Sassy Feet! blog

A Great Review and Three Articles, Too!

We hit the jackpot in Altered Couture magazine this month with a great book review by their editor, Cynthia Levens, and three how-to articles that I wrote. (They also have three more of our articles in hand, so Destiny and I are feeling very fat and sassy!)

If you like to recycle and upcycle shoes, bags or clothes, you should think about submitting your work to Altered Couture. It's a big beautiful magazine and they are eager to find new artisans. If you are hesitant about writing an article, you can simply submit your work to their Gallery section. Better yet, respond to one of their themed challenges.

There are a couple of interesting ones coming up that have given Destiny and I some radical ideas for shoes and boots!

High Fashion - Feathers are for more than boas and hats; they can fly high in high fashion. Feel free to use feathers, or maybe even just the design of one, to alter or embellish your next creation. Deadline: June 15.  (Use the search box at the top of this page to find blogs we've done on shoes and boots that use feathers.)

Boot Up! - Take an old pair of boots or a pair that needs that little extra something, and alter away. Deadline: September 15, 2013.(Use the search box at the top of this page to find blogs we've done on altering boots.)

If any of this intrigues you, take a look at the magazine's submission guidelines -- and give it a try. You might see your creations in the pages of a national magazine!

By the way, I have posted the book review and my new articles on our Sassy Feet website if you'd like to read them. Below are the shoes I wrote about -- detailed how-to information included!

Crocodile Mosaic

Kaffe Fassett Wedges

When in Oxford

 Happy reading -- and good luck with your Altered Couture entries if you decide to take the plunge!

Spring Sandal Round-Up

 

Since the warm weather is teasing us to bare our toes, I thought I'd give you a tour of the blogs we've done on sandals over the years. Sandals are wonderfully easy to customize and upcycle, whether you are painting, stitching on a few flowers or adding more unusual embellishments. If you click on the link in any description below, it will take you to the original blog with its how-to instructions.

Ato the top of this page are the results of a challenge Destiny and I set ourselves to transform a pair of plain gladiator sandals. Destiny did the black sandal on the left, called Gilded Greek Goddess. I did the color blocked one on the right, called Shades of Turquoise.

These little slides got a major makeover that involved using the shape of my fan brush in two different ways. It also used one of our original embellishments. Check out Taste of the Tropics.

These wedge sandals by Destiny won a place in a juried wearable art show at the airport in Los Angeles. They are called Practically Paisley, and in her blog about them she tells how to paint those tiny lines.

These were the first shoes I painted. They started out as pale pink faux suede with tan-colored footbeds. The little leaves on them were stenciled and then touched up with a tiny paintbrush. I call themn Gypsy Summer -- and they were also the first shoes of mine accepted into Altered Couture magazine. 

At the other end of the design spectrum are these strappy wedge sandals. All I did to them was stitch ribbon rose trim to the ankle straps and across the toe, then hang a swag of the trim along the side. These may look confusing to the eye, but they look GREAT on the foot! 

Here's a variation on the theme above: black sandals with bright flowers. These rose-bedecked satin heels were also in Altered Couture. Called Carmen Miranda Sandals, they feature surprisingly EASY TO MAKE rolled roses using wired ombre ribbon. 

Here's another pair of sandals that we made over without using paint. I stamped these using alcohol ink stamp pads and little number and letter stamps. 

We used the lines of the shoe to guide our design for these dramatically improved sandals, worn by our friend Judi at her outdoor wedding.

These formerly nautical-themed wedge sandals got the glitter treatment, plus some unusual red snap tape around the sole. I also painted the insole black.

Apparently Mephisto sandals cost a fortune, but I found these in a local shoe store's bargain bin for $20. They were red, but since I already had red sandals, they needed a paint job. Destiny came up with the formula for this beautiful color.

Last of all, these two-tone sandals -- a snap to make! - alternated their original black with a gold glitter to go with a chiffon top I'd bought. 

So grab a pair of your old sandals and see what your beautiful brain comes up with. Spring is a time for new ideas and great new adventures!

Our Fab Fans Are at It Again

Every so often Margot and I get emails from Sassy Feet fans all over the world with pictures of their imaginative creations. This, personally, is one of my favorite things about being a part of the Sassy Feet team. Wild color combinations, unexpected embellishments, unique ingenuity. There's so much creativity and fearlessness out there! It's really refreshing and inspiring. I'm going to share with you some of our most recent fan-shions.

Hannah sent us before and after pictures of her well-loved cowboy boots with the following email:

Your website was a great way for me to figure out how to fix up my old cowboy boots. I had worn them to death and my mom had gotten them resoled for me. Before the resole, I hadn't realized how cracked and scarred they were. Afterwards, I knew I needed to do something to make them wearable again. Your site gave me the information necessary to bring them back. Thank you.    Hannah

Hannah said she used Pewter, Pearl Turquoise, and Halo Blue Gold. She left the stitching lines in the original brown. What an amazing transformation! They look like a completely new pair of shoes. And, the colors are wonderful together.

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Cowboy boots, part two. Susan used Bright Gold, Pearl Emerald, and Pearl Blue for these fab numbers.

I attended your shoe painting class at Costume College last year and have been painting shoes ever since. Now I want to repaint a pair that I painted previously. They have leather uppers, so I had prepped them with alcohol, but now that they have been painted what should I use?

BTW, I painted some western boots for a show called Cowgirls that was produced at our local community theater. See attached. Unfortunately I did not get them photographed until AFTER the show. You can see they were well-worn!

Thanks for your help, Susan

I personally think they look amazing even after all the performances. This really goes to show you how well the paint sticks! And, to answer Susan's question: YES! You can paint over a color if you change your mind. No problem at all. Just prep the surface by very lightly wiping with rubbing alcohol to remove any dirt or oils.

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These viridian beauties come to us from costumer Cherries Jubilee of Cherries' Orchard. She is no stranger to having her inspired visions grace our fan features. She already knew we would want to use them! How could we not?

