Punk 101: The Black Denim Punk Vest
I know, I know. Punk isn’t about fashion. It’s about attitude. However, sometimes it’s fun to dress up. There are a few ways to get the mythical black denim vest. One way is to get a blue denim vest (either in vest form or by cutting off the sleeves) and dye it black. This method works okay – it’s not a solid, crisp black usually turns out blackish/gray but it does have a diy feel to it. The other way is to simply get a black denim vest. There’s a couple of websites that sells them. My favorite is Black and Blue. It isn’t the cheapest out there but it’s American made so you aren’t getting a vest made in a sweatshop. To me, part of being punk is being ethical about what you buy when you can. I own a vest from them and the only problem with it is the extra wide arm holes are too wide. I’m female-bodied so not that broad plus I am wearing it solo and not over clothing. If you were planning on wearing the vest over clothing it might be an advantage which is why it was designed that way. But, for my purpose it just looks baggy due to the big holes. So, if that’s a concern – just order the jacket (same price) and cut off the sleeves to make a vest with normal size arm holes. The fit for me, other than the arm holes, is just right and I highly recommend it.
Now that you got a quality vest – what are you going to do to it? The punk vest is a labor of love and can be very time consuming. The last vest I made took 30 hours which was relatively short. The next vest I am planning is going to take 60 hours at least. Unless you’re going to silkscreen your own patches – there’s lots of different sites to get patches from. It just depends what bands you are into – you can either browse a site like Angry Young and Poor, Interpunk, or Crustpunks. Or just google band names you like. Try to stay off of Ebay – there’s one guy on there who’s selling Contravene patches for $7.50 – for $7.50 I’d make my own patch but people are buying them. There are some really cool back patches at Punk Stuff and if you have a month to wait (they custom print all their orders so it takes a month to get it usually) – Night Gaunt Graphics has some awesome stuff. You can also get studs for your vest from Studs and Spikes. I don’t recommend getting spikes since they can hurt people in the pit or with any physical contact. Studding denim is really easy because you don’t need to poke holes through it first as with thicker material but it still takes a LONG time. If you want to learn how to stud, there’s how-to-videos online – just google or youtube them. Try to get brass based studs – they cost more but they don’t rust like the steel ones do with time and wear. Just be patient – with a punk vest, you get what you give.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Good luck!
Cat Wars: The Saga Begins + http://ugliesttattoos.com/
Things have been pretty calm. I went to a punk show this weekend and met a fellow anarcho-punk. We’re rare. So that was nice. Things have been pretty mellow. I thought I sold my punk vest – but things came up that made the sale not go through. So, if anyone is interested in a uber denim punk vest – riot grrrl style – check it out here.
The only thing of note is that we have a visiting feline in the house: Uni Cat. She’s a kitten that’s less than a year old and can’t quite meow yet. This is not going well with our older cat, Tick Tock, who’s about 17 human years old. Tick Tock usually keeps to the upstairs and Uni has free reign of the downstairs. They don’t really interact with each other except for eating each other’s food. If Uni happens to cross Tick Tock’s path she’ll hiss at her but overall, there isn’t much trouble.
Not much else is going on. Just mostly waiting for things to sell so I’ll have the money to buy the jewelry I want to sell. Business has been slow but maybe it’d pick up in a few days when people get paid. I have some music I need to listen to and review that I haven’t done yet and my pile of books isn’t getting any smaller. I am hoping to finish reading some and do some reviews.
Oh, yesterday my friend told me about the website http://ugliesttattoos.com/ when we were talking about tattoos. Some of the tattoos are just bizarre. Lucky for me, my tattoos are awesome so I don’t have to worry about ending up on that site. Haha.
Bane and Ceremony Show Review + Punk Vest for Sale
I went to a hardcore show this weekend. I saw Bane, Ceremony, and Alpha and Omega. Bane was -amazing-. I was disappointed with Ceremony, I just wasn’t feeling it, I thought they would be more intense. But Bane had amazing energy. Alpha and Omega were good too.
At the show, I had some vegan donuts. I met some other vegan edge kids so it was pretty sweet. They were nice. I thought I was infinitely awkward as I discussed punk fashion: how hardcore kids don’t dress up and punks do. I always dress up for shows. I dress up for day-to-day life. Sometimes, I think it’s funny when I am sitting here at the computer wearing a patched vest and my studded wristbands with nowhere to go!
I got an interesting comment at the show. I was told I wasn’t like other vegan edge folks. I don’t really know what a sterotype vegan edge punk is like since I’ve been pretty isolated from that scene until recently. I think I am a standard issue anarcho-punk but maybe not. The speaker of the comment didn’t really elaborate much on what he meant but he said it was a good thing to be different. Right on.
I’ve been working on trying to get my little business going. I am also going to put in some more resumes. Maybe places will be hiring soon for summer. I also put up a punk vest for auction: here. Hoping someone will buy it. It’s worth about $500 and I am asking $250 – plus free shipping/handling and part of the profit is going to go towards Amnesty International. Fight the good fight and get something stylish for yourself. Win win.
I have a ton of reading to do. I know I made a post about it awhile ago and I haven’t been making much progress. Right now, I am in the middle of “The Primal Screamer” by Nick Blinko. It’s pretty good so far. Then I was going to tackle a copy of “The Haunted Head” also by Nick Blinko.
I think I might dedicate the next month to reading and then focus on doing art? Or maybe mix it up. It’s pretty awesome that people have been buying my designs especially in this hard economy.
Oh, anyone want a semi-custom punk vest? I have an extra brand new black denim vest – size xl – which is 46 inches at the waist/shoulders. It’s a little too big for me and I can’t return it because the vest was a jacket. So, I have a collection of patches that I was going to sew some onto it and see if maybe I could sell it. I love making punk clothing but my biggest problem is that I only have one torso. I think I’ll post pictures of all my vests in the near future. It’s kind of fun seeing the evolution.
