Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware Blog

We have moved the Blog

2010-11-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

The Blog has been moved internal to the website. Please find it here: http://gothicpunkspecialtyhardware.com/blog/

Thanks a lot - Ben C

Steampunk Gothic Goggles, Cone Spikes in the Fashion Industry

2010-09-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,

The news for this entry involves a new pair of goggles added to the catalog. We have attempted to make a contribution to the vast field of Steampunk accessories with our line of "Steampunk Gothic Accessories". The idea is to combine some of the elements of steampunk stuff, like the brass and copper metals, and burgundy leather, with elements of the more streamlined gothic aesthetic to create a kind of synthesis of the two. This line includes a belt, a full forearm leather lace up cuff, and now a pair of goggles. Behold ,Steampunk Gothic Goggles

These goggles are machined from Solid Copper, and feature a classic Gothic Trefoil design on the grille of the lenses. The back of the goggles are lined with high quality, stitched leather to create a comfortable fit against the face. The straps and nose bridge are also made of high quality leather, and the strap closes with a metal buckle. The lenses are dark grey acrylic.   We should be adding a pair with burgundy leather soon, as well as a monocle version.

In other news, its been a big month for the 5" cone spike, and for run ins with the fashion industry.   Cushnie et Ochs, a New York Runway Fashion House, ordered some of our 2" stainless steel cone spikes to use on shoes I belive. That should be exciting to see. And Angels Carying Savage Weapons in the UK ordered some of the 5" cone spikes to use in a fashion show. We actually made them to begin with as a customer request, and a sizable order of them is on its way to that customer in LA at the moment though Im not sure what they are going to be used for. The 5" cone spikes have been popular in general since we added them to the catalog I think because they are one of the largest spikes available at the moment.

As far as Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware items being available in a store near you, you have to live in Albuquerque for that to be the case at the moment. Cellar Door Gifts by the university is opening October 2nd I believe, and we have a few items in there. Nan at Free Radicals is also going to carry a few of our items, so that is great.    We really do want to wholesale, so if you would like to put some of our belts or something in your store -please get in touch.

I think thats about it at the moment,
thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C - Owner/Designer

belts, collars, local wholesale

2010-09-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
I said last time that the blog was going to be going to bi-monthly updates, but I think it may actually be going to once a month- we'll see.
Since last time, we have been pretty busy, which rocks. The model photos are having some effect on website activity which is great. I'd like to do a photo shoot twice a year if things work out. That would keep things exciting I think. That being the case, we will be needing models, male and female, so if you're interested in modeling, please get in touch.

We have added a handfull of new products to the line-up since last time. We added a couple of belts- The Bullet Rivet Belt, and the Black Bullet Rivet Belt. Here are pictures of those:

We added a couple of collars using the 2.5" Pyramid Spikes that we introduced last time. Here are pictures of those:

Here is the link to both of those on the website, and they are actually the weekly special at the moment (the weekly special is kind of like the weekly blog entry that doesn't change for a couple weeks at least these days) so you can get those a little cheaper by buying them from the special box on the left side of the site page.

We also added a black metal cuff with spike holes- we hadn't put a black one on the site previously- but here's a pic of that and a link:

Here's how it looks with spikes in it -

Pretty bristly no? It probably weighs almost 2 pounds with the stainless steel spikes in it, and you probably wouldn't be allowed into most public places wearing it, but I'm sure its just the thing for some occasions.

There is a local store opening up called Cellar Door Gifts by the university and we are going to put some stuff in there on consignment. That should be exciting. We want to do more wholesale and consignment, so if you have a shop and want to carry any of our stuff, please get in touch.

We are going to try to switch the website over to a dynamic platform at some point during the next month or two, so that should make it easier to get around the site and to check out, and it will allow you to set up an account and all that cool dynamic stuff- we need someone thats hand with web design to customize the site template for us so that I don't have to spend hours and hours messing with it. If you can do that kind of thing and want to make a few hundred bucks, please get in touch. You wouldnt need to build the entire store, just customize a template, so I would think that it wouldn't take more than 10 hours total for someone that knows what they're doing.

That's it for this entry,
thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C - Owner/Designer

Model Photos- Respirator - 2.5" pyramid spikes

2010-08-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello From G.P.S.Hardware,
These weekly blog posts are becoming bi-monthy I think.
The big news is that we got the model photos done! They are really cool we think. Here are a couple of them

There are 6 in all and you can see them on the splash page of the website.

Bazil Zerinsky at TerminalBlue photography did the photo shoot, and we were really happy with how it all went and with how the photos came out.

Next, we developed a gas mask/respirator and added it to the catalog.

This guy is cut from a solid piece of aluminum tube. It has a cutout to fit around the mouth, and endcaps that screw onto either end. There are 4 straps to hold it onto the face, and the piece has a black oxide finish. All in all, its definitely a unique piece. Take a look at that products page on the website here.

Finally, we have added a taller pyramid spike to the catalog as well. Previously we had a 1.5" pyramid spike, and we decided to try to lengthen them by an inch to create the 2.5" pyramid spike. Here are some photos:

You can see more of those spikes on the Giant Spikes Page of the website.
Thats about it for this update -

Thanks a lot for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C - Owner/Designer

p.s. just joined

Black Oxide, Giant Spikes

2010-07-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hello From G.P.S.Hardware,

    Its been an exciting past 10 days or so here in the Gothic Punk Specialty hardware workshop.

first of all, we finally did our first photo shoot with a real photographer and models - The pictures are still being edited, but the shoot went really well, and the photos look good - so we're excited to get those up on the website and stuff.