Hi Margot,

These are a recently completed commission called The Absinthe Fairy for a young lady attending Fairy Con in January.  Of course you may use them if you wish.  -- Cherries Jubilee

Metallic Olive is a favorite, and you can see why! She smartly attached that line of crystals to parts of the shoes that DON'T flex. This ensures they won't pop off. The Neopaque Black trim finishes it nicely.

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Last today, but certainly not least, these lively sandals sent to us by Leanne who "inherited" the shoes from her late mom (sorry, no before picture!). She said she was inspired to re-do them because they are one of those "comfort brands" beloved of older ladies, and she wanted to make them sing -- and maybe dance!

Each embellishment is made of a pipe cleaner wrapped with ribbon, then brushed with Paverpol and twisted into shape until it hardened. (Paverpol is a product you can apply to fabric and it will harden into a sculpture-like material.) She then glued the pipe cleaner to to a small scrap of limed-colored felt, glued down the googly eye in the center and then glued the whole thing to the shoe using The Ultimate. 

Why shouldn't we make things uniquely our own? I'll follow the wise words of "the countess of fashion," Lynn Dell: "My philosophy is: Fashion says, 'Me too,' while style says, 'only me.' "

Paint, Stamp, Step

Margot and I recently attended the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Trade Show, which was a wonderful learning and networking experience for us. We took lots of classes and discovered some new products to use on shoes, which we'll be telling you about in the weeks to come. After sitting down to organize our new knowledge then arranging our notes and priorities, we took a creativity break to recharge.

Margot worked on a pair of little girl shoes she'll be posting about on Sunday, and I wanted to embellish a pair of recently acquired, so-so nautical-esque canvas slip ons that practically screamed for treatment. I had seen paint pens used successfully on shoes at CHA, so I figured why not give it a try?

I dug through Margot's art supply stash and found a fluorescent pink Sharpies poster paint pen. (Note that this is the PAINT pen, not the permanent marker.) I shook it up and just started drawing bright pink Curly Qs all over the top of the toe. The stitching and construction of this style shoe made for good color blocking. After finishing off the design with a mehndi-inspired flower, I ran the paint pen over the white stitching, too.

I liked it. But the bright white rubber sole just stared up at me, glowing obnoxiously. I asked Margot if there was anything she had that I could try on the rubber to tint it. She handed me a fuchsia pink pad of StazOn alcohol ink and a cotton ball. I dabbed the pink onto the defiantly white sole, and BAM, I had it!

The nice thing about applying the ink was that since the canvas of the shoe was black, any mistakes I made in dabbing on the fuchsia ink didn't show. I could rub with wreckless abandon and get near perfect results.

Just an extra note: I didn't have time to finish both shoes but I did wear them as they were, half finished (in public, too), the remainder of the day and everything seemed to stay put. I plan to finish the other this week, wear them nonstop and report back on longevity. We've stained rubber soles before with StazOn (Margot has an article on this in the upcoming issue of Altered Couture) and it works well, but Sharpies poster paint is new to us. Adventure!

More Shoes -- and Bags -- From Our Fans

I've been hoarding photos of painted shoes and bags that our fans have been sending me, and it's time to stop keeping them to myself. Enjoy!

This pair is called Beetleboots and they were sent in by costumer Cherries Jubilee of Cherries' Orchard. They are painted in several colors of gleaming Lumiere. Dragonflies and other bugs hang from the laces. One boot has a vintage watchface painted on the toe, the other has a collection of cool steampunk-y gears. 

Sandy painted these black Uggs for a woman in Pennsylvania who runs a wolf sanctuary and a B&B, a place Sandy and her husband love to visit. The black wolves are leather appliques, and the stars and moon sparkle with Glitter It Glaze.

Ronnie sent in this photo of some wingtip oxfords he painted and glittered with a distressed effect. The colors on the front fade from Pearlescent Blue to  Metallic Silver on the side. In the back, they shift from Pearlescent Violet to Metallic Silver on the side. Next he added Ultramarine and Fuchsia Glitter It Glaze on the vamp with a light layer of Neopaque Black over them to mute the glitter effect.

Ronnie says if you add the black while the Glitter It is still slightly wet, the glitter tends to accumulate in small chunks, which he thinks is a pretty cool distressed effect. Last of all, Ronnie painted stars in the area where his laces will go. 

Barbara found us after a Google search and loved the post I wrote last year about putting metallic leafing on a pair of worn-out Danskos. She said she's thrilled with the results!

Laura wrote that she loves having fun, funky shoes, "but with my back as lousy as it is, I refuse to get anything other than comfortable supportive shoes, and those don't tend to come in funky and fun." So she took an old but favorite pair of shoes that were starting to look a little frumpy and sad.

Well, they aren't frumpy anymore! Laura says she's so excited by how these turned out, she predicts she'll soon have a closet full of glittery, jewel-toned shoe! (P.S. These were painted in Crimson and Pearlescent Violet, then glittered with Really Red and Royal Purple Glitter It Glaze.

Angela, a friend from my wearable art group, sent these pictures of some slides she painted for a lawyer friend in the hopes it would add some pizzazz to her legal life. She experimented with a Metallic Olive Green background and Pearlescent Violet zebra stripes, but didn't like how they turned out so she kept going. She ended up with this wonderful melange of the green and violet with Metallic Bronze and Pearlescent Blue, applied first with a paint brush then with a cosmetic sponge to get the little lines and dabs. (I did a blog post a while back on using cosmetic sponges to get cool effects -- here's the link.)

Angela also turned two of her friends on to painting on leather, with these results:

Linda wanted to tone down and update the look of this woven leather purse

Debbie transformed these Chinese Laundry slides with fabulous results!

Lauren started thinking about doing some wedding boots last year and we swapped emails answering her questions and encouraging her to plunge into painting cowboy boots (her eclectic choice for bridal shoes). She fell in love with painting them and has done SEVERAL pairs since, but she has now gotten back to her original plan. 

She writes: "I finally get to say "I do" on November 23, and I will be sure to share the pics from the day, but I was too excited not to share now. The wedding was originally scheduled in July of this year but I took a job that took me to London for the Olympics, so of course I had to paint a Team USA pair! I've included a pic of those as well."

I want to close by saying that it has been suggested I write shorter blogs, and I promise to start doing so next time, but I just couldn't postpone showing any of these!

