2009 Rules, Regulations
and Recommendations
Contacts: Matt Hisel or Abe Coley,
541-8300, or
matt@homeresource.org
abe@homeresource.org
Registration deadline: When our 30 spaces are full. Call to check availability.
You can download a registration form on our website, or stop by the store.
Thank you for entering our one-day recycled art contest to celebrate the sixth anniversary of Home
Resource (HR.) We hope to have a variety of participants, including professional artists, designers
and builders, as well as amateur and youth creators. Like many sports events (triathlons, the
riverbank run, etc.) we will give awards recognizing both pros and amateurs. Our goals for the day
are:
1. Transform material that would otherwise go to the landfill into objects of beauty and/or
fascination and/or amazement and/or whimsy and/or powerful social commentary and/or
whatever you can make happen in six hours.
2. Have lots of fun being creative and spontaneous together.
3. Work safely and cooperatively.
4. Use as much material as possible, while working cautiously.
5. Raise awareness of waste reduction issues and Home Resource’s efforts to address them.
6. Create pieces for an auction on October 16th that raises some money for Home Resource’s
upcoming expansion.
Registration Fee: $18 per person for individual, family, teen, and under-12 categories; $25 per
person for professional category. Includes t-shirt , dinner and drink tickets, and free admission to the
Friday, Oct. 16th auction.
CONDENSED SCHEDULE:
9 am
Orientation for Professionals
9:30 am
Orientation for all other categories
Kids activities begin
10 am
Team competition begins
Noon
Live music and kids’ activities begin
4 – 10pm
Team competition ends
Selection of kids and family awards
Dinner, live music, performance art, festive entertainment
FOOD and DRINK
Home Resource will provide coffee, juice, breakfast pastries, and plenty of fluids throughout the
day. Home Resource will operate a grill, offering burgers and hot dogs (veggie options included).
Participants will receive dinner and drink tickets, and are welcome to bring additional food if they so
desire.
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The Rules:
1. All contestants must sign a waiver at the orientation meeting. Promise not to sue us if you
get hurt! We will make every effort to minimize dangers such as rusty sharp objects, etc., but
accidents do happen. Please be careful! Be aware of those around you! Work cautiously
and safely!
2. Size: Overall dimensions shouldn’t be too large or too heavy for two people to carry 100
yards. Exceptions may be made for collapsible appendages, etc.
3. All contestants must attend the mandatory orientation at 9:30 – 10 am (Even if you’ve done
this before! (And you know who you are!)). You will learn what materials are available, sign
your waivers, get good advice from experienced participants, and more.
4. The starting bell goes off at 10 am sharp. A bell (or snare drum or whatever the MC chooses
to use in the moment) will sound at 4 pm., signaling the end of construction time.
5. You can work as an individual or as team. Teams should be no larger than five, as
workspace is limited.
6. Entrants in the individual, family, teen, and under-12 categories will be given a 10’x10’ area
of the street in which to work; entrants to the professional category will be given a 10’x20’
space.
7. Teams of kids and teens are encouraged, but teams of kids under 12 must have one
designated adult supervisor. Adult supervisors of teen teams are encouraged but not
required. The supervisor should limit his or her participation to technical guidance regarding
solid construction and safe use of tools. The kids must do all the creative work!
8. All contestants must provide their own hand-tools, battery-powered drills, etc. See
recommended list below. Entrants to the professional category will have power supplied to
their worksite.
9. Due to safety concerns and electrical circuit limitations, no power tools other than batterypowered equipment will be allowed at the worksites of individual, family, teen, and under-12
contest entrants. Saw stations staffed by HR workers will be available for cutting of
materials. Elaborate cuts are discouraged. (No flowers cut out of plywood, for example.)
10. Saw stations will be set up and operated by Home Resource personnel. Contestants should
plan carefully, measure and mark cuts, then bring them to the saw stations. Measure twice,
cut once! (Note that contests may use hand saws in their own workspace.)
11. Electric motors, e.g. ceiling fans, may be incorporated into art works, and Home Resource
will have power cords available for testing purposes only.
12. Contestants may use hand saws in their own work stations.
13. No chainsaws!
14. A welding station will also be available. Again, plan carefully; no monopolizing!
15. Home Resource will provide lots of material. (See list below.) Off-limits items will be
clearly marked throughout the store; everything else is fair game. Contestants are welcome
to do their own dumpster diving in advance, but pre-assembling pieces and parts is not
allowed. You must start with raw materials at 10 am.
16. Home Resource staff and volunteers must not be asked to help search for items or help teams
solve construction problems. Finding solutions is an important aspect of the contest! Staff
and volunteers may help get materials down from shelves, carry heavy items, etc.
17. Works must be solidly constructed. Dangerously flimsy pieces may not be eligible for prizes
or auction.
18. Contestants are encouraged to bring their own supplies of fasteners, adhesives, etc. Home
Resource will provide whatever nails, wire, bolts and other fasteners we have in the store, but
it may not be what you need. It may be helpful to think about what you’d like to build in
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advance, based on our materials list (below) or items you find. Plan your fasteners
accordingly.
