Making a wastelander belt

I don't know about everyone else, but for me, the absolute best part of post-apocalyptic chic is the fact that it's supposed to look sort of homemade and worn out. If you cobble together something that you absolutely have no idea how to make properly, and only used a pair of pliers and some paperclips to make it, that's a credible look! Held-together-with-dirt-and-pipe-cleaners is an acceptable post-apocalyptic aesthetic! Sure, it's not the only post-apoc look, but it's a fun one to work with.



Anyway, this particular post is documentation of my winding, unplanned build of a post-apoc belt. Hilariously, this belt is kind-a sort-a maybe going to be used for a completely different cosplay, but for now it's just an example of how to modify/build things out of random crap for all your apocalyptic needs.

1) Start with a wide woven belt


At the beginning, I wanted to build this belt from the ground up rather than starting with a pre-made belt. After some consideration (and a fair amount of laziness) I realized I didn't really want to figure out the ins and outs of how to build a functional belt and then decorate it as well (if you do want to do that, you could try starting with the Loonatic's jedi belt-building tutorial!). So instead I went to the local thrift store and found myself positively inundated with possible belts. I love thrift stores.

2) Collect some scrap laces, connectors, and other bits and bobs

For this, I mostly focused getting some leather scraps to attach to the belt. To that end, I hit Hobby Lobby and got some:

  • leather lace scraps (fortunately, Hobby Lobby has a whole little leather-working section, which includes bags of leather scraps and scrap leather lacing. Which means I ended up with a bag of miscellaneous laces of varying colors and lengths. So, you know, perfect.)
  • jump rings
  • wire
  • paracord buckles

3) Attach lacing haphazardly

Really, this is the fun part. You just take things and stick them on. I had that enormous bag of leather lacing scraps, so I made a bunch of braids that I attached as suspenders/extra harnessing.



Plus there were a plethora of short brown laces in the pack I had, so I went ahead and wove them into the belt itself to heighten that homemade feel.


4) Decorate

At this point I started adding the more decorative details, like some stone beads, wire, etc. In addition, I have a rustic knife from Chama, New Mexico, where a guy makes knives out of old files and the like. Since the character I am half-assed working on is a type of hunter/scout/survivalist, I went ahead and attached the knife to the harness as well.


5) Go out and kill some zombies/trek the wilderness/seek the messiah. 

Whatever floats your boat.

Personally, I favor hunting the mighty pterodactyls that plague our world.


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