Erin's Mixed-Media Loafers

These loafers -- well-loved but a bit dull -- started out their second life when they were purchased in a thrift store for $5 by my favorite mixed-media artist, Erin Perry. They were plain tanned leather with that natural unfinished-leather look, and very, very comfortable -- essential for an artist who leads a double life as a librarian!

With Erin's consultation, we came up with a design that would use multiple-color sponging and quirky embellishments. I started by prepping the surface, then brushing on a coat of Lumiere's Halo Violet Gold using a nice soft fan brush.

Next I used a sea sponge to sponge on two Lumiere colors, Super Copper and Metallic Bronze. (To learn how to sea-sponge, see this post.) Sea sponging gives you a soft dappled effect. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see how the subtle undercoat of Violet Gold shows through a little and gives the pattern more depth.

Erin liked the effect, but wanted something with a little more zip! So I used a technique we developed when painting ourleather couch (!), sponging with a George Forman synthetic sponge.

Here's a closeup. I used Neopaque Black for high contrast and got a nice speckled effect using the Foreman sponge. This type of sponge has little points that stay crisp no matter how much paint you get on them. For tips on using this kind of sponge, see the notes at the bottom of this post.

The next step was creating suitablly artistic embellishments for these formerly boring loafers! I started with a base of square, wavy-cut stone beads. I topped these with bronze disks that I'd colored with Staz-On ink, applied with cotton swabs. (Staz-On is permanent on metal once it fully dries.) Next came little enamel number plates, beloved of mixed-media artists. They have little holes on the sides so they can be attached to a page or collage with brads, so I covered those holes with black flatback crystals. The whole thing was glued together with E6000.

I also glued a dome back button converter on the back of the embellishment so I'd have little loops to use when attaching the whole thing to the loafers. I did that by stitching them on with Fireline and a nice strong, triangular-tipped leather needle.

Whew, I thought, and TA-DA! Finished!! My beloved mixed-media artist, however, is also into assemblage (adding 3-D stuff to mixed-media collage), so she thought the shoes needed something more. The answer was CHAIN.

She dug around in my chain stash and found a couple of short pieces of embossed copper chain, then convinced me to use E6000 to glue them onto her loafers. I agreed -- rather reluctantly, because I thought the chain might work its way loose when she wore the shoes and the uppers had to flex and bend with her every step. But she's worn them a fair amount now and the chain has stayed in place.

Here are the finished shoes. I guess you could call them assemblage on the hoof... as it were.  Erin's happily wearing them this weekend at a workshop in the San Juan Islands (I'M ONLY A TINY BIT JEALOUS) with HER favorite mixed-media artists, Lynne Perrella and Anne Bagby.    

Creations From Costume College

We thought you'd like a peek at some of the shoes created by the wonderfully creative souls who took our class at Costume College earlier this month.

First, though, I must confess that although we got some good shoe shots, we did not do a good job of getting people's faces or names. We're sorry! We were rather overwhelmed with doing a 3 hour class for 24 people -- all brimming with energy and ideas -- in the space of just 2 hours and 45 minutes -- including complete clean up of the room. It was like sprinting instead of jogging!

So enjoy the shoes and forgive us, especially those of you who see your wonderful work here. (Feel free to comment below and take credit for your creations!)

These transition-painted shoes were created by dabbing the color-transition area with a cosmetic wedge to blur the lines between Pearlescent Magenta, Pearlescent Violet and Pearlescent Turquoise. But the design didn't stop there!

The lively young woman doing these shoes (and wearing a darling polka dot apron) added contrasting polka dots!

These shoes were done by someone who said she wouldn't be able to "do" the class well, that she wasn't at all creative.... Hah! This photo doesn't do the colors she chose justice, they are much warmer and gleaming. We think she did a great job!

Several of the students chose to do color blocking, where different areas of the shoe are painted in different colors. I love the colors she chose for this shoe -- the browns are actually dappled in slightly different shades -- you can see the cosmetic wedge she used to create this effect in the background.

We thought these shoes turned out really well. They were black to start with and were simply painted with tiny triangles in a multitude of colors and clustered in different areas of the shoes and straps. "How did she get those triangles so perfect?" someone asked. The answer is, they aren't perfect, not if you look really close. But you DON'T look closely at shoes -- you see them from at least four feet away -- and from even a little distance, they look pretty darn precise!

Someone brought a billfold type wallet to paint -- she used multiple colors and a cosmetic wedge.

Rayna, who came with her grown son, Riley, chose to work on a handbag. It started out black, and was  painted Crimson on the front and back. Then it was sea-sponged on the sides and had fabric roses and velvet leaves glued on. Parts of the bag were left solid black for contrast.

I especially liked working with the woman who did this bag because when I suggested she add purple to her color mix, she tried it, didn't like it, and went back to doing what she wanted to! Never take a suggestions just because the teacher makes it. Do what feels right to you, ESPECIALLY when it comes to color!  (By the way, Riley painted a pair of sneakers in several colors -- different on each shoe. They turned out great!)

Now I'm going to hope that the folks who did these bags and shoes will comment and take credit. You can also send me photos of the pieces that didn't get into this blog and I'll post them next time! You know who you are....

DIY Shoes and Bags From Our Fans

Okay, we have now recovered from our wonderful trip to Costume College in Los Angeles, and it's time to share photos of the imaginative shoes and bags that our talented followers have sent in since our last fans' roundup.

Here are some sandals that Angela painted in a pattern that's a variation on crocodile scales. Love the coordinating toenail polish! Thought I'd put this photo first since it's rare that I get photos of painted shoes actually being worn.

This marvelous stamped shoulder bag (formerly solid black) comes from Kathy Guerts, a mixed-media artisan and teacher working mainly in textiles and jewelry at her Studio Amara in New South Wales, Australia.

While we're talking handbags, this one was done by Mary Ann, a member of the Haute Couture Societe in Central California. The image is copied from the painting "Bride & Groom" by Modigliani.

One more handbag, then we'll get back to shoes.