19. Painting is very cautiously encouraged, but bear in mind pieces should be dry by 4-6 pm for
the awards ceremony. Home Resource only carries latex house paint, which contestants are
free to use.
20. Spray paint is discouraged due to toxicity, wind, and resulting potential nastiness.
21. We sure appreciate it if you plan to donate your work to the silent auction, but you may
choose to take it home at the end of the day. (Maybe you want to work on it more; maybe
it’s an awesome new toy and you want to play with it.) Be forewarned: we might cry.
Materials that will be available free for all at Home Resource:
 Miscellaneous, wacky and weird lumber, trim, etc.
 Ceiling fans
 Faucets and other plumbing supplies
 A designated pile of sinks, toilets, perhaps even a bathtub or two
 Single-pane windows, screens, and frames.
 Random metal pipe, conduit, etc.
 PVC pipes and fittings
 A designated pile of hardware, including hinges, nails, screws, doorknobs, etc.
 A bunch of enormous, flexible insulated ducts… maybe.
 Funky light fixtures, globes and parts.
 Used and surplus tile
 VENT COVERS: Please be thinking of ways to use vent covers!!
 Duct fittings out the wazoo.
 Electrical wire of various sizes, junction boxes, etc.
 Cabinet doors, drawers, shelves, etc. Maybe a lazy Susan or two. Think of the fun!
 Hollow core doors
 Fireplace hardware
Do not expect to find:
 Barnwood with beautiful patinas. It may look like junk, but it’s quite valuable these days.
There will be some short, split, random pieces, but not much.
 Vintage light fixtures, or other items of value. You may purchase such items for use in your
project.
 Panel doors
 Large and dimensional lumber
Tool Recommendations:
Note: If you don’t have all the tools you need, you may be able to check them out from the Tool
Library at Missoula Urban Demonstration Project, 829 Phillips St. one block west of the Head Start
school on the Northside. You’ll want to go there the Wednesday prior to the event and check out
tools for a week. For more info call 721-7513 or 549-6790. Also check www.mudproject.org for a
list of tools.
Work gloves
Safety glasses
Tape measures
Hammers
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Handsaws
Carpenter’s squares
Metal cutting hacksaws
Tin snips
Battery-powered drill and/or screw gun, plus pre-charged backup batteries.
Drill bits in a wide range of sizes
A variety of pliers, vice grips, and wrenches
If you plan to use any electrical wiring, bring wire nuts, your own wire-cutters and other
hand tools.
Fasteners, including: screws, (no nails—PLEASE use Home Resource nails!) bolts, nuts,
washers, etc.
Wood glue and other adhesives
A variety of sandpapers.
Your own fast-drying paint, if desired.
Random suggestions:
 Think about the surface of your work. Plain wood, metal, glass or plastic could be fine, but
you may ultimately want to add color and/or texture. Yet, your project should be dry and
ready for sale (or display in your home or yard) by 4-6 pm. Spray paint dries to the touch
quickly, but is toxic, flammable, and resource-intensive. Think about other ways of creating
interesting surface textures on your piece, for example by sanding, carving or otherwise
distressing the surface.
 Think small. Something that could fit on a bookshelf or in a corner, inside. Put effort into
quality details, secure construction, etc. Such pieces are much more popular with buyers.
 Plan to “finish” by 3 p.m. Spend the last hour tightening up, applying finishing touches, and
allowing paint to dry. As you get closer to 3 p.m., if you’re way behind, narrow your focus,
scale down your vision. Then make what you have at 4 p.m. beautiful.
Awards
Quirky trophies and/or prizes from local businesses will be awarded in some of the categories below,
maybe. In the spirit of honoring teamwork, and knowing that everyone who participates is a winner
in our eyes, Home Resource reserves the right to invent new awards on the spot, or not give an
award in a category we thought up ahead of time, but here are some likely possibilities:
 Best Musical Instrument
 Best use of a baseboard wall heater(and perhaps some other multitudinous items)
 Best functional item (furniture, etc.)
 Best kinetic art piece (moving parts, etc.)
 Best work by a team of under-twelve-year-olds
 Best work by a junior high or high school team
 Best work by a family
 Best work by an individual
 Best work by professional
 Most inventive/most abstract
THE SPONCON AUCTION:
The Silent and Live auctions are the centerpieces of the Friday, Oct 16th auction event. The event
will be held at the Elks Lodge, and Missoula Mayor John Engen will auctioneer and MC. Guests
will receive a bid card when they check in with their pre-purchased tickets or buy tickets at the gate.
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(Tickets to the evening event are $10 before October 16th or $15 at the door) All contest participants
will receive a pass to the evening event including bid cards. Approximately ten contest pieces will
be selected for the live auction. Please tell all your friends and family to come bid! There will also
be works by well-known local artists who work extensively with HR materials.
Silent Auction:
SponCon works that are not selected for the live auction will be added to the silent auction
after awards have been decided.
Found object artists are invited to contribute pre-constructed works for the Silent Auction.
Pieces should be submitted for selection by October 15th. Selected works will be on display
throughout several notable locations during the weeks leading up to the auction.
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