Next, we got our Black Oxide chemicals, which allow us to put a black oxide finish on our aluminum parts here in the shop. Im really happy with how thats working out so far - its great to be able to make a new product and quickly and easily give it a black finish here in the shop.   We do powder coating on our stainless steel hardware, and thats a great finish, but you cant really use it on things like the metal bracelets that have hinges, because it will clog up the hinges. We have done some black anodizing on our aluminum parts, and that is a magnificent finish for aluminum - you get deep rich colors, and it gives a hard shell to the surface which makes it scratch resistant, but, its pretty expensive to do. You really have to be making large volumes of product to do a lot of that without it really driving the cost of the items up.
         So, Black oxide is a great alternative - it gives a nice black finish to aluminum parts, and its relatively inexpensive to do.   Here are a couple pictures of how it looks:

Those are the 1.25" black metal cuff, the 2.5" black metal cuff, the 5" black cone spike and the 8" black tree spike.Check those all out at the website.
There are also some cool rub-off effects you can get by buffing the black finish partly off to expose the aluminum underneath. the 1.25" black metal cuff is available with that tarnished looking finish.

The last bit of excitement we've had going on has been two separate customer requests for large spikes. We have had 3" tall spikes available for several months now on the website, and they have been pretty popular, and we hadnt really thought of making larger ones any time soon, until a lady called from L.A. wanting to know if we could make 5" Cone spikes, so we whipped up a batch, and they look great. They are 3/4" wide by 5" tall. They are cut from solid aluminum and come in raw silver color and with the black oxide finish. Here are some pictures of those:

A few days later, a man called wanting to know if we could make a spike 9" long and 3" around! We could, sure, why not- but that thing would probably weigh 3 pounds and wouldnt really suit his purpose of making the worlds biggest dog collar. We slimmed the dimensions down a little bit, and came up with the monster 8" long by 1.25" in diameter tree spike. Here are some pictures of that:

And here is a picture of the 3", the 5" and the 8" spikes, with the black oxide finish standing side by side: I guess this picture captures the new developments here at the G.P.S.Hardware studio over the past 10 days.

You can see more of those spikes on the Giant Spikes Page of the website.

Thats it for this post -
Thanks a lot for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C - Owner/Designer

Bullet Belt

2010-07-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Hello From G.P.S.Hardware,

Short and sweet blog entry for this week - This weeks new product is a bullet belt with studs. I really like this belt - its made with 12 of our Black Stainless Steel Bullet spikes, arranged in 6 groups of 2 around the belt, and then the gaps are filled in with 3 rows of black pyramid studs. This belt is the weekly special for this week, so its available at 15% off of the usual price. So, its a great time to get it.
Here's a picture and a link to the page on the website - make sure to buy it from the weekly special box on the right side of the page to get the good price.

Bullet Belt with Studs, Black

Thanks a lot for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C - Owner/Designer

2010-07-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
Im finally getting around to updating the blog. Its been a busy couple of weeks, and of course, thats a good thing. G.P.S.Hardware is attached to a regular machine shop, so when we get busy with the machine shop, it makes it hard to put in as much time as I would like on this stuff.
Anyhow, The roller derby at the albuquerque convention center a couple weekends ago was pretty fun. I have a picture of the booth there Ill dig up at some point.

We have a new product that we've added to the catalog - and that is a 1 1/4" wide metal cuff.
Its a lot thinner than the first metal cuff we made, so its easier to make and costs less. I think its pretty cool. Here's a picture of it:

and here is a link to it on the website.
We talked about anodizing aluminum a couple of posts ago, and that is a great finish on aluminum, but its kind of expensive. So, Im looking into a black oxide finish to turn these cuffs black at a lower cost than anodizing - hopefully Ill get that going in the next couple of weeks. I think these cuffs will be really neat with a black finish.

We have also updated the graphics on the website a little bit. Here's the new header block:

I should put that at the top of the blog I guess.
So thats a little bit of an improvement.

Thats it for now, Thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C- Owner/designer

Hook Ring Gothic Belt, Roller Derby this weekend

2010-06-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
The Bizarre Bizarre Crafts fair last weekend was pretty cool - Thanks to all of the people who stopped by the booth. This weekend, Saturday June 19th 2010, there is going to be a roller derby match at the convention center, and some friends invited us to split a booth with them there. They do really cool paintings - I dont think they have a website, but if you're going to the derby match, stop by and check it out.

As far as the new item we seem to add to the catalog pretty much every week, this week, it is the "Black Hook D Ring Gothic Belt".

I have to say that I do really like this belt. I think its got a wicked look to it with all of the spikes, and it is totally unique since this hardware is available nowhere else. The bullet spikes are solid stainless steel, and the hook D rings are solid aluminum. All of it is machined in the GPSHardware machine shop and given a powder coat black finish.

There will probably be one with pyramid studs on it eventually and what-not too.

Other than that, we are getting ever closer to doing a modeling photo shoot. It will probably happen within the next few weeks, and I hope to have some great pictures showing off the products up on the website within a month or so. That will be exciting - I think it will really help to spice up the website. In the meantime, thewomanimal is taking some photos of herself modeling a couple of our belts as well. We look forward to getting those up on the website within the next week or two. She makes cool stuff on Etsy, so check her store out.
I guess we'll put our newest belt up as the15% off item for this week to get it off to a good start, so if you like it, now is a good time to pick one up ;)

Thats it for now, Thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C- Owner/designer

Anodized Goggles, Crafters Fair this weekend

2010-06-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

We finally got around to getting some of our hardware anodized!   Anodized aluminum is awesome for a couple of reasons. first and foremost, you can dye the aluminum once it has been anodized, so you get colored metal, but the layer is microscopically thin, so you dont' lose any of the look and feel of the metal. When you paint metal parts, you build up a relatively thick layer of paint that kind of separates you from the metal, but with anodizing, even though the part has a deep and rich color, you are still seeing and touching the surface of the metal directly.