Here's Jean showing a black bag that she sponged lightly with gold Lumiere to go with the jacket she's wearing. Jean (like Angela, whose sandals top this blog) is a member of Peninsula Wearable Arts Guild (in the San Jose, CA, area), a group I belong to -- and which has been inspiring me for nearly seven years now!

Another member of this group is Judi, who not only sent me a pair of sandals that she color blocked, but some pink and silver shoes painted and embellished by Dana, her eight-year-old granddaughter. Judi writes, "Dana loves to paint -- anything!  And she really got into the shoe decorating. I think this is just the start."

These charming boots (plus the boots and men's shoes that follow) are the brainchildren of a very imaginative and talented costumer who calls herself Cherries Jubilee of Cherries' Orchard. The pair above is called Blue Willow boots because they are painted to look like classic Blue Willow china.

This one is from a pair called Gothic Charm School. She used vintage black lace to embellish the top and (patiently!) glued pink Swarovski crystals onto all the little black buttons. 

When Cherries Jubilee sent in these pictures, she wrote, "I painted these for my partner to wear to the next Steampunk convention -- I think men should have some foot fun, too." These shoes were inspired by Nicola Tesla, who invented alternating current.  "He was directly responsible for the turbines that lighted New York in the 1890's and was a very dapper character in New York society.  I created a fantasy logo for his electric company, too, and put it on the back of the shoes."

Now we come to the last section of this post, which might be called "What We Did at My HouseThis Summer." The great glitzy-glittering hightops above were done by my daughter Bronwyn, who brought a pair of black Chucks with her when she came to visit for a week from Missouri. She glittered them with our Sassy Feet Glitter It Glaze in Sparkly Silver and Starlet, then asked me to machine-stitch a line of black topstitching thread down the center of each lace -- a marvelous touch for this study in black and white.

Last of all are four simple pairs of sandals that I painted at the request of Bronwyn's other mom. The two pairs on the left are leather, the two on the right are fabric. The orange and blue ones were painted with Angelus leather paint, the black and pale violet sandals were done with the Neopaque (Black) and Lumiere (Halo Violet Gold) paints that we carry in our online store. The black sandals were also embellished with steampunky pewter buttons from Treasure Cast.

That's it for now. Thank you to all the artisans above who shared their work with us. Feel free to send in photos of your own painted and embellished shoes to margot@sassyfeet.com. Destiny and I love seeing what you all are up to!

Collaging Custom 'TOMS'

TOMS Maya classic canvas slip-on in ikat fabric

Soludos's Blue Ikat espadrille

I LOVE ikat fabric, whether it's simple black and white or multicolored. I don't understand how it's made, no matter how often I read the explanations, but that's okay. If you're not familiar with the term, skip the explanation and go straight to these results via Google Images. The visuals tell the story best.

When I saw that some companies were making canvas slip-ons out of ikat, I decided to do my own, with a twist. I found TOMS-like shoes at Payless and went digging through my collection of ikats. (What fabric addict doesn't have stacks of unused but fascinating fabric around?)

I already knew I wanted to do a collage of several patterns, and I decided to stick mostly to black and white, with two antique ikat patterns thrown in for variety. The red fabric is actually silk, the multicolored is a vintage sarong.

I also had the (not so good, as it turned out) idea to make the patches have frayed edges. So I cut long strips, put them in a lingerie bag and threw them in the washer and dryer to make them fray. (Okay, to save you the suspense, the reason using frayed edges wasn't such a bright idea is that when the shoes were done, they looked sort of fuzzy and thready, rather than cool and frayed. You'll see in the pictures that come later.)

From these strips, I cut squares, rectangles, rhomboids (rectangles that don't have parallel sides), narrow strips and other shapes. I also cut some small pieces of black leather for textural variety. Then I got out my preferred fabric-to-fabric glue, Fabri-Tac, and started gluing the pieces to the canvas.

You don't need to plan this, just alternate pieces and snip the edges as needed, flush with the black rubber sole and the top of the shoe. The glue on each piece prevents ravelling.

The toe area takes a little more imagination as it's bigger. For that I laid the pieces down to get an effect I liked before gluing. I will confess that fabric collage is slower than painting  shoes, but it's not difficult. I happily watched several episodes of "The Good Wife"(courtesy of my library) while gluing.

Can you see what I mean about looking a little too... fuzzy?

Even so, I'm happy with my new TOMS-alikes. They look great with black jeans!

 

Glittery Makeover for Canvas Slip-ons

It may be May, but where I live -- on the central coast of California -- not every day is sandal weather yet. Which is why I raided my local Payless store recently and scored two pairs of black canvas slip-ons for painting, embellishing, and keeping my toes warm on foggy spring (and summer) days.

Here's a before and an after of the first pair I did. Payless calls these Gilly Canvas Slip-Ons and they cost $17.99. I decided they needed pimping up!

I started by looking at the lines of the shoe to see if they would give me some ideas about what to do with them. Here's a photo that I've lightened considerably so you can see the detail clearly.

I decided to do something unusual with the trim around the opening and to experiment with a few things along the way. I started by taking this slip-on right out of the realm of ordinary with a coat of Starlet Glitter It Glaze.  Starlet is a holographic glitter that looks beautiful over solid black. It is a mixture of black and silver glitter that reflects tiny fragments of color along with the silver. I hope this closeup gives you an idea.

Next was a little experiment in color mixing. The leather/fabric paints I prefer, Lumiere, seem to lend themselves to tinting with a VERY LITTLE bit of flat black from their sister line of leather/fabric paints called Neopaque. I have had beautiful results mixing Lumiere's Citrine, Pearl Turquoise and other colors with Neopaque Black, so I thought I'd try darkening the Pearl Magenta and see what happened.

The result was a toning down of the pink and a slight heightening of the violet undertones. I painted the binding around the opening of the slip-on in the tinted Pearl Magenta, then took the Neopaque Black and made little stripes. I liked the idea of painting pinstripes on pink -- a conservative line on a non-conservative color.

At this point (sorry there are no interim photos!), the shoe looked okay, but the toe looked really long, an effect that was exacerbated by the canvas extending so far up over the instep. I took my problem to Destiny. She recommended painting a toe cap, like on a sneaker, and suggested it be striped in a different direction.

