples choose not to invite kids to their wedding, but if you risk a boycott by some VIPs, find a way soothe the situation. Offer to hire a babysitter and set up a private area with games, coloring books, and a few comfy pillows for little ones to crash on if the reception runs past their bedtimes. Your relatives might even offer to chip in once they see how accommodating you're being, but if they don't, the extra expense will be worth bypassing the drama of a fight with your new family.

-- The Knot

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Wedding Jewelry

Wednesday, May 12, 2010