aha!
Thanks!

I was not aware of the distances causing the object to distort
(I hadn't gotten far enough to notice that one yet).
I was also not aware it was best to flow with the object lying
down. Thanks.

I then suppose there is something wrong with my object that
causes it to bend in two directions?

I can get a simple shape to bend the way I want but for some
reason this frame seems to refuse to bend only the way I
want it.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2ut50et.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/33p8umo.jpg