We also decided to go for broke and add some pink Swarovski crystals while we were at it. Part of our motivation was that the folks who make our Lumiere paint have just come up with a new product that is a 3D paint that works as a glue for beads, crystals, etc. We have had a heck of a time finding a glue that would successfully hold stuff like this to shoes (which bend and flex and make beads pop right off) so we were excited that this might work!

We used the Lumiere 3D Black. It went on a little blobby, but we were able to press the Swarovski crystals into it. I think they will stay on, since the 3D Lumiere gives them a slightly flexible cushiony nest to sit in.

Finally we turned our attention to the back of the shoe to see what kind of pizzazz we could give it. Here's what we ended up doing -- a different version of the striping and more crystals.

Both Destiny and I ended up pretty happy with this makeover -- now I just have to do the right shoe....

Coming Unzipped

It's been five years since my first pair of painted shoes appeared in Altered Couture magazine. Since then, Destiny and I have been thrilled to have sixteen pairs of shoes, boots and sandals appear in their pages.

Today, however, to show you that all this success hasn't gone to our heads (well, my head, anyway...), I thought I'd show you a pair that was recently rejected. Personally, I love them!

These aren't the most stylish shoes -- at least to start with -- but they are all leather, super comfortable, and lend themselves to DIY shoe design! I used them a couple of years ago as the basis for the kitty-face leather-applique shoes I wrote about in "Copycat Kitty Shoes...That You Can Copy."

I decided to embellish this pair with zippers. I am fascinated by big metal zippers. There’s something about the way the smooth surface of the fabric (called zipper tape) contrasts with the bite of the big metal teeth that fascinates me. A couple of years ago, when zippers first got popular on shoes, I wrote about how to make zipper embellishments like roses and spirals.

This time I decided to leave the zipper tape flat and make it look as if the shoe were coming unzipped. I have lots of work-in-progress photos to show you, but they'll make a lot more sense if I show you the finished shoe before we get started.

Here are the steps I took.

I placed a heavyweight zipper in different positions over the toe of my shoe. I tried unzipping it a little, a lot, and everything in between. I angled it in different ways. With each variation, I used drafting tape to hold it in place and stepped back to see how I liked it.

When I had it in a position I liked, I got a chalk marker (like the kind used in sewing) and marked the edges of the opening of the zipper, and the places where the zipper started and ended on both sides of the shoe.

I undid the tape and pulled the zipper off, revealing the V area that would appear to show when the zipper was "unzipped."

Next I drew a larger V outside the lines of the first one. This was to mark the area I would paint. (I wanted to give myself a margin for error and not just paint the exact triangle that the zipper would reveal).

I painted that larger triangle with Lumiere in Pearlescent Blue, which created a nice gleaming contrast to the matte black of the shoe. Then, before doing anything else, I applied little dabs of Beacon 527 glue to the zipper on either side of the pull tab.(E6000 glue would have worked too.)  I didn't want the zipper to move before I got it glued onto the shoe!

Now it was time to cut the zipper and glue it to the shoe. I used sharp scissors and snipped between the teeth. For gluing I decided to try some permanent double-sided adhesive tape I had been urged to experiment with. I cut strips and pressed them onto the zipper tape, then pressed the zipper onto the shoe. It held well.

At this point, I decided to add another piece of zipper tape that would extend part way around the back of the shoe -- I am always telling my students not to stop too soon when doing shoes, so I thought I should follow my own advice! I played with the positioning using drafting tape, then applied more adhesive tape and clamped the loose end to hold it in place until the adhesive set.

Great! I started wearing my shoes and collecting compliments. However, soon the ends of the zipper tape at the sole line started coming loose. I guess the repeated flexing of the sole and the dirt that accumulates down there was a little too much for the permanent adhesive tape. Back to the drawing board.

I got out my trusty tube of E6000, squeezed a dab on each troublesome zipper end, and "clamped" the ends in place using rubber bands. (E6000 works best if you let it set for 24 hours, preferably clamped.) After that, I had no more trouble with the tape coming loose, even after many many wearings.

That's the story of the shoes I call "Unzipped." I guess I'm glad Altered Couture rejected them -- if they'd said yes, I would have had to ship my new shoes off to the editor and not gotten to wear them until they were returned many months later!

P.S. The permanent double-sided adhesive tape did work well everywhere else, just not where the zipper tape met the sole of the shoe.

A Cornucopia of Shoes from Our Fans

 I love it when people send Destiny and me photos of the shoes they've been doing. I invariably discover designs and techniques that never occurred to me!

First are some wedding boots that Lauren created with emailing advice from Destiny and myself. Lauren had never painted shoes before, but that didn't stop her from taking on this project! "I was shocked how easily the lines and stitching held the paint," she wrote. "The snakeskin (the lower section of the boot) painted flawlessly, and I adore that it held the texture so evidently beneath the Copper paint." Each boot took about six hours, Lauren said, "Not a quick project, but relaxing."

Here's another take on painting cowboy boots. These were done by Heather, who started them in a class Destiny and I taught in the Silicon Valley area. These boots started out a well-worn sand color and ended up not only new looking, but quite dramatic.

At the same class, Angela partially sponge-painted these booties to coordinate with a longtime favorite Papaya! handbag. If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you'll see she added some subtle "stitching" along the seamlines. I went to the Papaya! site to see their designs, and they don't seem to be doing handbags anymore, but they have some nice totes and other accessories.

We have quite a few Sassy Feet followers in Australia, and lately I've been in touch with Kathy Guerts, who is a mixed media artisan and teacher working mainly in textiles and jewelry from her Studio Amara in New South Wales, Australia. Kathy sent us several photos and some great descriptions of what she's done.

Kathy says these black espradilles had been sitting in her cupboard for some time and not been worn. She started their transformation by going through her stashes (notice the use of the plural -- a woman after my own heart!) and choosing fabric scraps that would work with black as her base color.

"I also found some gorgeous Czech vintage glass beads which were begging for my attention," Kathy wrote. "These formed another inspiration for my shoes and so I arrived with the black, cream and rust color scheme. I used scissors and sometimes pinking shears to cut shapes which were then glued down with Helmar's fabric glue straight onto the material. Then I added lace and trims. That's it. Very simple, yet I hope you would agree the shoe now has a strong personality of its own." I do agree, and I love how many different things are going on -- harmoniously - -in this design.