The second reason anodizing is great is that the mico-thin layer it produces on the surface of the aluminum part is very hard and so provides a protective shell for the part.   The down side of anodized parts is that it can be somewhat pricey to do it - if you have a lot of parts to get anodized, you're probably looking a few bucks per part. When you're talking about goggles that have two parts to them, you can see how it can add a handfull of dollars onto production costs.    At any rate, the results are worth the money :)

   Dont get me wrong, powder coating produces a great finish as well, but like I say, it adds a layer of seperation between you and the metal surface. You can't anodize steel, only aluminum, so for the steel hardware it's not an option.    You can give steel a "black oxide" finish, which would be about the equivalent appearance wise, but that is also expensive and something we probably wont look into for awhile.
Anyhow, we anodized our goggles, and you can take a quick look at them here,

and for a more in depth look, go to the goggles page on the website here.

Last week we put up a page that shows how we make our goggles, you can see that here.
This week we added a short video showing how we turn the points on our1.5" stainless steel cone spikes on our lathe. You might find that interesting, and you can see that here.

Finally, if you are local to Albuquerque or are going to be in town this weekend, friday june 4th through sunday june 6th, there is going to be a crafts fair at the Kosmos Coffe shop and 5G warehouse/studio space down on 5th street just south of I40, and we are going to have a booth there. That should be fun. There will be a lot of other artists and crafters there, so it should be interesting, and you can take a look at our stuff up close. The website for the studio is here.
Here is a picture of our booth. Its come a long way in the past 8 months since we started out. We did a trade show about 1 month after we started out, and the booth was pretty sparse.

Thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C- Owner/designer

New Goggles and Antique Brass Hardware

2010-05-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again from GPSHardware,

We skipped a week there because we were a little too busy to get around to blogging. We were busy putting together an order of custom goggles for a customer, and like many of our products, that custom order is now a product on our website. The order was for goggles similar to the ones we already had, but with a biohazard design cut into the face, with holes for spikes on the sides, and painted black. They came out pretty cool, and we've added them to the site in the raw aluminum version, the black version, and as goggles or a monocle. Here are a couple of pictures:

You can take a look at their pages from the goggles page on the website here.

We also put up a page that shows how we make the goggles which you might find interesting - you can see that here.

Anyhow, we do appreciate custom requests because it leads to products that we would probably never make otherwise- so feel free to suggest custom designs if you have an idea you'd like to see.

The week before last, we added all of our brass hardware to the catalog in an antiqued version. We put the hardware through a chemical antiquing process and then clean them thouroughly, and the result is really cool - you get brass with discolorations ranging from browns all the way to blues and greens. Here are a couple pictures of some examples of that:

The Brass spikes have their own page on the website, and the antique brass is all listed on that page.

The weekly special item for this week is the Black Round Bullet Spike 10 pack, so its a good time to pick up a couple of those. The weekly special is 15% off of the normal price and theres a purchase box on the right side of the website for that.

That does it for this week - Thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben C- Owner/designer

Steampunk Gothic

2010-05-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,

Steampunk designs are awesome -we all know that -and now we have incorporated some of that aesthetic into a couple of our products. The first is a belt - called the "Steampunk Gothic Belt".

This belt is based on our "Gothic Belt" design. It uses the pointed D rings flanked by bullet spikes. However we have used a beautiful burgundy latigo leather instead of black leather, and the hardware is all solid brass. The bullet spikes are hexagonal rather than round, to give them more of that mechanistic, gear-like look, and the brass has all been treated to give it an antique finish as well. All in all then, the burgundy leather, antique brass hardware, and hand stitching give this belt some of the hallmark details of Steampunk fashion, and blends them with the streamlined simplicity of gothic fashion. We hope you like it.
You can take a closer look at the Steampunk Gothic Belt on the website here.

The second item we've added is a Steampunk Forearm Buckle Cuff.

This is just like our Full Forearm Buckle Cuff, which is black with silver buckles, but of course we have used the same burgundy latigo leather as with the belt, along with solid brass buckles to make this forearm buckle cuff much more in line with the Steampunk aesthetic. This cuff has the look of a 19th century prosthetic arm attachment, and looks great with a long sleeve shirt tucked into it. You can view this cuff in more detail on the website as well here.

Other than that, we have made a few minor tweaks to the appearance of the website, and have started doing a weekly special item as well. The weekly special is discounted 15% over the usual cost, so thats a good way to pick stuff up a little cheaper. this week the weekly special is the Black Pyramid Belt.

Thanks a lot for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - BenC- Owner/Designer

Brass Spikes

2010-05-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,

As usual, we've added a couple new pieces of hardware to the catalog this week. We've also collected our spikes together on subcategory pages on the website to make them a little easier to search through. Eventually we will have a fully dynamic site that makes it easy to search and sort through our products, but having a few subcategory pages should help out a little bit. First off, here are the new products we've added to the catalog:

We have added our Pointed D Rings in Brass, our Giant 3" spike in Brass, and our giant 3" spike in unfinished Aluminum. The Pointed D Rings in Brass are the same size and shape as the steel ones, but are cut from solid brass. The Giant 3" Brass Spikes are really neat. Being cut from solid brass, they do have a pretty good weight to them. I could see people using them on a motorcycle helmet or something -or some special type of clothing. And the Giant 3" spikes in unfinished Aluminum are just like the black ones we introduced last week, but without the powdercoat finish. These of course are not very heavy at all considering their size, because aluminum is such a lightweight metal. Ive said before that I would like to give some of our aluminum hardware a black anodize finish, and eventually we will- its really just a matter of selling in enough volume to justify taking that step.

