I just finished these the other day and I am very pleased with how they turned out. They are Angry Itch brand boots that I modified to fit into my post-apocalyptic/dystopian aesthetic.
The first thing I did was lightly stud the bottom straps. The leather is really thick so they warped a little bit but that’s fine. There were straps above but I took them off and hung some pandemic symbols from the rings instead. I bought the symbols off of Etsy and hung them from the outside ring with some jewellery wire that I wrapped around some clips. Finally, I coloured the white stitches with a purple acrylic paint pen. It is impossible to paint those stitches perfectly so I got some stray paint around them. Again, that is okay because my aesthetic isn’t based on a perfect appearance.
If you want to do some DIY work on a pair of boots I say go for it! It’s a lot of fun and you will be wearing boots that are unique to you.
This week has gone by so quickly! There are just so many bad weather events happening around the world right now that it is just about impossible to create a reasonably sized list, so I will be concentrating on the hell that is Europe right now.
For those of you who don’t know Europe is going through a major heatwave event right now that is killing animals and humans and burning up Portugal, Spain and other Mediterranean countries.. Unlike the United States most homes, and even businesses, are not equipped with air conditioning units in Europe. Why? Because it normally doesn’t get hot enough to really need them. That is what makes this heatwave very dangerous.
I’ve seen a countless amount of Americans saying that they live with the same kind of temps and that it isn’t that bad….all while sitting in their air conditioned homes, cars and work spaces. If it wasn’t for air conditioning most of the American Southwest would become totally empty. If you are an American who thinks that Europe doesn’t have a right to bitch about these obscene temperatures then you really need to shut up a take a seat.
I live on one of the UK Channel Islands and we are about 10-15 degrees cooler than France and London. This is mainly due to the fact that we usually have a very good offshore breeze that cools us down a little. The heat this week has been very humid; the same that I experienced when I lived in the state of Tennessee. The heat here is never dry, so it is very difficult to get comfortable even when you are in the shade.
The scary thing about all of this? Scientists are saying that this is going to start happening more and more; periods of severe weather patterns. In the near future parts of Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, etc…are going to become uninhabitable due to desertification. Where are all of these European climate refugees going to run to? I think a whole bunch of European politicians have their heads in the sand thinking that if they ignore this issue it will go away.
This planet is beyond the tipping point. No matter what we do right now things are heading in a bad direction. If you live in one of these areas take precautions to keep you and your family safe. Your life, and the lives of your family, are more important than those of the lying politicians that got us into this mess.
I’m sorry if I sound negative, but I want to tell you guys the truth about the direction we are all heading in. Ignorance in this case is not bliss.
Before I start I would like it to be known that I am in no way a right wing loon who has built a bunker and who thinks the world is going to end. I am a leftist woman with mainly anarcho-communist tendencies. Now, let’s get on with the show.
When you read this blog you will notice that quite a few of my Apocalypse Wednesday posts include links to news stories about droughts and the devastation caused by climate change. Scientists, including those representing the UN, have announced over the last few weeks that there will be shortages of wheat this fall and winter due to climate change caused droughts around the world. Wheat farms in Canada, the United States, Italy and elsewhere have not produced the amount of wheat needed to feed the world. Countries that would normally export all of their excess wheat are now keeping it for themselves. This, in turn, causes those in poorer areas of the world to starve to death because they are not being sent the grain.
Do I think people in North America, Europe, and other affluent areas are going to starve? Nope, but there are going to be limited choices as to what you can buy. There might be only a few kinds of cereal when there used to be dozens. Prices are already starting to go up, especially when it comes to meat and fish. For example, I bought 12 tinned cans of salmon for £24 the other day and this morning the price went up to £33,
I know that all of this seems very scary, because it is. However, with a little planning you can lessen the impact that these shortages will have on you and your family.
Only buy food that you already eat. Others are telling people to buy giant bags of rice and beans, BUT if you don’t already eat beans and rice it doesn’t make sense to buy them.
