8 Goth DIY Tips

Hey! Today's post is targeted toward goths/alternative types, but these tips may help anyone of any fold. I have made a post or two about this before, this is more of a revisit.

 

To start, these tips are personal to me. They are based on my likes and opinions, only!

 

1. Thrift Shop

 

It is so underrated! Thrifting has been the most fun I have ever had while shopping! If you don't thrift, you should at least try it. Not every thrift shop is for everyone, just like any other store. Find one that works for you, fall in love with it, know their clearance days. For example, here in Tucson, the 3rd Saturday of every month they have a 50% off everything sale!

 

2. Sewing

 

I know sewing is a sensitive subject for some. Let me tell ya, I suck at it and I've been sewing for 6 years. I have even invested in a $200 brother serger! It doesn't really matter how bad I suck at sewing, I like my clothes unique and fucked up anyway. Plus, if you thrift some nice material, you can sew a whole new article of clothing and not feel too bad if you screw it up.

 

3. Print your own t-shirts

 

There are many methods of printing your own design on to clothing. I made video on how to make your own stencil:

 

 

 

As well as making your own stencils, you can make your own silk screen too. I plan on making a video on that as well, very soon. Acrylic paint is cheaper and more effective than fabric paints!

 

4. Clearance

 

I'm sure you are aware of pawing through every clearance rack in sight, and my mention earlier about thrift shops clearance days. What about clearance materials? I know, you may not like sewing, but you may not even have to touch a needle and thread. There are tons of tutorials on "no-sew" goth clothes and diys and such. If you check the Walmart craft section, they usually have "clearance" fabrics. If you buy fabric from Walmart, take it all (if this becomes a usual craft for you) because that specific fabric will never be seen again!

 

5. Studs and Spikes

 

Buying and applying your own studs and spikes can be extremely satisfying! Ebay is a great place for this. If convenience is what you are looking for, Michael's and hobby lobby usually have small bags of studs for a few bucks more.

 

6. Plain Black

 

By combining a few of the previous tips, buying plain black articles is a must! For example, I buy comfy, plain, black flip flops from Walmart. Now I can add anything to them. Studs, spikes, print, the options are endless.

 

7. For the care of your hair

 

Going off the path for a moment. I've had my hair so many different colors, I have officially touched the damn rainbow!

• Red: The hardest color to keep, yet, the hardest to get rid of! Louna (on youtube) has some great tips on how she keeps her hair red. The maintenance was too much for me, and every single time I dyed it red, it was never the same red as before! 
• Purple: The most laid back color of them all. Purple was easy to maintain, took forever to fade. Fades very well!
• Pink: Difficult! Extremely hard to get out of hair, especially splat. It fades to pastel, of course. Always fades unevenly for me.
• Blue: I hated blue on me. It never EVER wanted to leave! The green clung for far too long! If you go blue, avoid the dyes that contain yellow/green, unless that's what you are going for!
• Blonde: Hair death!! For me, it was harder to maintain blonde (My natural color) than black!

To care for your hair, I suggest using a nutrient rich, low chemical shampoo and conditioner. Personally, I use Miracle 7 Keratin (not sponsored) shampoo, conditioner, and deep conditioner from sally's. It has never stripped my color, my hair responds very well to this stuff! If you have natural/ethnic/porous hair, be very careful when bleaching! I'm no cosmetologist, but I am aware of the sensitivity of that hair type. DEEEP CONDITION OFTEN! There are a bunch of diy hair masks on youtube. I've never had much success with making homemade hair care, but I can tell you that Vaseline is NOT a moisturizer! Please don't put that garbage in your hair! Now, for the ultimate secret pertaining to this tip...
I guess we will number this one by itself, because it is one of my two biggest secrets/tips.

8. DIY purple hair dye
Hang in there, I'm almost done! This tip has been quite the life saver for me when I was fun coloring my hair!