Kathy also sent photos of a "cork clunker" she upcycled. "I generally find brown shoes quite boring.These shoes with their ugly cork wedge cried out for some loving. After prepping the shoes with 100% acetone, I sponged Lumiere on the front and sides. After this dried I did the soles in the same way. I followed this by dabbing circles in silver, purple and blue in a random pattern all over the shoes.

"When the paint was thoroughly dry, I  applied masking tape strips diagonally across the front of the shoe. Taking the same small circular sponge tool, I dabbed paint on in between the masking tape strips and in some areas over the strip. When the paint had dried, I gently removed the strips. This gave me the stencilled effect. The next part of sponging was the purple all over the cork wedges.

"I now needed to add one final point of attention. I found an old necklace and  twisted the cords together, then sewed them onto the shoe following a diamond shape already there. I used the remaining cords by tying them up and knotting them on the ends and sewing this at the top center of the vamp. Voila, a new shoe!"

You can't eat just one -- or two. About a week ago, Kathy sent photos of another project that I'm delighted to share with you.

These black hightops got stencilled, stamped and glittered (on the heel). Then Kathy glued on lace and made her own laces from strong yarn that she doubled up.

Next comes a pair of walking shoes transformed by Mary Ann. These are color-blocked, and Mary Ann said she chose pastel colors that would go with her clothes. She topped them off with brightly colored peace-sign shoelaces. I love the cool-tone effect of the shoes with the HOT laces tying them up!

Our last pair of radically upcycled shoes comes from Sandy D., whose work you have seen here before! (If you want to see her earlier DIY shoe designs, use the search box at the top left of this page and type in Sandy.)

These are a pair of purple suede flats from Coldwater Creek that Sandy needed to wear to a wedding. She used Lumiere paints to give them interest and pizzazz. She also painted each shoe slightly differently. I love the way the Lumiere made those purple pompoms shine!

Thank you, all you talented women, for sending in your photos and telling us how you created your Sassy Feet!

 I was shocked with how easily the lines and stitching held the paint, and it was the perfect accessory to accompany the soon-to-be hubby while watching football on Sunday   

The snakeskin painted flawlessly, and I adore that it held the texture so evidently beneath the copper. I am not done, certainly but I am stoked to get finished to start my next pair!!! One boot was about 6 hours though, and I'm not quite finished and haven't sealed them yet. Not a quick project, but relaxing  

The pink that came in the starter pack is SUPER similar to the Cooper on the boots (uppers painted halo gold pink, snakeskin in copper - true gold?) but it worked well and was a good lesson learned. I want to try something with the angelus paints next, but the lumiere paints are just beautiful!!!

Eye Candy, Great Ideas from ASG Artisans

 Apologies for being out of touch lately -- I was preparing for a big class for the American Sewing Guild in Riverside, CA, as well as keeping my "day job" editing clients happy. The class was last weekend and I'm now back home and caught up on things like laundry, dishes and email. Now, to share the wealth!

First, I want to honor Jacquina (at left), who brought a lovely lavendar faux suede bag to paint -- then announced that she didn't know what to do with it because, she said, "I'm not creative." Next thing I know, she has picked out a fabulous length of wide metallic trim and is holding it over the lavendar. This brought out shades of green in the trim (which had just looked brown to me before it was laid on top of the lavendar).

I suggested Jacquina might want to sponge the bag so as to leave some of the lavendar showing, and I pulled out a paint chip of a color that's violet with a little gold in it (Lumiere's Halo Violet Gold). The next thing I know, Jaquina  has selected three other colors to use with it -- and they look perfect! I tell her she's going to have to change her "press release" -- she certainly IS creative!

 

This is a simple pair of Payless flats that Gwyn painted so they transitioned from a rich gold-orange at the toe, through burnt orange at the sides and into a deeper crimson-orange tone at the heel. She did this using smart color choices and plenty of patience when dabbing and lightly stoking in the paint to make the transitions. I love how these look!

Here is another pair of color-transition shoes, this time going from Pearl Blue on the toes to Grape on the top and back half of the booties. Betty painted these and finished them off with bead-and-pearl embellishments that she placed just "north" of the line where the boot will bend when she walks. That way, she didn't have to stitch down the embellishments to keep them from popping off. Instead, she glued them with The Ultimate. I think they came out beautifully.

Darcy took a pair of plain Mary Jane style comfort sandals and gave them a racy coat of Crimson. Then she added tiny Pearl White polka dots in specific areas marked off by the original stitching on the shoe, as if she were doing color blocking. We all smiled when we saw how cute these turned out!

Sea-sponging was a popular technique at this class, and a subtle example of how it was used is shown above. On this pair of lace-ups, Christina used light sponging on the toe and back as part of a color-blocking scheme. What you can't see is that the tongue of the shoe is painted green. There was much discussion about what color the laces should eventually be, green was the winner. Lumiere was used to paint those, too.

Another version of sea sponging, at right, was done by Annell on a pair of simple sandals. She chose a colorful array of Lumiere paints -- blue, purple, crimson and one of the golds. The result was rich and eye-pleasing. 

Here's an example of a simple embellished shoe painted in Old Brass (I think) with the heels (sorry, the photo doesn't show them) painted a contrasting dark brown. These were done by Barbara. One of the things that makes this shoe special is the placement of the embellishment. It extends up over where the foot will be so as to change the shape of the front opening and add interest. Adds a nice touch!

Last of all is a pair of gorgeous wedge sandals painted by a young woman named Amber. She had no questions, asked no advice, just sat down and painted them in luscious colors. She even invented the color-collage treatment on the t-straps and ankle straps without consultation or coaching. (I love young people -- they just go ahead and DO things!) I will let the pictures of her wedges speak for themselves.

I wish I'd had the time and presence of mind to photograph ALL the shoes and bags done in the class -- they were all amazing!