One thing we are going to try to do soon is apply an antique finish to our brass products for people that like that look. We plan to introduce a couple new products soon along the steampunk aesthetic line, using antiqued brass hardware and burgundy leather. We plan to make a belt with the point brass d rings, and hex brass bullet spikes and burgundy leather in the same pattern as our Gothic Belt, and call it a Steampunk Gothic Belt. Also, we are going to make our Full Forearm Buckle Cuff with brass buckles and burgundy leather and call it a Steampunk Full Forearm Buckle Cuff. So, those should be interesting.

Concerning the subcategory pages on the website- because we are getting to the point where we have a lot of styles of spikes, we have broken them down into groups to make it easier to search through them - One of the categories is Brass Spikes, so you can easily see all of what we have in brass spikes together on one page

That's it from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware for this week, Thanks a lot for your interest - BenC- Owner/Designer

2010-04-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,

First of all we would like to say thank you to everyone who has shown interest in our products - we appreciate your interest, ideas and suggestions. We've said before that several of our products that we probably would not have made otherwise, have come from people's suggestions. So if you have an idea for a piece of hardware you would like to see, please feel free to let us know.
This week, we have added another new product to the line up. It is a 3" tall, 3/4" diameter spike. This is a giant spike as far as spikes go. It is cut from solid aluminum (a stainless steel one would be really expensive and really heavy) and it has a powder coat black finish. We will probably put raw aluminum finish ones on the site eventually too, but for now, only the black ones are up. (If you really want aluminum ones let us know and we'll give you a price- they will be a little bit less than the black ones). Anyhow, here are a couple pictures of the new spike:

Click here to go directly to their page on the site,as linking the pictures on this site can sometimes be a pain. These spikes are priced at 3.25 individually, or 2.75 each in packs of 10.

We are really starting to think about doing a photo shoot with models at some point in the next two or three months. We need one male and one female model with a good gothic/industrial/punkrock/deathrock type of look. This will be a paid gig, so, if you're interested, and especially if you're local to albuquerque or maybe santa fe or denver, drop us a line.
We're actually looking for someone to produce the shoot as well - meaning get the models, the photographer, the hair and makeup, and the venue all lined up so that we don't have to do it all. So if thats the kind of thing you do, let us know. drop us a line at gpsh@gothicpunkspecialtyhardware.com .

Thats about it from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware for this week, Thanks a lot for your interest - BenC- Owner/Designer

2010-04-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,

Here is the new add for Gothic Beauty Magazine issue #31.

We just got our web design software less than one month ago, so its going to take some time to learn how to use it, but we've already figured out how to put a cool red glow around the products and stuff- so thats a lot of fun.
Eventually we need to get some photos with models wearing our products - that will be a lot of fun, and we may end up doing a modeling shoot this year - If you're interested in modeling, let us know -we will probably need one male and one female for our first shoot and we'll keep your name in mind when it comes time to acutally plan it.

In other news, we posted a few items at gothauctions.com this week, and if you didnt know we also have an etsy shop in addition to the regular website - so you might be interested in checking out those venues.

Thats the news from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware for this week, Thanks a lot for your interest - BenC- Owner/Designer

Goggles

2010-04-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,

Goggles- they are an awesome fashion accessory. We have thought for a long time about designing some great, solid metal cyber-industrial-apocalyptic goggles of our own, and we have finally done just that and have added them to the catalog this week. Please take a look at those below.

There is a monocle version of each style as well.

Click Here to go to the goggles page on the website.

There are a few different styles of cyber-industrial goggles out there these days, but none of them are quite like ours. Ours are the only ones that are fully machined from a solid piece of metal so that the eye cup is all one continuous piece.

As you can see we have two styles, the round perforated lenses, and the slot lenses. The slots allow a little bit better vision, but both allow a decent amount of vision to the wearer. I wouldn't try to drive with them on, but you should be able to navigate through a dance club or perform on-stage without trouble. The back of the eye cups has been cut to a contour modeled on welders goggles, which follows the contours of the face for a comfortable fit. The nose strap and head straps are cut from the same leather that we make out belts out of, which is a high quality black latigo leather, and the head strap closes with a buckle.
The goggles are prices at 54.99 and the monocle version is 34.99. So the price is definitely competitive with other goggles out there.

Anyhow, we're excited to be adding these to our catalog and hope you like them.

Thanks as always for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - BenC- Owner/designer

Metal Cuff with Spikes and Cutouts

2010-04-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
Last week we added a solid metal wrist cuff to the catalog, and this week we're adding two more versions of that same cuff. One has holes to attach spikes to the cuff, and the other has a cutout patern machined into the cuff.

here are a couple of pictures of the new versions which are linked to their pages on the website:

The cuffs, as with the first version are cut from 3/16" wall thickness Aluminum pipe, machined into 4 hinged pieces. they are 2 1/2" wide and about 2 1/2 inches in diameter depending on the size ordered. The cuff's closure mechanisms are a pair of thumb screws . The result as you can see is a solid metal cuff that is right in line with the cyber/ industrial aesthetic.

