Studded converse-like shoes

 
 Wandering through the shops of chinatown, I've found these supper sweet and sooo cheap red converse-like shoes that were begging me to get them and to make good use of them. In another shop I've seen some studs that seemed interesting enough, so I thought I'd give it a try.
 I have to say that I'm not a big fan of intellectual property theft, especially of something as iconic as these shoes are (that's right, for me they are shoes, not sneakers), so I had to think twice. It was, wearing "fake" converse (they don't have a brand tag, but the design is totally stolen), or spending 40 euros (yes, that's the price in Italy) for the original pair. Normally I would opt for the original solution, but since we're talking the 2 seasons trend (the studs), I went for the cheap one!

What you'll need:
- 60 cone studs
- a pair of shoes
- a pair of scissors (or a screwdriver) to press stud closures

Place your studs randomly, I started from the bottom of the shoe

 The whole thing was very easy to make, you just puts studs randomly and you're done. The only part that was a bit tricky was a counter part of the shoe because of the foxing. It was so hard that I literally crashed a couple of studs... but fortunately persistence pays off!

Happy Monday!

Drug half-faces

 When I was a kid, my dad took me and my brother to a drug rehabilitation center to show us the gravity and the consequences that the consumption of drugs has on one's life. We had a chance to talk to people who were in the treatment and it had quite an impact on me and on my seeing of the things that were so far from me. Taking us there was a bit radical, but I have found it to be a great educational measure.
 Everyone has their own philosophy of values in life and having the values that my parents taught me it is hardly possible for me to fall into the trap of drug use, but our visit to the rehab has had it's part for sure.

Photo credit: Roman Sakovich

Waste Land

 Some time ago I watched a consciousness raising documentary "Waste Land" about a project of a Brazilian contemporary artist with a NYC address Vik Muniz. The movie was shot at one of the world's largest landfills, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The artist spent two years working on this project and in the movie we get to know people who make a living picking the recyclables.
 The garbage-pickers (2500 people) spend their days digging through piles of trash, day and night, in the worst conditions ever, yet they remain joyful, happy to be able to make an honest job. For most of them, the alternative would be drug-dealing or prostitution, but this way at least at the end of the working day they can wash off the dirt.

Source: Waste Land website

 The artist photographs some of the pickers and gets to know them better, goes to their homes, meets their families, talks to them about their hopes and dreams, their past and their future.

Meet Charlotte, aka Charlie

  I've always been good with hands, since I was very young I enjoyed doing crafts, sketching, cutting other people's hair, cutting my hair, whatever included manual work I could direct was my thing.
 A couple of years back my brother (who is a few years older) got me this super cool sewing machine as a surprise gift. His intention was to get me back on the track, to help me express my creativity and maybe to help me choose another profession. When it was first delivered, I didn't know what to do with it, how to use it and/or where to keep it, it seemed like a very complicated gift to deal with. I felt as if someone just gave me a hamster. Not that it was needy, but just as one of those gifts you're not suppose to present (you are not supposed to give animals, unless requested). Nowadays, I can say I really appreciate his gesture. It hasn't drastically changed my life, but for sure it has had some positive influence on me.

At first, I started off a bit too ambitious, got Burda (a fashion magazine with patterns) and wanted to sew a tailored jacket. The problem was that I didn't even know how to thread the machine, not even to mention the use of other parts. It took me ages to understand how to put pieces together, countless tutorials on youtube and numerous searches on google. By the time I learned how to do it, I got annoyed, it was too time consuming and I wasn't seeing any results, so I gave up and put it away in a closet.