Trend War Survivor: Bullets & Shotgun Shells

I am completely obsessed with following trends.  It's an odd characteristic considering that my wardrobe is about as dull as it gets (hello jeans and a black t-shirt) and I would have had the same hairstyle since I was 20 if my hairdresser didn't force her scissors and color upon me.  But, nonetheless, I love me some trend-spotting. I treat the act of predicting next season's color as though it were a sport and I'm always on the lookout for the animal du jour (you know the hipsters always have an animal, they're just now getting over bears, fyi).  What I find most fascinating about trends is their evolution:  from the '04 hipster adoration of sweet little deer to the '06 demand for taxidermy; the leap from skulls etched on everything, to the less predictable pirate craze.  Most recently I've noticed a trend that has risen from the ashes of another well on it's way out:  bullets and shells have evolved from the gun trend that has been set on, ahem, overkill, for a while.

Long-time friend Alex Reh, sorry, Alexander, left all of us Austinites for Industrial Design School in the Big Apple several years ago.  Apparently all those tuition fees were good for something because our native Texan walked out the doors of Pratt with this quaint shotgun shell chair in his portfolio.

Each Chair is made from 388 once-fired shotgun shells (I'm pretty sure he does this himself when he comes home to his ranch in Texas).  The Steel frame is gun-blued by hand, honestly, this finish almost rivals gold in my book, almost.

The buyer may choose from any of the bullet options above to work seamlessly with their decor.  All this customization can't be cheap and Alex promises me that I can't afford one.  And I thought we were friends.

I've been in love with his chair for a while and have been trying to coordinate an interview but apparently he's working on new things and wanted to wait until they were done.  I was Patient-Pam for a few months but then I started seeing bullets and gun shells pop up everywhere and I knew I needed to do this post before the trend passed me by.

Sorry, Alex, I promise a follow up on your new goods whenever you're ready.  

So, last week I was at a party during SXSW and caught the cute lady on the left wearing a bullet bolo tie, she was kind enough to let me snap a picture and mentioned that she found it on Etsy.  I managed to track down the artist, awelldressedbullet

At THE VERY SAME PARTY, I also spotted another gal with a bullet necklace, I forgot to snap her picture but I did grab her card.  Turns out, she's the artist behind Unearthen, a lovely jewelry site with lots and LOTS of bullets.

I knew that the bullet thing was about to go all trend crazy and I had to move forward without Alex's blessing.  I scoured the internet and found all of these bullet goodies:

Bullet Bracelet by Astali.  Man I love things in clusters.

Left: 22 Shell Necklace by etsy user oliveselkie; Right: Bullet, Padlock & Pearl Necklace by Etsy user sebastianjaramillo

Etsy continued to turn up the bullet charm with these finds as well:

Clockwise from top Left: Brass Bullet Belt Buckle by badassbeltbuckles; Mini Shotgun Shell belt buckle, also by badassbeltbuckles; Bottom Row: Shotgun Wedding Lights by awelldressedbullet

And, finally, rounding up the fashion portion of our program are these 2 t-shirts:

Lipstick Bullet, Left and Safety in Numbers, Right

Before you get all scared that this has become a fashion blog (remember I opened with a chair!) let me show you the few home goods I managed to dig up:

Clockwise from Top Left: Bullet Cocktail Shaker available at Amazon; Shotgun Canister at (wait for it) GREAT BIG STUFF (I'm so sifting through everything on this site after I write this post); Bullet Ice Cube Tray and the Bullets it produces along the bottom row.

This Bullet Vase by Robert Langhorn was easily the prettiest home decor item that I found, consider it the Y2K9 version of the gun vase

If you're looking for something slightly less charming to cover your house with, might I suggest this:

Bullet Tape!  Who doesn't want Bullet Tape?  It's just so practical.

Speaking of practical:

Bullet ipod touch skin available here.  Does anyone even own the ipod touch?

And finally, if you hated todays post and want to send me a nasty letter, don't send an email, do it the old fashioned way, using these:

Bullet Pens

Letters of praise are accepted as well, however, we encourage you to use the comments section for anything of a positive nature for speedy response.

Have a Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Good Time

Tomorrow we leave town on our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage. Every year my enormous family congregates at our farm near Texarkana, and we all enjoy good food, good company, and lots of redneckified activities, like ridin' four wheelers, burnin' stuff, and shootin' up a storm. I'm all about the four wheelers and any activities involving fire, but despite early indoctrination (I first shot a Glock at eight), I'm more than a little squeamish about guns. Because the only ass that's getting a cap busted in it is probably mine. Despite my misgivings, I really want to join in the fun. But I'm not even going to consider picking up a gun unless it looks like one of these:

(via Xirdalium)

Because, you see, everything does not look better in black. In fact, many things look good in pink and aqua with leopard on top, and there ain't nothing that don't look better in gold. No kind of thing.

Even though I was an eight year old badass with the hard black heart of an assassin, as a 32 year old wussy I may need to slowly ease my way back into the game. You know, get my feet wet. Try on some training wheels for size.

(via Glamguns)

Pretty pink Hello Kitty knows how to make a girl feel soft and feminine, but everyone knows that bitch can fight when backed into a corner. Watch out for the claws when they come out! Pft!

Who am I kidding? I may need to start out even... slower. Like, really slow. Like, more decorative, less lethal, slow.

(via A+R Store)

This paper AK-47 is probably a little more my speed. Pretty, but ineffectual. I'll look really cool while holding it, but self inflicted injuries will be kept to a minimum. Now we rollin! Dog.

Honestly, I kind of prefer the more old school weaponry. A little more Wild Wild West, with saloons and spurs, and weapons that aren't in the least automatic. Although the lack of modern medical technology is a definite minus for the accident prone. Wonder who that might be...

Awwwww yeah. Bet you thought I forgot this was a design blog! What have we here? Winchester shot glasses from Amazon, which are potentially lethal in a totally different way; A pistol shaped remote control seen at Design Boner that my dad would kill for; the uber slick "Smoking Gun" via This Next; and Jonathan Adler's whimsical needlepoint pillow, adored by pistol packin' grandmas everywhere.

Of course, my newfound frippery would look fabulous against this old-school-meets-young-stunna backdrop:

Designer Wallcovering carries Thug Stripe black and white gun wallpaper. Yes, please. And I have just the thing to cast a perfect, decoratively violent, glow upon it.

Rock and Royal (purveyors of the OG nefarious pirate ship chandelier) think that everything looks better under crystal, and they can glue, string, stitch, or wire it together in just about any configuration imaginable. I'm just not sure if I like the AK or the snub nosed pistol better:

Whereas the AK is sharp and pointy, the pistol is so soothing and unassuming. It says, "What, me? Dangerous? Never." Kind of like that douchebag boy you dated in high school, and you remember how that turned out. Alrighty, AK it is!

Or maybe I don't want any guns hanging over my head. They don't exactly connote the same sense of imminent death that, say, a guillotine might. Still, there are only a few wires keeping that barrel off my neck. Perhaps I'd be better off with something gravity bound.

I blogged about this super fly gold table lamp by Philippe Starck a hundred million years ago, but time has done little to assuage my lust. I like that the business end is pointed up. I like gold. I like fetishize guns. Enough said.

But if I'm being realistic, I'd probably get the most use (and street cred) out of this little number:

(via Trendhunter)

Everyone respects a gun-shaped flask full of tequila. Especially during the holidays.