These two versions of the cuffs are about $7.00 more than the plain version, but at $42.50, they are still reasonably priced. Especially considering you won't find anything like these cuffs available anywhere else. These are completely unique and are heavy, machined hardware.

Anyhow, thats the big news for this week from GothicPunkSpecialtyHardware- Thanks a lot for your interest - Ben C - owner/designer

Metal Cuff

2010-03-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
This week, we are adding a solid metal cuff to the catalog. It took a little while to get the design down, but the result is pretty cool we think.

First off, here are a couple of pictures of the cuff which are linked to its page on the website:

The cuff is cut from 3/16" wall thickness Aluminum pipe, machined into 4 hinged pieces. It is 2 1/2" wide and about 2 1/2 inches in diameter depending on the size ordered. The cuff's closure mechanism is a pair of thumb screws - not the kind used for torture - it just means you can screw them in and out with your fingers. The result as you can see is a solid metal cuff that is right in line with the cyber/ industrial aesthetic.

We will be adding at least two other versions to the catalog probably next week. One will have drill holes allowing you to attach spikes to the cuff, and the other will have some cut out shapes machined into the panels to give it a different kind of look.

I really wanted to try to design a cuff that would retail in about the $20 range, but after actually designing one, the cost has turned out to be $35. That's still a pretty reasonable price I think. The one with drill holes for spikes, and the one with cutouts will probably about $5 more once they're up on the site.

Anyhow, thats the big news for this week from GothicPunkSpecialtyHardware- Thanks a lot for your interest - Ben C - owner/designer

Pushing Belts and Cuffs

2010-03-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hello there from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
The new issue of Gothic Beauty is out, and we have a 1/4 page add in there, so take a look at that. Thats our first stab at magazine advertising, and it looks ok I think. We're working on another small add for CoilHouse magazine -That wont come out until the end of 2010. It looks like a pretty cool magazine, and they do a small business add program which is cool. Here's the add we've been working on

We're going to be getting some Adobe web design software soon, so that should really be great for making cool graphics for adds and advertising.
We really want to try to push our belts and forearm cuffs - We are really proud of them and think they are great products, and they are completely unique. If you're considering getting something like this, please consider our products. You wont be dissapointed -
Thanks a lot for your interest in GPSHardware - Thats it for this week - Ben C - Owner/designer

forearm cuffs

2010-03-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware -
      Well, this week we've updated our forearm cuffs. We have remade them out of a better leather and tightened up the design a little bit.
If you read a couple of blogs back when we first added them to the catalog, you know that they were originally made several years ago under a seperate project from GPSH and were resurrected to join the GPSH catalog.
I think they're a really good product now, and as far as I know, they are different from any other full forearm cuffs available.    Other cuffs that Ive seen on the net tend to not have much contour to them, or leave a lot of the inside part of your arm uncovered, and so are more like a back plate with straps. Our forearm cuff does have some contour to it and does fully cover your arm - the palm strap gives it a great feel when you wear it - you feel like your arm and wrist are really enclosed.
             The design image we're going for is kind of along the line of Victorian era prosthetic limbs. If we get a good number of sales of the black forearm cuffs, I'd like to make one geared more toward the steampunk aesthetic out of burgundy latigo with brass hardware.
Anyhow here are the thumbnails of the reworked cuffs. One is plain, one has more buckles:

In the workshop right now, we're working on a solid aluminum bracelet. that should be pretty cool, and once we get one made, there will probably be 2 or 3 styles. I would guess those will appear in a weekly update in the next week or two.
Thats about it for this week - Thanks as always for your interest in GPSHardware -Ben C - owner/designer

New Spikes

2010-03-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware -
This week we have a handful of new spikes added to the catalog. There are 7 of them total I guess, so Ill just start listing them off. They are all linked to their pages on the website if you want to look into them further.(the photos aren't linked but the text is - blogger is being difficult)

First , 1.5" cone spikes, in steel and Brass:

next we have 1.5" Needle spikes in Steel and Brass:

Then, we have 2" cone spikes in Steel, Brass, and Black Steel:

The black cone spike was a special request from 2BD, so thank you to them. Sometimes a customer will request something that we would have never made otherwise and it ends up being a cool product. Actually, they requested the brass cone spike too, and then it was an etsy customer who asked if we had a "silver colored" one - so I guess we wouldn't have made any of those if it weren't for customer requests.

So, thats about it for this week. Thanks a lot for your interest in GPSHardware- Ben C - owner/designer

full arm cuffs

2010-02-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hello from Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware,
We have added a couple cool new products to the line up this week. They are full arm cuffs, made of leather and featuring buckles, and laces and straps and all of that great stuff. Take a look at those below:

The first one is the Full Forearm Buckle Cuff, and the second one is the Full Forearm Cuff.
These designs are actually several years old, and come from another company that focused on the design of "fashion bondage." That company was called Darker Bondage and was around for a couple of years around 2004-2006 or so, with a store on Ebay, but no real website of its own. Eventually, that project went pretty much dormant for one reason or another. Looking back, we think that these cuffs really represent some of the best stuff that was created during the lifetime of that project, and we thought that these fashion-bondage designs would be a great fit along side the other products here at GothicPunkSpecialtyHardware.
Looking around the net, some of the more interesting gothic-industrial fashion products we see out there are cyber-goggles and gas masks. We may eventually create some of our own designs for those types of products. Ive mentioned before that we want to create a solid metal belt -probably black anodized aluminium, and I'd like to do some solid metal collars and wrist cuffs. There are lots of ideas to follow, and we will be continuing to unveil new products weekly most likely.
We welcome input and feedback. And we also welcome custom design requests. Is issue 30 of gothic beauty out yet? Im not sure. We have an add in there when it does come out.
Thats it for this week - Thanks for your interest in GothicPunkSpecialtyHardware - Ben C -owner/designer

2010-02-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

What's new this week? lets see, well concerning the website we have switched the payment system on the website from google checkout to paypal. Hopefully that makes it easier to purchase items there. Eventually we would like to switch over to an oscommerce website, but that will probably be a few months down the road. We also have an etsy store by the way, with some of our stuff listed there as well- thats just another way to purchase our stuff.