Next week I'll share with you some fabulous shoes -- and a pair of bridal cowboy boots -- sent in by our fans around the world, including a mixed media artisan  from Australia whose motto is IMELDA, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

A Gift for You, From Me

I came across this quote the other day and it struck me as absolutely right. It also gave me the idea for this blog post. I am going to give you the gift of contagious creativity by showing you my favorite things I created this year.

Some of these have been in this blog before, others will be posted later along with how-to instructions. For now, just enjoy seeing the projects -- and maybe do the same thing for your friends: Share the cream of your creativity and spark theirs!

A mahjong minaudiere created for an art show outside Detroit.
I made the fabric by arranging vintage mahjong cards, scanning
them and printing them on to Inkjet fabric.

Zebra print booties that I embellished for Destiny

 

A shoulder bag made by felting an old Laura Ashley sweater and using part
of a felted flower scarf (reinforced with FireLine) as the strap

 

A bootie that's been partly painted and partly fabric-collaged. It has
a fabric-covered heel, hand-dyed silk ribbon laces, and
a button-stack embellishment

 

 
Another minaudiere, this one covered in ribbon-embroidered
velvet and red suede trim. It is embellished with old-fashioned
keys, a tassel and a square glass bead.

 

Comfy black slip-ons "unzipped" to show a triangle of startling blue.
The large-gauge zipper was cut and glued in place.

 

Resin donuts (55mm) from Natural Touch Beads dabbed with various colors of Lumiere using a cosmetic wedge. Fun -- and easy -- to do and they make great shoe and handbag embellishments!

 

Last of all, here are creative projects from some of my favorite people. These are by no means their most amazing creations of 2011, however. To see others, click on the links of the names.

Erin Perry created this tiny (5"x5") copper-clad and ephemera-
embellished shadow box to display a charming resin
reproduction of a vintage shoe.

This is my Sassy Feet co-consipirator Destiny Carter displaying:
1) her new blue-streaked hair -- an art project in itself, and
  2) a beautifully dimensional beaded necklace by Debra Jurey.

That's it for today. May the new year bring you LOTS of creative satisfaction and joy! And may you share it with us by emailing photos to me at margot@sassyfeet.com.

Keep Those Shoes (and Purses) Coming!

I continue to be astonished and delighted by the photos of shoes that you send me! Such imagination, such great ideas and color combinations! I want to show you several of them today.

First is a pair of clogs that Mary from Texas painted for a friend who is a quilter. These are the first pair of shoes she's painted and she did them with the colors from a Lumiere Exciter Pack. All I can say is WOW!

Next come a couple of creations from Laurel, who took a class from me at ARTS Obispo, a wonderful organization in nearby (to me) San Luis Obispo, CA. Above are a pair of booties she began in class and later finished at home. The color of paint she used is Pearlescent Violet. Coincidentally, Laurel's booties were identical to a pair that Destiny and I had just finished embellishing (at right). It was great to see Laurel's photos and see how she'd worked with the design. Interesting that all three of us were inspired to hang an embellishment from the underside of the bootie's cuff.

A few months later, Laurel created a purse for an ARTS Obispo fundraiser -- using a shoe as the base. She sent me an email describing what she did: "I made my wristlet purse by sewing and embellishing the top of the purse with beads and sequins. With the magic of adhesives, I sewed and glued fabric to shoe. The green lace ruffle is custom-made using netting, re-purposed net (for the great lime color), sequins and beads.  The bag has a self-fabric wristband and closes with a zipper."

Some people don't even have to take a Sassy Feet class, they can just have their grandmother attend, borrow her paints and use their abundant natural talent. This wallet is by Taylor T., a teenager from California's Central Valley. She painted it while she was on vacation at the beach, a very accurate view of which is pictured on the wallet.

This sweet pair of flats was done by Adrienne, who obviously has a talent for working small, since she was able to paint eight stripes of Lumiere on each of the straps crisscrossing these peeptoe flats!

Last of all come sandals from Mary W. of San Luis Obispo, who also took my class last summer at ARTS Obispo. She had a wedding to attend and was planning to wear a gray-and-white print dress. She painted her sandals in Pearlescent White and Pewter, and has included a sample of the dress fabric in the background. (And yes, this IS a color photo.)

Thanks to all who sent in photos -- it's wonderful to share your creativity with our hundreds of blog readers!

All About Dying Suede

Suede -- absolutely lovely stuff but once you paint it (which you can do), all that softness and subtle, variagated response to light disappears. Now, this can be a good thing if you suede shoes or purse are old and worn.

But what if you just want to change the color? I have found n excellent answer to that question and it's called Angelus Suede Dye.(You can find it online -- I buy mine from a site called www.turtlefeathers.net.) I have used it before and written about it here, and last week I tried a new project, a pair of ultra-discounted Ugg boots.

I got these awhile back for $39.99 from Decker's Factory Outlet Store in Ventura, CA, which also carrys Teva and Simple brands. (They don't have a website, but if you Google "Deckers Ventura" you'll find info and maps.) You can probably find other Uggs bargains online, if you're interested, since this is the time of year when no one else is buying warm fuzzy boots!

Anyway, these boots were a perfectly decent color, but since my last pair of Uggs (which I wore to a frazzle -- it isn't as warm here on the central California coast as you might think...) was purple, I couldn't very well switch to a plain "sand" color.

I decided to aim for a dusty rose and looked through the Angelus colors. No dusty rose. But there was a shade called Wine and advice on using their Neutral dye to lighten other colors. So I bought two bottles of Wine and one of Neutral to mix together.

Here are two VITAL tips about dying suede. First, wear latex gloves! Unlike the Lumiere paint I work with all the time, suede dye does not wash off with a little soap and scrubbing! It lasts and lasts and alarms your friends and family when they see the scary splotches of colors on your hands.

Second tip: Be prepared to do three coats. The reason for this is that it's hard to get the dye to absorb evenly, but three coats seems to be the key.  I let each coat dry overnight. For these boots, after the first coat, I didn't think the color was rose-like enough, so I poured in a bottle of Lilac suede dye that I had leftover from a previous project. Two coats later, I had a pair of crushed-raspberry Uggs to die for, pun intended.

