Craft Wars Episode 7 (Air Date 8/7/12)
This week's Craft Wars had an awesome theme - using music as the inspiration! Anyone who knows me knows that I love music. My latest obesssion is to listen to Pandora, pin the night away on Pinterest and basically rock out. I'm a terrible singer, thank god my crafting skills are so much better than my voice... But, I digress... to me music brings life to situations, it gives meaning to special moments especially the joyous ones, and it makes your heart happy!!! So, this Craft Wars episode is a real pleasure to summarize...
The Contestants
Minda Merinsky
Washington, DC
(Web: http://mindasart.com)
She is a sculptor of lamps and chandeliers. She likes to work with vintage appliances and make them functional.
Cole Daroff
Los Angeles, CA
(Web: brohamART.com; Twitter Handle: @coledaroff)
Cole is a prop builder and has done everything from A to Z...
Claudia Smalley
Chicago, IL
(Web: www.claudiasmalley.com; Twitter Handle: @claudiasmalley)
She is a life long painter and crafter, her work is so beautiful (you can like her on Facebook, I did!)
Pop Craft Challenge (1 Hour)
This week's challenge was to create 2 jewelry pieces using vintage radios and assorted ear phones / ear buds!!! The contestants all took different approaches and it was really cool to see the dissection (or obliteration) of the challenge materials.
The contestants needed to keep in mind --- "Is your bling wearable?"
Cole decided to make a heart-shaped necklace and funky bracelet using the ear buds. Minda took the route of creating whimsical pieces with a butterfly necklace and an owl pin - she uses styrofoam (which she painted) to create her owl piece. Claudia made an effort at bold statement pieces with an asymmetrical necklace with a jewel dazzled speaker and bracelet.
The judges made some great assessments of the bling:
Claudia's pieces began too safe, she didn't incoporate enough of the challenge materials (i.e., she should have used the ear piece cords as part of her necklace). Cole's pieces were good, but they were not cohesive enough, BUT his necklace and bracelet -- on their own -- could be sold in a gallery. Judge Erika is not impressed that she can see glue on Cole's bracelet. Minda is scolded - you don't paint styrofoam because it won't dry in an hour, however her use of audio speaker mesh for the butterfly wings was great and Judge Jo likes the bling added to the wing edges.
In this round the judges finally determine that CLAUDIA has not used enough challenge materials, she must pack her bold statement jewels and leave the building...
Master Craft Challenge (5 Hours)
The contestants really must bring it with this challenge -- they must create a tribute to Rock 'n Roll that is worthy of being displayed in the Grammy Museum!!! The challenge materials are heavy metal items -- paint cans, musical instruments and tea kettles. Talk about being "under pressure".
Minda remains true to her calling --- for animals --- she creates a larger than life snake design out of paint cans! Her snake is literally perched in the air - oh about 6 feet tall (*this is a guess-timate, I might be exaggerating). At first, she has her team make scales from vinyl --- but in the end decides to use the vinvyl as a rug/base and denim is used to make a scale design.
Cole decides to make the Grammy itself, and his approach is anything but traditional. He makes the Grammy from copper tubing and {fire torched} duct tape! His final product is a gold distressed Grammy replica with a base that is full of demolished instruments. I know it's kinda hard to envision, think of a Grammy that has been pelted with hail that causes holes, that might help. The base was (supposed to be) semi-transparent to show the instruments within.
The judges are again ready to evaluate the craftiness... For Minda's snake, Judge Jo likes the use of the denim for scales and the tea kettles for the snake tale, but she doesn't like the glitter on the vinyl base. Judge Stephen agrees, the glitter is messy - but the smashed guitar that is coming out of the snake's mouth is great. Judge Erika says less is more, she loves the denim scales --- but Minda clearly didn't know when to stop crafting.
As for Cole, Judge Jo comments that a Grammy replica is a "little expected" but she likes the use of the duck tape and the final texture. Judge Stephen says he likes the cohesive look but he wishes he could really see the instruments through the base (Rina's note: truly, the base was not transparent enough to get the desired effect). Judge Erika echoes Jo's comment - the use of the duck tape is great!
In the end, Tori annouces the judges determined that "the winning crafter cranked it up to an 11". And the Winner is (drumroll, puh-lease!)...... COLE!!!!
Happy Scrapping (& Rock On)!!!
- Rina
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