In hardware news, we have put up another belt design. It's called the Bullet Belt with Buckle attaching D Ring and you can see a picture of it here:

This belt is cool becasue the D Ring can be attached and detached easily with the buckle.
We will make custom belts if you have a design idea, so feel free to send custom requests.

Other than that, I guess thats about it for this week - take a look in issue #30 of Gothic beauty magazine to see our 1/4 page color add. That issues is out this month.
Thanks as always for your interest in GPSHardware - Ben C - owner/designer

GPSH on Twitter, New 2" Brass Cone Spike

2010-02-08T09:42:00.001-08:00

GPSHardware is now on Twitter - so please follow for exiting updates.

We are also blogging at Gothic.net if you care to take a look over there - its basically a duplicate blog, but its cool site to be a part of.

We have added a 2" long by 3/8" diameter cone spike cut from solid brass to the catalog. They are not up on the official website just yet, but they are available on our ETSY page in packs of 10.

In other news, we have an add coming out in this months Gothic Beauty magazine which should be exciting.

Thats it for now - we welcome feedback and custom orders -

Thanks for you interest in GPSHardware, Ben C - owner/designer

Hook D Ring Belt

2010-02-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

We have added another belt to the line up. This one is along the same lines as the ones on last weeks blog, but this one is made with the Single Hook D rings. Here's the Hook D Ring with Studs Belt:

What else... we have an add coming out in the new issue of Gothic Beauty- that should be out mid February I think.

Hmmm... not a lot else going on at the moment - I guess we'll leave it there for this week.

Thanks a lot for your interest in GPSHardware - Ben C - Owner/Designer

New Belts

2010-01-21T16:18:00.001-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

We've added a couple new belts to the catalog this week.
The Black Round Bullet spike, and the Black Stainless Steel Pointed D Ring, are really our core products, and this arrangement of one of the D rings flanked by 2 of the bullet spikes is our core arrangement.We call that arrangement the "gothic" arrangement.
So, we have a few belts that have that basic hardware arrangement. You've already seen the "Gothic Belt with Brocade" in the last post. Now we've added a couple more.
First, a plain Gothic Belt:

Second, the Gothic Belt with Studs: This one has 1/2" black pyramid studs on it.

and Third, the Black Pyramid Spike Belt: This one is made with our 1"x1.5" black pyramid spikes. This one is cool because its under $50.00.

You can check all of those out on the website for more information on them. We're really happy with them. We have a few more belt designs to add over the next week or two along the same lines as these.

We've also added a new piece of hardware. We call it the "Joined Hook D Ring" and its a variation on the Single Hook D Ring and the Double Hook D ring.

It's cut from solid aluminum and finished in powder coat black. It attaches with 4 back screws, and you can check that out on the website.

Thats it for this week -
Thanks for your interest in GPSHardware - Ben C- owner/designer

2010-01-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy 2010 from GPSHardware,

We have added a partial mannequin to our display set up, which helps to show how the belts look when worn. Take a look at the brocade bondage belt and claw/buckle/spike belt below.

We haven't sold a whole lot of belts yet, but honestly, I think the brocade bondage belt is one of the best items I've made to date. We're going to put together a similar belt, but with the brocade replaced with black canvas soon. Also, we will be putting a couple belts on the site that feature a mix of our hardware and standard black pyramid studs. Those should be cool, so look for those over the next month.

We've put some basic cuff's up on the site featuring our hardware. They're are a good way to get a look at what the hardware looks like attached to something. Take a look at the picture of the round bullet spike cuff below, and there are several more in the Ready to Wear section of the site.

As far as the brass hex stock that Ive been excited about, we did get that in, and have added a standard bullet spike made from it. The brass seems to be pretty popular, so if you're into brass, take a look at that below.
There's also the Brass Hex spike #10, which you can see below. I might change the name of that to a "thorn spike" because the contour of the tip is kind of thorn like. I named it #10, because its difficult to think of interesting new names for every new spike, so I figured it might be easier to just use a numbering system. Anyhow, thats an interesting new screw-back spike made out of the hex brass.

Thats about it for now -
Thanks for your interest in Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware - Ben Clark- Owner/Designer

New Belt

2009-12-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

Hello from GSPHardware,

This week, we are introducing a new belt that we are very proud of. This one is called Gothic Brocade Belt. Take a look at it below.

     We have used hi quality black latigo leather, which is a very nice and durable leather, and lined it inside and out with red on black cherry blossom brocade. We've used our black stainless steel pointed D rings flanked by our black stainless steel round bullet spikes as the hardware, and the result is pretty cool I think. The D rings are hand stitched to the belt with very strong thread meant for the purpose.
     We have plans to make others with more masculine fabrics like black canvas, or black and silver brocade down the road. There are lots of combinations of fabric and hardware possible, so we will probably put a selection feature on the web page so you can create your own custom belt.
                      Thanks a lot for your interest in GPSHardware - Ben Clark - owner/designer

-Take a look at the promotion program Here. Its an easy way to earn store credit.
-And remember to check the squidoo page. Our promotional Ebay listing is kept up to date there, and it often expires at the starting bid which is quite a bit lower than the store price.
-Add us on Facebook and Myspace.