Gentian Violet!
Mix just a few drops with conditioner and use as a toner. 6-10 drops as a dye. I've even had it so dark that it looked black for over a week. It fades so nicely, I loved this stuff! Add it to your red to darken the shade. Its an amazing additive, or a dye by itself.
You can find this stuff at Walmart for just a couple of dollars and it LASTS! Look in the first aid aisle, if you don't find it there, it may be hiding in the baby section.

That is all I have for you today. If I think of anymore, I will put it in a post <3

Thank you for reading, I love ya beauties!!!!

 

Anyone Ready For Another Tutorial?

I've been feeling very crafty, lately. I miss my canon so freaking much, it hurts and all I have is my iPhone, but that will not stop me from making videos! Upon feeling crafty, I have a handful of tutorials in mind that I'd love to share with you guys!

PLUS! Right now is THE PERFECT time to get your halloween crafts at the dollar stores!!
My recommendation is Dollar Tree! Get 'em while you can!

The first tutorial will be another stencil or a series of stencils and how to use and care for them.

Just to run through the cost of necessities:
-1 tank top $1.68
-White acrylic paint $.50
-1 Exacto Knife $2.96
-1 Piece of construction paper $.33
-Sponge of some kind >$1
= $6.47

If you buy anything in bulk, of course it'll cost more, but individually, it is very inexpensive!

I have a youtube channel, subscribe to it if you haven't already. I will be posting more content...I know I keep saying that, but I'm very serious!
https://www.youtube.com/user/CortneyCalamity

Prepare yourself for awkward ME!

Further Butthurt and DARK MAGIC!

Yesterday, I was tagged in a post by my beautiful mother...

How interesting! I've come by things like this before! 
Actually, I've lost sleep over trying to figure out a clean way to do it myself with what I have.

1. Is it embroidery?
2. It's bonded! No.
3. IT'S BLACK MAGIC!

I've tried looking this style up and NO ONE has made a video on it! What is this dark magic? 

Welp, because my mother knows me all too well, I was back on one yesterday over these! I was ready to try every method in my tool box, OK! But, guess what? All my craft stuff is packed up and triple taped in a pile, ready to be transported...

My butthurt is too much right now! Help?

Cold Porcelain DIY Review

Its better than polymer clay. It may even be cheaper in the long run!

I've tried a bunch of different homemade clays and never had much success...

Until I ran across This:

I had previously invested in a TON of school glue, so I gave it a shot…

LOVED IT!!! It's so smooth and dries rock hard!! The ONLY issue I had was the sticky stickiness it has even after refrigeration, and I didn't know what to sculpt once I had this beautiful ball of clay in front of me.

If I get a hair up my butt, I'd love to actually MAKE nice little gothy charms with this stuff! SO NICE!

Note: It was a little messy. Having to move quickly to transport from bowl to plastic wrap surface was a bit of a pain, but worth it in the end.

Rib Cage Stencil DIY

Yes, Finally! I am making a much needed diy post!

What you will need:

• Poster Board/Thick paper/UN-corrugated Cardboard
• Pen/Pencil/Marker
• Picture or outline of desired stencil
• Exacto knife
• Hard, Flat surface to cut on
• Acrylic paint
• Scrap fabric

Let me know what you think!

Soul Searching (Career Move)

We all go through that phase where we wonder what we want to do with our lives.

For, almost 10 years, I knew I wanted to be a cosmetologist. Well, until I found out that it generally costs $14k to attend a decent school. Realizing that I wasn't going to get there as fast as I dreamt, I thought about psychology, until many people warned me that it doesn't pay much and all you can really do around here is be a case worker. Then, revisiting the idea of being a nutritionist came to mind recently, until the college I was looking into required extensive core classes…for nutrition? Yeah, I'm broke and have heard horror stories of pulling out a student loan, no thanks. I felt lost and helpless…But, what does a little goth girl do? I work best with one-on-one kind of stuff and I love making people feel better, I don't want to be a doctor, I need something!

I found a school near me that offers massage therapy classes, it'd be an associates degree (9 month course) and they accept all kinds of grants. I have an appointment with an advisor tomorrow, I am psyched!!! If this works out, I'll be the happiest little goth girl on the planet!!!