Make sure you buy enough protein, and it doesn’t have to be fresh meat. You can buy tins of tuna, salmon, chicken chunks, Spam,etc… Peanut butter is another great source of protein, and you can even buy it in powdered form to freshly mix your own.
If you bake buy enough flour, sugar and other ingredients that you normally use. The upcoming wheat shortage is already being felt in terms of pricing so this is a very important step.
If you live in an area with upcoming water shortages buy water storage containers. Fill them as needed.
Instant coffee sachets literally last forever. Buying them makes more sense than trying to store a bunch of coffee beans in the freezer. Plus, the sachets will be very good items to use in food trades, if things come to that.
Buy tinned fruit and veg. There is still produce around right now but the quality has gone downhill.
If you have a hobby get all the gear you will need sooner rather than later. I have stocked up on thread, studs, and other such things because I do a lot of clothing DIY projects.
Been eyeing certain ‘alternative’ type items, such as bright hair dye or platform boots? It’s best to get them sooner than later because who knows what brands are even going to survive all of this. Some are already having constant clearance sales which isn’t the sign of a healthy business.
I hope I have changed some minds about the need to prep right now, because it is the logical thing to do to make sure that you and your family have enough to eat in the coming food crisis.
That’s right, SCOTUS thinks that businesses have more rights to pollute the country than the people who live there have the right to breathe and live cancer free. Do you know who created the EPA? Nixon. That’s right, Nixon actually cared more about the environment than the modern GOP. Think on that.
I added black and purple round studs to this cool Blade Runner bag that I bought off of Etsy.
A very easy way to change the look of your clothes, and to make them more your own, is to stud them up. This is something that is way easier to do than it looks. I actually taught myself how to do it over thirty years ago by using the tip of a sharp knife to create the holes in a leather jacket for the stud tines to go through. I’m lucky I didn’t stab myself.
These days it is so much easier to get the tools and studs that you will need for such a project than it was way back when. Etsy is an excellent place to find studs, and my favourite stud shop StudsAndSpikescom even sells a kit that includes an awl and a tool to push down the tines so that you don’t hurt your fingers. The only thing that I will tell you to watch out for when searching for studs on Etsy are the drop shippers that send studs directly from China. I would choose a UK, European or US shop that ships directly to you so that you don’t have to wait weeks for a package that may or may not show up.
I added some purple round, black pyramid and skull studs to these straps of my Angry Itch boots.
The photo above is what I did very recently. The leather was quite thick so it warped a bit when I did the stud work. This happens less when the material you are working with is more thin, such as fabric. The warping never bothers me because it looks DIY and not manufactured.
I’m so proud of how well this turned out.
The above is a Punk Rave dress, whose high collar I removed. The top of the dress is made of two layers of cloth so I used some studs to attach them back together at the now lower neck. I also added some random studs around the bottom to give the dress more depth. I think adding touches of neon green really makes this dress stand out more and not look so plain. Since my whole style is Blade Runner meets Mad Max nothing needs to look perfect, and that actually gives me a lot of creative freedom.
I hope this has given you some ideas and some encouragement to start your own projects. Doing DIY studding is seriously a lot of fun!
Lord Vakko, from Chronicles Of Riddick, has a very badass haircut.
If you haven’t guessed it yet I am a huge sci-fi, horror, and action film lover. The Chronicles Of Riddick can be a very polarizing kind of film but I think it has been slowly turning into a cult classic as the years go by. The Necromongers are very stylized and leave no doubt as to what side of the equation they are on; evil world conquerors.
I have no shame as a Necromonger fangirl. My husband an I went to London one time and visited this little film museum near the London Eye. In it were some props from the film, including a whole suit of Necromonger armour. I felt like I had found my people! They were planet destroyers and evil, but they looked very good while doing it. Something I could get behind.
Love those braids!
So, because of all of the above, I have decided that Lord Vakko’s hairstyle is going to be my hair goal. I have both sides of my hair shaved and have let the back grow out. I would say that it is going to take me six months to a year for the back of my hair to get long enough to do the braids. I have braided my hair myself in the past so that is not a barrier. I just have to be patient.
