STEAMPUNK’D Gets Clothed in Thriftiness and Vexation

Challenge #4: “Brave New Wardrobe”

OK, folks. Time to quit yer jaw-jackin’ and get the hot glue Gatlin gun!

This week, we go into the closet for a challenge that has plenty of levels. Ready to see J.W. and Eddie making clothes?

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Challenge 4: Closet

5 outfits: top, bottom, and shoes

TEAM KARIANNE: Karianne, Morgan, Eddie, Charles

TEAM TAYLISS: Tayliss, Ave, J.W.

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The challenge this week takes us out of the Punkyard and into the local thrift store, where the teams are given the challenge that’s tailor-made for some contestants, while landing way outside the box for others. And the judges are joined by guest judge Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds), who’s just getting into steampunk herself.

SONYA: I was super excited to see them enter the thrift shop.  I like that they took it out of the studio.  45 minutes to purchase everything they needed and they got a lot of great stuff.

Each team got $250 to spend. How much could you spend in 45 minutes?

Enough to get me in a whole lot of trouble with the man.

Speaking of trouble… should we get right into the drama to start? Because it started early with the team selections, as Tayliss was given the choice to keep or pass on Morgan. Since there’s an odd number of competitors this week, one of the teams was destined to have more members. Morgan, being in the bottom two last week, was going into this challenge with something to prove.

Yes, of course Morgan was odd girl out, and Tayliss was asked if she wanted her on her team.  She gave a resounding no, which led Morgan to give an even bigger reaction to Tayliss’ rejection.  Morgan didn’t want to have to deal with Ave, whom Tayliss had already chosen.  Tayliss explained she didn’t want Morgan’s negativity, but failed to realize she lost Morgan’s TALENT.  We’ll get to that…

Tayliss definitely made a few mistakes as team captain. And I think some of it stemmed from her own focus on costumes, but also the fact that she was too locked into the personal aspects of things. Personalities instead of skill sets. Although putting Morgan and Ave on the same team would have been a disaster, but it would have made for “great TV”.

I didn’t see more than one single mistake on Tayliss’ part.  She forgot to tell J.W. to hem his pants.  Other than that, I didn’t see any of these “few mistakes” she made.

Besides the incomplete costume, there was also the lack of a cohesive story for the character. As the judges pointed out, it was as if J.W. was on display rather than inhabiting a space with a story. Add to that, she probably could have dealt with Ave’s insecurity a little better, either by reassuring her or telling her to suck it up.

See, I don’t see that as her mistakes.  That’s the team’s fault.  As for Ave, she’s a big girl; Tayliss shouldn’t have to mother her.

Well, not mother her, but as a leader (as we saw with James), you have to have a bit of a spine and give the team a little focus. James didn’t notice the problems brewing on his team, and he got dinged for it. Same thing this week with Tayliss.

That’s where I take issue with this show.  Why are they being sent home for lack of leadership skills?  It’s a stupid reason. I don’t care about how well they lead.  I want to see the work.  Ave’s work was all hot glued, and she gets another week on the show?  Ridiculous.

Not when you consider that the show is pushed by drama, and while a lot of that is made up in editing, Ave is going to contribute to that a lot more than Tayliss would. Tayliss is the nice “girl next door” type.

So it’s not a Steampunk competition, it’s a drama competition.  Well, it doesn’t work for me.

You have to strike a balance between the drama and the skill sets, because the show has to be watchable. And the dynamic between the makers plays to that. While it’s great to see the finished results, people are going to watch for the “meow” factor.

Tayliss is a much better maker than Ave.  So was James for that matter.  It’s not fair, but I’m not the producer of this show, so on we go… J.W.’s jacket piece was amazing.  The pieces he took from furniture and other items made it look very steampunk.

Yes, it did. And I like the fact that both teams (Karianne’s more than Tayliss’) put steampunk into the designs for both the rooms and the costumes. And whatever you may think about Morgan, she did some impressive work this week. She clearly had something to prove, and she stepped up.

Yeah, I can’t stand her, but those kid clothes were adorable.  That baby onesie was so cute.  I almost wished they had kids to model them.  She really outdid herself and earned her spot back.

Not only that, but won the “top maker” slot and will be team captain next week, along with Charles, who also really pulled together some good design work.

That’s going to be an interesting match.  Charles has been consistently pulling off some great ideas, even if he doesn’t get to finish the ideas he comes up with (cough, cough).  No I’m not bitter about the player switch, just send me that vanity Eddie made and I’ll be really happy.

It was a nice piece, although I’m not sure I’d keep the rotating hands.

I don’t think you’d have much jewelry to hang on it, Jason.

Nope. I think I can count on one hand how much jewelry I have, and it stays in a box.

We both agreed that Karianne’s room was more Steampunk than the other.  Finally, I called one.  Karianne’s team won this one.

Even though her jacket was the least connected to the design, and a lot of that could be connected to her flirting with Charles. Too much chatter and not enough work.

She spent a lot of time on that jacket and it didn’t look like anything spectacular.  Morgan won this for her.

Yeah, I think so. But I think Morgan won for Morgan. I don’t think she really was thinking much about team cohesion, although she did seem to connect with Eddie. He’ll be her first choice next week.

Yup.

Charles will pick Ave first. Morgan will get J.W.

I hope Ave is last man out. No, wait…it will be even next week.

So Team Charles will be Ave and Karianne. Team Morgan will be J.W. and Eddie. And we’ve already seen tension between those two.

That’s a pretty good prediction.  I loved J.W.’s comment about 33.3 percent of the work being his.  Awesome.

Could J.W. be growing into a team player? Perish the thought.

I’m going to hold off on my official opinion.

Unless something crazy happens (and the promo shows Eddie pounding a cabinet, so it’s likely), I’m going to say Karienne and Ave will be the bottom two.

I never trust promos, he could be reshaping that cabinet to put it in the room. LOL

I don’t think that’s exactly “repurposing”…

LOL  Okay, your favorite piece this week?

I’m partial to Eddie’s rocket boots, but J.W. did pretty well with that backpack.

Both impressive pieces, and I was also happy to see more work.  Even though it was a lot of sewing, I liked watching the process.  I know you like to see more of the build. Watching Eddie work that sewing machine was a lot of fun.

Yeah, but we didn’t see any of his work on the vanity or the room design. Hardly any time on J.W.’s work on the walls of their room or the backpack.

The focus was the 5 costumes; we’ll get more room next week, hopefully.

Hopefully. What rooms are left? We’ve had the kitchen, bedroom, secret lair, closet…

I think we are finally getting the nursery!

Although the way Eddie was pounding that cabinet, maybe a steampunked garage?

Who knows.  So Team Karianne comes out with the win.  Morgan is top maker with Charles in second place, and Tayliss is put up against Ave in the bottom two.  Tayliss goes home.

Yes, Tayliss leaves the manor with a curtsy that will help her get work, because it shows her refusal to let this be a defeat. I have a feeling Charles will be the same kind of leader James was. Karianne goes home next, then Charles, then Ave or Morgan, then it’s a toss-up between Eddie and J.W. for the win.

Whoa!!!  Calling it all already?  I’ll just wait and see. Until next time.