I am making this post, just in case there is someone reading right now that feels down in the dumps. So, here's to you:

I've hated my life for over a year now, NO EMO, and all I wanted to do is be someone. I want my own life, space, my own anything! I currently lack the ability to have my own space, my own life, my own anything. The computer I am typing on right now is shared by many people, my grandmother (Alzheimer's sufferer) literally disables me in every sense of life. I have zero friends, no job, no room. It sucks shitty monkey balls! But…there is always something better. If you've ever seen the muppets: treasure island, YOU KNOW!

There's gotta be something better!!!

Now that I have annoyed you with my whiney ranty cry-baby post, heres an old screenshot of me when I was like, 15 making makeup videos on youtube…

Sooo many people said I looked like Wednesday from the Addam's Family! lol

I will be setting up my office this week so I can make my super awesome GOTH DIY videos!! yaaay!

Re-Re-Revisiting My Hair Journey

Ok, here we go. I plan on making this a video, lets put it in WERDS First.

I started with black hair:

Then, Lightened to:

Then, Colored purple with homemade purple dye:

I didn't like how dark the majority of it was, so I lightened and re-dyed:

 It faded to:

Oh my, I was EXTREMELY upset with this

 So, I did some soul searching, I knew I needed something that matched ME.

I took some online hair color quizzes, personality quizzes, they all pointed to this:

YES, MY HAIR IS RED!!! And I love it!!! Its really pinky on top and transitions into crimson! BEAUTIFUL!!

Photo collage of my recent journey:

**If you are interested in how I made my Homemade Purple Hair dye, just leave a comment below, I shall reveal my secrets!

**If you wanna know what red I used, Let me know, and I shall reveal my secrets.

Hell, just comment and talk to me! I'm lonely! lol

Purple Hair Update!

Due to personal crap, I haven't posted a whole lot any where lately. I think its easier to whine about my shit than it is to post helpful or interesting stuff, I'm not sure if that makes me selfish or self-centered, either way, my apologies.

*sigh* OK, my hair story, haha.

To pick up where we left off…THE MESS I MADE! 

Just messy!

Then a few days after the color had time to fade a bit…

As you can see, my bottom layer is very dark, it still looks almost black.


Now to compare:

BEFORE

 AFTER

HOMEMADE PURPLE DYE FTW!!! I love it, I'm just excited to lighten it a bit so it blinds everyone with its purple glory :)

Until next time, stay cray cray!!

What About Hair?!

 I'm the type of girl who can't leave her hair alone! Once I start…I can't stop. What I mean, I have this obsession with my hair and when I get an idea, that idea becomes real and there is no stopping me MUAHAHAA! Ahem, sorry, I'm just excited.

This is me, I've been growing mah damn roots out for MONTHS! But, that black just does not want to budge. 

Yesterday I started my stripping process. I am now fully committed and…I find out that I may need to get a job, soon!

This is me…this morning. as you can see, I have orange/red/brown/coppery hair going on. How the hell am I gonna get a job looking like a calico cat?!!

After searching the corners of the universe, NO ONE has found a healthy way of "quickly" fixing this without going BACK to black! Now, I've bleached my hair from black to purple dozens of times, I was just worried about the damage it'll do THIS time.

NO! I don't wanna go back to black…or brown…I wanted purple….like this

I actually achieved purple and white hair!! It was beautiful…but super short. Now my hair is long and I want it pretty colors. Damn these workplaces that don't allow pretty colors!

So, I ordered a few cheap wigs from amazon…I want thiiiis! lol I'm gonna go crazy!

I thought I'd post my progress pics on here so everyone can have some insight on my journey :)

My Birthday post

http://zaneybatzlife.blogspot.com/

There is my personal blog. If you ever get bored, to bore yourself further you can read my random posts on there :)

I am working on getting that tutorial on youtube…long story as to why it isn't up yet. But I will post the video and link on this blog if you are interested.