The world is seriously fucked right now but at least I will look good while watching it all burn. You have to think positively sometimes.
Video recently made showing just how low the level of Lake Mead is right now.
I have decided to just cover this one topic this week because of the seriousness of what is going on. According to the L.A. Times the federal government has told the seven Western states that rely on the water to cut their consumption drastically in the next two months. Why? Because the Colorado River system is literally drying up.
Why are people still moving to the American Southwest? Because they believe the bullshit that the housing developers are telling them. These developers claim that they can’t build homes if there isn’t enough water to support them, all while Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the largest reservoirs in the area, are visibly drying up. These same people more than likely think that the US government will save them. How? By building pipelines to the Great Lakes? Good luck with that.
What is going to happen to all of the people currently living there? Where are they going to go? This is the huge question that many are speculating on right now. Needless to say there will be mass migrations of people leaving that area very soon, looking for somewhere else to live. The people who wait too long are going to be stuck in their houses with no water or electricity, and with no way to leave. Basically if you leave you live, and if you wait you die.
What baffles me about all of this is how little this is actually being discussed. I mean, are people actually thinking that if they ignore what is going on that it will just go away? That everything will be back to ‘normal’ as soon as it rains? Things are never going back to ‘normal’ because the planet is literally dying. To think otherwise right now is to be asleep.
This is happening daily pretty much everywhere and things will only get worse. People are going to be financially unable to use their cars very soon and will have to think of different ways to get around such as biking, buses, trains and walking. Things are never going back to ‘normal’ when it comes to this.
This is not being reported on as much as it should me. This water is used by millions in the US Southwest. If I lived in that area I would get out sooner rather than later. There is going to be no water there in10-20 years. Maybe even sooner than that.
A lot of the world’s wheat crops are doing very badly right now due to climate change. Scientists are trying to breed wheat that can survive in heat and cold. I’m not going to count on this.
I finally took the plunge and bought a rotary tool to use in my DIY projects. I am so excited about this because I can now cut, etch, drill and sand to my heart’s content. It isn’t something that I will use every single day, but it will come in very handy and it will let me expand some projects which is cool.
Yes, this is a cookie cutter. I found it on Etsy.
I bought some nuclear symbol green plastic cookie cutters in a few different sizes last year, because I knew that they would look cool hanging from belts, bags and jackets. I just didn’t have the tools to do it. I could hang them as is but it really wouldn’t move freely and it would look awkward. Well, today I cut into the lip and then I made a hole underneath it.
Peachy-keen!
I put some purple jewellery wire through the hole I made, wrapped the ends around a swivel clip, and then attached that clip to my new bag. Remember, never be afraid of colours. You use what you can find in the wasteland. I am very happy with how it looks and I look forward to coming up with other ideas.
Monkeypox is spreading so quickly that they fear that it may already be aerosolized. Meaning that you can catch it from sneezes and coughs. Some governments are starting to tell people not to worry. This means that you should actually start to worry a little about this. A second pandemic within five years?
CO2 levels right now are 50% higher than they were during pre-industrial times. We are all pretty much screwed and on track to making ourselves go extinct. We should have never climbed out of the trees.
Due to poor harvests in the US, India, Italy and just about everywhere else wheat prices are going to continue to climb. The war in Ukraine is only adding to the issue. If you do a lot of baking start prepping sooner rather than later. Things are only going to get worse.
Thankfully the cases are of the West African strain, which is milder than the Congo strain. However, people who have compromised immune systems, such as myself, will get it worse. This is slowly shaping into yet another pandemic. Since just about every country mucked up how they handled the corona virus I am not holding much hope that they will deal with this one in a better manner. Remember, capitalism is more important than the lives of people.
California is pretty much screwed. The central valley, where most of the state’s food is grown, is turning into desert because the water supply is quickly running out. Small towns in the valley have run out of water and have to have it shipped in so that they can wash and cook. Also, California grows a lot of fresh produce that is shipped to the rest of the country and beyond. Food prices are going to soar this summer.