Another New Spike

2009-12-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,
We have yet another new spike in the catalog. This one is Stainless Steel, 1/2" diameter and 1.5" long. It's pretty cool I think - it has a stylized tip that gives it a little bit of character. Take a look at that below.

It attaches in the screw-back style, and of course screws are included with purchase.
Other than that, we've kind of backed off on the wholesale angle of marketing in favor of making our direct sale pricing as low as possible. Most of the interest in our products so far has come from direct buyers rather than wholesalers, so I figure it makes more sense to cater to them at this point.
We still have a "special bulk pricing" rate, and if you're interested in that, you can find that information here , but the rates are not at 2/3 of the direct sale rate, which is what we were trying to do before. We will still be happy to send product samples to store owners interested in seeing the products though, so feel free to contact us about it.
The brass spikes seem to be one of the items with the most interest so far, so we're excited to get our 3/8" brass hexagonal stock in to work with. It should be arriving any day. I would'nt be surprised if the next new item in the catalog is a 1" spike with an interesting shape made from that stuff.

**We've been trying to work out the kinks in our shopping cart system on the website - google checkout does this thing where if you have a shipping option included with the cart, it doesn't allow international customers to complete their orders... So, we took the automatic shipping calculation out of the shopping cart. What we'll do is bill you seperately for that - we'll send you a google invoice for the shipping.**

Anyhow, thats about it for this week, Merry Christmas and thanks as always for your interest in GPSHardware - Ben C-Owner/Designer

-Take a look at the promotion program Here. Its an easy way to earn store credit.
-And remember to check the squidoo page. Our promotional Ebay listing is kept up to date there, and it often expires at the starting bid which is quite a bit lower than the store price.
-Add us on Facebook and Myspace.

New Spike- Happy holidays

2009-12-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from GPSHardware,

We have added a new 1" x 1.5" square based Aluminum Pyramid Spike to the catalog. Take a look at those below. They were an Alchemy request from Fleshcrafters on Etsy.

We do welcome requests, so feel free to send us your ideas. We always have new ideas in the pipeline to work on - as mentioned last time, I would like to do a solid black aluminum belt at some point, and we have some brass hex stock on the way, so that should be fun to work with.

-As always, take a look at the promotion program Here. Its an easy way to earn store credit.

-And remember to check the squidoo page. Our promotional Ebay listing is kept up to date there, and it often expires at the starting bid which is quite a bit lower than the store price.

-Add us on Facebook and Myspace. We're just getting going there, so its a little lonely ;).

Thanks a lot for your interest in GPSHardware -Happy Holidays - Ben Clark - Owner/Designer

New Single Hook Ring

2009-12-08T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

We've added a new single hook ring to out catalog.

They are cut from Aluminum and attach via back screws. For now we are giving them a black powder coat finish, but we may switch to a black anodized finish eventually, since you can do that with aluminum, and it really preserves the look and feel of the metal surface as opposed to having a layer of paint over the part. These hook rings would look great on a belt or jacket. Anyhow, check those out.

We are working on 1" x 1.5" aluminum, screw-back pyramid spikes for a request from an Etsy member, and will add those to the catalog when they're done. We also have plans to work on a full metal belt down the line, so that should be exciting.

We've been adding product reviews to our reviews page on the website as they come in. Eventually we want to get pictures of how people are using the hardware- so definately send in pics when you get a chance if you've purchased stuff.

We're still on the hunt for retailers to carry our products, so feel free to request product samples if you have a store, on-line or on the street, and we'll send you some stuff to evaluate.

As always, take a look at the promotion program Here. Its an easy way to earn store credit.

And remember to check the squidoo page. Our promotional Ebay listing is kept up to date there, and it often expires at the starting bid which is quite a bit lower than the store price.

Thanks a lot for your interest in GPSHardware -Happy Holidays - Ben Clark - Owner/Designer

New spike - Price Reductions

2009-11-30T15:53:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware - Happy Holidays,

We have reduced our prices on all of our items. We want to make products available at the lowest prices possible to our direct buyers, but we have to allow a profit margin for the wholesalers and can't undersell them of course.
If you buy as a registered wholesaler, you dont need to worry about price shifts. If the prices shift downward on the items you've bought within 3 months, we'll compensate you the difference.

We've added a new 1.25" tall screw-back hex spike to the catalog. Take a look at that below:

Please look at the promotion program Here. Its an easy way to earn store credit.

And remember to check the squidoo page. Our promotional Ebay listing is kept up to date there, and it often expires at the starting bid which is quite a bit lower than the store price.

Thanks a lot as always for your interest in GPSHardware -Happy Holidays - Ben Clark - Owner/Designer

Hex Spikes - help promote, earn credit

2009-11-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

     We have finally added pictures of the Hex Bullet spikes to the web page- view them below.
We also have a page up about our promotional effort whereby you can earn store credit by commenting and linking our site in relevant places.Take a look at that Here.
   We've started putting promotional items up on ebay with the starting bid pretty low, so you may want to keep an eye on those. Those should be kept up to date on our squidoo page.
     Thanks for your interest in GPSHardware -Ben Clark - owner/designer

YouTube Spot- seeking promotion

2009-11-12T09:24:00.001-08:00

Hello from GPSHardware,

We've put up a short video on YouTube to give a quick look at our products. We've added our Facebook badge to the column on the right there also, so feel free to friend us.

In addition to offering free product to wholesalers, we would also be happy to send some to anyone that could review them on some form of media outlet(radio, web, television, print etc.) or to people interested in taking some pictures modeling the stuff.