Plenty of tutorials and posts coming soon! One is about purple and hair ;)

My Gothic Valentine

A bundle of black roses partnered with a black heart shaped box full of chocolates, yeah, that sounds nice. Maybe you want to spice it up and add a bit of excitement to your gothic valentine. From the mouth a female goth, here's what my idea of a lovely valentine evening might look like:

Start with a neatly made bed.

Candles (any color, scented or unscented)

OR

AMBIENT LIGHT

INCENSE

I, personally love Dragon's Blood incense

Sexy goth music

If you are not sure of their favorite sexy goth music, a fail-safe for me is the queen of the damned soundtrack ;)

Wine

I prefer some cheap plum wine. But if you know of some yummy yums, go for it.

Hope this helps you! Happy valentines day! Always use protection! Love you! 

Storenvy Favorites (Goth Addition)

Storenvy has my attention! This site is lovely, easy to navigate, and contains some pretty awesome sellers and crafters of all genres.

Here's a list of a few of my favorite items and sellers from storenvy (Thus far). 

This is a coyote jaw all dolled up with paint and feathers. Pricing is just too reasonable and the craft is very unique, indeed!

Another red and black feather accessory I fell in love with, this earcuff is a must for me! 

Creepshow Apparel

Wonderful little store with awesome graphic T's for both men and women.

Gloomth

Ah, now this is a wonderland wardrobe! The clothing is pricey, but looks very Tim Burton-esque. The modeling is very creative, too!

Pink Coffin

Cute acrylic pendants and jewelry to meet all of your creepy needs! Bats and skulls, Please and Thank you!

Keep it up, Creepy Creators! We need MOAR!!

Local Band Frenzy

Lately, all of my time has been committed to Albuquerque's finest Local Band, Ballistic Batz!

Becoming closer to the band has given me a light in my life that I needed. But, to be needed has me giddy like a little school girl! I've been busting my ass to make the band's merchandise to raise money so they can record, EXCITING! 

Yesterday, I drove down to El Paso with them, which was very....interesting. Quite a drive, the venue was kinda small, but a little crowd is better than no crowd.

These guys have been so busy putting their heart and soul into their music, it has inspired me.

Here are some photos and video of this past week...I don't document enough!

The T-shirt stencil I made for the cool chicks. Shirts were pink.

HI!!

My wonderful hubby took this of me while I was tracing stencils!

Ballistic Batz performing Head2Toe (sorry about the quality, I forgot my camera)

Video taken at the El Paso show by the wonderful owner!!

For more videos, check out my youtube channel

I even HANDMADE their necklaces thanks to this AWESOME woman and her tutorials, it made perfect sense to me and it turned out great:

Here's the tutorial

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BANDS!!!

P.S. BALLISTIC BATZ IS WHY I'M ZANEYBAT!! YEAH!!!

Yay! 1,000 views!

I'm delighted to announce my celebration of 1,000 views on my gothic blog!!! 

I would love to post a photo shoot that I've been day dreaming about for months! My method may be strange and unpractical, but I'm excited!

Any suggestions, Please comment below and let me know what you are picturing!

The only thing I miss about B.C. is the industrial areas. I used to hope and pray that we wouldn't get shot. Ha, seriously though!

How DIY Goths FAIL! (warnings and tips from personal experiences)

Through SO many trial and error experiments, through bringing a dead girl back to life, how much can a DIY Goth fail?

I've tried to make my own things for years with so many mistakes and fumbles, I thought I was a hopeless crafter. But, I do have some pointers for the crafty bunch out there!

Mind you, these are opinions and experiments I've done, and I am no professional. Trial and error is the only way I've learned.

Now that everyone in the goth community knows how to make their own dreads, I have a suggestion for the girls and ghouls about dreads:

NUMBER ONE!!

Synthetic Dreads

Always make sure that when making synthetic dreads, you use KANEKALON! This was the first lesson I learned, whew, almost 5 years ago! Kanekalon is the fiber you want because of its shrinking properties. When steam is added, the tangled fibers shrink and tighten around each other, causing the lock to stay, well, locked.

NUMBER TWO!!

