Christmas Shopping for a Goth (on a budget!)

Christmas Shopping for a goth individual can be a challenge. Just because its black doesn't mean its cool...sometimes. But, really! If you really want to surprise your gothic loved one with a nice christmas present, here are a few ideas broken down into gender and age group:

Gothic Girls:

Age 0-8 Girls

(Yes, 8 is young but very possible!)

Some black, fuzzy boots are perfect for the holiday and the weather!

Any Clothing or accessory from Monster High! I think these characters are sooo awesome and adorable! Best part, it fits any age group.

Monster High shirt with some fuzzy boots? YES PLEASE!

*Similar/cheaper items can be found at your local wally world, jsyk*

Age 9-14 (unisex)

**The older they get, the harder it is to buy for them. Keep in mind what they ooze over whenever you take them shopping!**

Hot Topic is THE place to consider when buying for pre-teens, but it can get pretty pricey. I like to check out their website and compare similar articles of clothing to wal-mart's. 

Band T's

Boys and Girls between 9 and 14 are diggin' the band T's!

Simple Studded Belt

Combat Boots

*Even a simple gift card coupled with a promised shopping trip would send a little goth into a jump for joy!

Age 15-18 (Girls)

Perfume Oils

Linked in the photo is a wonderful site filled with gothic themed perfume oils with awesome pricing! If you want to smell a perfume/oil before buying, check your local malls for samples of specific perfumes that may appeal to your young goth.

Jewelry

Makeup

Age 15-18 (Boys)

To start, I would suggest an itunes gift card. Guys need their music like girls need their eyeliner!

Wallet & Chain

Even as simple as this, or check hot topic for more character.

Leather Jacket

Click photo for ebay item.

Black Zip-up Hoodie

Fruit of the Loom zip up hoodie at walmart for less than $15


*And, Of course, a gift card to the guys' favorite clothing store.

I really hope this helps! If you have any questions, PLEASE feel free to comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

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

To wig, or Not to wig...

That is a question for us Goth Folk!

Wigs come in many quality categories, but the most popular is usually the least expensive and the most itchy!

I have a lot of hair, so its hard for me to wear hair pieces that require snug fitting. I do, however, love clip-in/tie-in  pieces! I've made a handful of pretty colored head things.

Being a diy-er and a goth at heart, it is no surprise that I've looked like this:

...or this....

(((So, I guess hair pieces have always been "my thing". I remember how excited I was when I made all of these. Every piece has a story, but shockingly, I no longer own any of them, now! I am an artist, I can make some similar, but I could never ever clone any of these pieces! I've tried)))

Now, Some of us do not like hair pieces, but some of us have gone out of our way to purchase or create some kind of extravagant creation to wear! Here it is again, To wig or not to wig?

What are the pros and cons of wearing hair gear of every category?

Does it not always come back down to the price? When I originally made either of these pieces, I did it to: 

1. Save money
2. Be original
3. Create for others
4. Artistically express myself through my appearance.

None of this was cheap! Even buying the cheapest materials, It ended costing a few hundred dollars altogether due to the learning process. When I started, there were 2 tutorials on youtube and only a few pictures...I learned the hard way. It was a fun, yet, a frustrating process, but I would not trade those experiences for the world! Now that I know how to do these things, I want to share with everyone else who is interested, I want to be the one that starts a 16 year old girl on her dread making, or clip-ins selling extravaganza!! I want my people to join me in creating and DIY-ing! I want us to come together and share our knowledge and our methods of madness!!

WHOSE WITH ME?!!

Let me know in the comments below!

Can You Afford Quality?

Hmm, lets touch this subject with reality! I have an average frame, an inch shorter than average height, so why do I have a hell of a time finding goth clothes?!!

Answer: Goth clothes are at their best when they are custom fit! 

Yes, but I don't have the money for all that!

Answer: No one does.

I have thrown away enough money to put a down payment on a house just by buying my goth clothes from the wrong stores! Ha, and I cannot even begin to explain how badly I wish I could make my own!

Hot Topic is obviously not a quality gothic clothing store. Tripp NYC was Hot Topics biggest and best brand they've come across and even that has devolved from quality to shitty. The most irritating part has to do with the manufacturers of the clothing! Why would anyone use pure synthetic material that is so weak it can't even stay in tact on the rack in the store?! Walmart is guilty of this, too, along with many other high priced, low quality stores. "Look, its shiny, buy it! NO, that rip isn't a rip....its just the seam that was not sewn properly...I mean, buy it, its shiny and printy!". C'mon now! Give me quality or give me death.

Is it worth the investment to buy custom goth clothes?

Are any of the sellers trustworthy?

Why can't I afford nice clothing?

Questions from every little goth girl with a dream. 

P.S. If I could make my own damn clothes AND shoes! oh, You better believe I'd be struttin' my stuff through wally wally wally-world!

~Love Zaney~

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think or if you experience the same inconvenience.

Silly, Fun and Positively Amateur! *photo dump*

My heart is screaming with excitement today!! I finally have a chance to check out that Goth store thats like an hour from my house! I may even possibly do a photoshoot with my beautiful mother this week.

Now, with me, its totally amateur modeling and photography but we have SO much fun and thats what counts. To see what I mean, the photos below are many I am proud of:

Okay, maybe not that last one, lol.

So, yeah! I love playing around like this, even if I look ridiculous <3

~Love Zaney~

Online v.s. Local

Buying Clothes online is already difficult, but buying Goth Clothes/shoes/makeup, etc. is a chore and a bit of a gamble. 

Between the origin of the company, the sizing charts, the quality and the pricing, its extremely difficult for the average goth to add anything to their collection from online stores! On many occasions, I've run into some kind of problem with this, and I ask; "Does it have to be this difficult?". I've ordered from many places, but I have yet to find an online store that I am comfortable with!

The reason I bring this particular subject up has  to do with local business v.s. online business and local business is losing, failing horribly! There was a legit gothic store just down the road from me, I had just moved into this part of town and I was so happy to see that purple sign that summoned me every time I passed by. At the time I was employed (which I currently am not), but I was so broke that I never had enough money to buy anything from this store. SO, tax season came around and I told My boyfriend, "I'm spending half of this money on clothes and things for myself! First thing I'm doing is going to Raven Blackwood's!". You would never guess, to my horror, while pulling into the parking lot, they were empty with an "OUT OF BUSINESS" sign!! My heart dropped. I was so upset! and now, the closest store (not including the crappy mall stores) is almost 30 miles away from where my tush sits!

Why do our local businesses get stomped on? And how on earth can ONLINE businesses stay a float, so much so that they expand?! I just don't understand!

The other reason I am upset; I have not successfully sold anything...2 things I've ever sold and only one of those things were on my etsy! whoa! I can't say that I'm not cut out to be a selling artists, because I can do anything I set my mind to. But, why does it work out for some and not for others? Is there a secret that some of us are not aware of?

Let me know in the comments your experience(s) with Online v.s. Local

~Love Zaney~

Nu Goth. What is it?

Nu Goth, It's kinda like old Goth right? 

MMM, not really. For starters, Nu Goth is more mainstream friendly, in my opinion.

Its like Goth hugged Hipster, lol.

(Me) Goth

Hipster

=equals=

"Nu Goth"

All Styles have their awesomeness! Nu goth, another subculture from Goth, Is a nice classy style. 

I can dig!!

So, I got on polyvore and created an outfit inspired by Nu Goth

Whatcha think?! let me know in a comment ;)

~Love Zaney~