How about this - we'll give a $2 store credit per month for every link to our site you post in relevant places. Send us the link to the pages, and at the end of every month that it stays up, get the credit.
We're trying to promote in general, so if you think you can advance the cause, get in touch.

Thanks for your interest in GPSHardware -Ben Clark Owner/designer

A Few New Products

2009-11-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

     We have a few new products up on the website as of today. 3/4" "Missle Spikes" in Brass and Stainless, and a "Double Hook Ring" cut from Aluminum and finished in powder coat black. Take a look at them below.
    Concerning wholesale pricing on the small spikes, I wish we could provide lower prices on them, $.85 each is about as low as we can go at the moment, but because our shop is geared more toward the ability to create unique designs rather than toward mass production, we are limited in how cheaply we can produce these guys.    The positive side of that however, is that our designs are completely unique, and, if you have a unique design for a screwback spike or something, you can get in touch with us, fax us a drawing or whatever, and we can make it for you and probably ship them out to you within a week or 2. Eventually we will get faster production capability, but first we need to sell about 25,000 spikes ;)

       Anyhow, Thanks as always for your interest in GPSHardware, Ben Clark - Owner/Designer

10-28-09

2009-10-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
    Ive heard that you should update your blog at least every week, so Im trying to do that and we'll see how it goes. Basically things have been going well, Steamcon was apparently a big success with a maxed out crowd, so thats great.   We've listed a few of our items on ETSY, mostly to draw people to the official site, but if you're reading this, you're past that stage.
     Most of all at this stage we are still in the process of seeking wholesalers to carry our products in their stores. We've sent out several product samples to interested wholesalers and hope to get some feedback from them to post on the site soon. I will likely take a batch of stuff over to Free Radicals here in town and I'd like to drop some stuff off with Fashion Nation and Raves oh my Goth up in Denver since I'm up there fairly often. Hopefully other shops don't get too annoyed by the steady drip of promotional flyers they receive from us.
    Anyhow, thats all I've got for now -   Thanks again for your interest in GPSHardware,
                                                       Ben Clark -Owner/designer

10-21-09

2009-10-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
We have added Brass Bullet Spikes and 1" Tree Spikes to our inventory. Brass hardware has been in the back of our mind since the get-go, and it just took the suggestion from our friend Dan at Xcentricities Corsets, that people into the Steam Punk aesthetic might be into it to get us cranking on a couple initial products. Take a look at them below.

If you're in the Seattle, WA area this weekend, drop by the Xcentricities booth at Steamcon to look at them in person and buy some on the spot.

"Rock the Ink Albuquerque" was a lot of fun. There were thousands of people there and we had lots of people coming by the booth to check us out. We had lots of positive feedback and ended up with a long list of ideas and suggestions. We really appreciate all of the enthusiasm for our products that people showed.

A couple of issues:
We had a whole lot of these comments: "what is that stuff for?" and "wow, those are really sharp."

Let me take the second one first. Yes, most of our stuff does have a somewhat dramatic point on it, and while I doubt it's going to cause injury just hanging off of your belt or jacket, I wouldn't try to wear it onto an airplane. We do file the sharp edge off of our products and do not intend in any way for them to be used to cause harm to others.(I dont know how many people picked up one of our rings to see how it would feel sticking through the fingers of their clinched fist as some sort of gouging instrument.) Come on people....

As far as people not understanding immediately what the products are for, that is something we need to work on. Basically the products are spikes and D rings and are used for all the things spikes and D rings are used for. We plan to have a mannequin with us at future events to model the hardware, and hopefully that will help.
Thanks again for your interest in GPSH and please keep the product requests, thoughts and ideas coming in, Ben Clark - Owner/designer

Opening Week- Adding Body Jewelry to Product list

2009-10-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all of you who have looked at the web site and expressed interest in GPSH so far. We are sending out product sample packs to wholesalers who have expressed interest, and will continue doing so for the foreseeable future. If you are a wholesaler and have already requested or received a product sample pack, please refer other wholesalers you know that might be interested, and we'll send you a coupon for a 5% discount off any purchase.
Some of the first feedback we received upon launching GPSH was from people asking whether we made Body Jewelry in addition to clothing hardware. We looked into it and decided that that would be exciting, and so we are proud to announce that we have started a line of Body Jewelry machined from 316L surgical grade stainless steel. We have a Body Jewelry page on our website with three initial designs of ear rings. If you are a jewelry wholesaler and would like free samples, please get in touch.

*Update: Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware will have a booth at Rock the Ink Alb this weekend at the convention center, so drop by if you're in town.

Thanks again for your interest in GPSH.

Launching Day

2009-07-28T15:43:00.001-07:00

     Gothic Punk Specialty Hardware is officially open for business as of today. After several months of preparing our initial line of products, we are happy to finally have that line available for purchase through our website.
     We hope that our products add a new facet to the array of spikes,studs and rings etc. out there and that people enjoy them.
     Many of you may have received a promotional flyer in the mail, and if so we appreciate you taking the time to explore GPSH and our products further. We are making free product samples available to wholesalers as advertised on the flyer in the hopes that getting our product in your hands will allow you to fully judge the quality of the products, as well as show them to your store clientele and judge interest in the products. If you are a wholesaler and didn't receive a promotional flyer, please get in touch as we'd like to get you registered as a supplier.
     We welcome feedback from anyone interested in our product, be they a wholesaler, clothing and accessory designer, or most importantly, the people that wear our hardware on the street. so please post your comments or send us an email.