Accessory and Jewelry making

When you decide to make your own accessories, make sure you know exactly what you are going for. Try to avoid bursting your own bubble, but go hard, jump to it! It took me 2 years to figure out the proper way to create a mold and to make my own charms, and to be honest...its almost not worth it :(

I went out and purchased the mold maker mix, $14. The apoxy jewelry maker (you pour it into your mold and leave it sit for like 24 hours and it gets hard, pop it out, got your charm.) which was almost $20. Jewelry wire (optional, if you want your charm to dangle) $10 for a spool. Then what ever else, like glue, ribbon, sparkles, gems. That was a $40+ dollar trial and error!! OUCH! So, unless you fully plan to mass produce something that will go for 15 to 20 dollars a pop, the hit and miss for your personal uses almost isn't worth it! FAIL! I'm not saying this will happen to you, I'm just sharing my failureness with you :) I won't hold you back!

NUMBER THREE!!!

Corsets

When buying corsets, be aware of the cheapies! My mom used to buy us both the cute corset shirt things from hot topic, NO! Be warned, if you suffer from short torso-itis, be careful buying boned corsets in general! The corsets from HT had plastic boning, cost $50 and with our short torsos, the plastic boning got all wavy and deformed!  These are not meant to make thick girls look smaller! If anything they made my shapely, shortness look much wider than I am. Instead, go for slim fitted tees or something.

GET CRAFTY OR GO HOME...WAIT...usually I'm crafty at home, only.

When crafting elsewhere 

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose!

When crafting at someone else's house, please clean up your messes! Don't leave anything permanent on their walls or floors. Don't paint their little one's bodies with non-toxic paint and tell them to play hide and seek. Its just never a good idea!

1034D Brother Serger Review (Problem and Solution)

Firstly, I had mentioned a few months back that I was getting a serger. DIY goth is my everything, so a serger seemed like the right machine to have. I bought it from Amazon, and when it arrived I quickly opened up the box and started learning how to thread this monster!

What I saw when I first opened the box.

So, I specifically chose this brand and style because its the only 4 threaded serger that had adjustment knobs for different kinds of material, instead of having to mess with each tension wheel.

Well, I thought I was doing something wrong right from the start! I have watched evert threading video out there, read the instruction (which I now have memorized!) but the serger was eating my material! I could not figure it out, then I was pissed!!

After 3 weeks of endless searching, I found that the two guiding needles, underneath the foot, one of the two did not exist!!! Duh! I felt this overwhelming urge to scream! How dare they send me a broken machine! And, and how can something so small be sooo significant?! Luckily, Amazon let me send it back and they replaced it, no cost to me.

See the right guiding needle is there, but the left one is missing.

Now you can see, there should be 2 guiding needles! yay!

Got that all straitened out, and my second serger is amazing!! I'd recommend to anyone who loves making their own clothes, it was only $199, which is cheap considering the magic it makes!

Now, here is a picture of my very first hoodie!!!

Altogether, it might have taken me 4 hours, just because I freehanded it! WHAT?! YEAH! I got the material from walmart (stretchy, comfy, lovey) all for less than $5! The zipper was only a few bucks. So, yeah! Awesome sauces!

I'm Getting a Serger!

Raise your hand if you know what a serger is!!

I've been wanting a serger for a while now! If you don't know what a serger is, click the link, or take my word for it:

A serger is a magical machine that creates the most beautiful stitch for perfect hems on wizard robes. The Mystical thread is usually made from unicorn hair and when used, your clothes become powerful...You won't even need a wand!!

Haha, ok, That's a tiny bit of an exaggeration! But, its that important to me! When I first learned about a serger/overlock machine was here:

I've been following squeak for a long time, mainly because we share very similar tastes. Especially when it comes to making tutorials. So, I have learned a lot from this chick :)

I've been whining about making my own clothes for a few years now, and I finally have all the tools to do so! 

My next few posts will most likely be on DIY clothing...pictures pictures pictures! 

If my computer would stop being a turdasaur, I'd make VIDEOS! lol

Stay classy and trashy, dearies. 

btw, I'm on vine

zaneybat