As you can see, I also applied the dye to the rubber sole. It seemed to work pretty well, but I'll have to let you know how it wears over time.  I have these boots on right now and I love them! The color makes my feet happy!

Destiny has also used the Angelus Suede Dye on a shoulder bag she painted. She loved the contrast of the suede and smooth-leather panels, but felt the gray just had to go.

Now, another key factor in dying suede -- as in dying fabric -- is taking into account the existing color. Dye penetrates the leather (or fabric), unlike paint, which creates a layer over it. So whatever color you start with needs either to be factored into the color you want to get, or be overwhelmed by it.

I factored the slight sand color of my Uggs into my color choice; Destiny chose the overwhelm method and dyed the suede areas on this purse a deep purple, which she got by adding a little black suede dye to a bottle of Lilac.

By the way, she did the top section with Neopaque Black topped with Royal Purple Glitter It! The lower panel is done in several shades of Lumiere. (She has this one for sale in her Etsy shop, which will be back up as soon as she unpacks from vacation!)

Rescuing Some Old Friends

The year was 1969. I was going to very hip women's college and was surrounded by beautiful young women with long flowing sun-streaked hair wearing fringed buckskin and surfer gear, sometimes together. Somehow they carried it off. Me, I got the notion that what I needed to make a fashion statement was some rich purple suede clogs.

Back then, clogs were just starting to be seen on American streets, and I had no idea where to buy them. But my college was just north of New York City, so I got my hands on a NY Yellow Pages and looked up clogs. There was one entry, for a store on 2nd Avenue, slightly uptown. I wrote down the address and on my next free day, I took the train into New York, caught a subway, then walked until I found the number on the side of a building.

At this point, my undaunted quest for cutting edge fashion hit a snag. I was standing outside a Scandinavian delicatessen. Hmm. But I had come a long way, so I plunged in and asked the man behind the counter if they sold clogs.

"Back room," he responded, with a tilt of his head.

Too late to back out now: I went into the back room. There I was confronted with stacks and stacks of shoes boxes containing... clogs! Even purple suede ones!

These were my first pair, and I still wear clogs, though now they are Danskos, which are wonderfully comfortable.  In fact, they are so well made, the leather on top tends to get old and stained long before the bottom of the clog wears out. So, now that I know how to paint and embellish shoes, I decided to do a rescue job on two favorite old pairs.

These are -- were! -- the red, oiled leather Dansko clogs I bought as a present for myself in 2003 when I published my first solo book, A Short Course in Kindness. I knew that if I painted them, they woulnd't have that oiled-leather matte look anymore, but at least I'd be able to wear them outside the house!

I chose Angelus Leather Paint, since they have a nice true red called Scarlet Red, and I added just a little black to it. If you decide to try Angelus, be aware that they have their own prep and sealer solutions, and I don't know if their paint would work as well with just the rubbing-alcohol prep and Pledge with Future sealer that is what we use with Lumiere paints.

Anyway, since these were oiled leather, I did have a concern that the oil in the leather would prevent the paint from adhering -- but not so! Here are the results -- which I've been wearing daily!

My  next project was to do something interesting with an old pair of brown Dansko clogs that I'd gotten a great buy on years ago as seconds from an online store called Footprints (which still sells seconds -- with microscopic flaws; they even have thirds sometimes if you call and ask).

Ever since I started doing shoes, I have wanted to try applying gold- or silver-leaf to them -- and a very old pair of shoes is just the place to experiment. Destiny and I did a sample bit of leafing on a scrap of leather, let it dry, then bent it back and forth vigorously. No cracking or chipping! So I decided to try it.

I found some faux metallic leaf called Fashion Flakes and bought little bottles of Speedball metal leaf sealer and adhesive that go with it. When you are working with a porous surface (like leather), you paint on a coat of sealer first. Then you brush on adhesive, let it get tacky, then apply the metallic flakes.

This can get a little messy! I used tweezers to pull the larger flakes out of the packet and a sheet of computer paper underneath my work area to catch random flakes. Once all the flakes are placed on the adhesive, you take a soft brush and work the surface to remove any stray flakes. Then you apply a coat of sealer.

The metallic flakes come in gold, silver, copper and some combinations. The packet I chose was called Passion Ice Flakes, and the photo on the website showed that it had lots of dusky light purple flakes, but that wasn't at all the case when it arrived. Still, I'm quite happy with the results.

One tip: It's best to use the little bottles of adhesive and sealer pictured above, not the spray-on type. Also, I recommend the metallic flakes, not the metallic LEAF, which is best for flat surfaces -- which shoes definitely are not! I bought my adhesive and sealer at Michaels, but you can no doubt find it online too.

 Here's closeup of the yummy surface -- you can see how different the colors are from the colors shown inthe photo of the package, which I copied from the website where I purchased it. 

Destiny and I are now working on a couple pairs of wedges where we've leafed the wedge itself. We're submitting them to Altered Couture magazine next week. I'll let you know if we get accepted! And either way, we'll show them to you in a future post. Stay tuned!

 

A Very Classy Class

I just got back from teaching a day-and-a-half class for the very creative women in the Fresno Fiber Arts Guild. It was a real luxury to have so much time! In the past I have been challenged to teach the same material in just three hours, which always leaves me feeling like my students get a bit shortchanged.

Not these ladies! I stuffed them full of facts about painting shoes and purses, gluing on trim, and stitching on embellishments. And they showed me some things, too, with their fascinating designs and experiments (successful ones) in color mixing.

I took pictures during the class with the first cell phone I've ever owned that takes pictures, and although some of the shots turned out too fuzzy to use, there were some good ones. Hope they spark ideas for you!

Shirley sponge-painted the faux-leather trim on this nylon tote, using masking tape to protect the nylon area. At the bottom of the picture is the embellishment (one of my designs!) that she will eventually stitch to the top center of the tote.

  Lora created these "Coffee Queen" shoes, which featured broad, short stripes in Metallic Olive Green and Neopaque Black on the straps and around the base of the heel (which you can't see in this picture, sorry). On the toe, she tried painting the black lines of the lettering and the images using several different shape brushes, then gave up and used Sharpie instead. She's going to let me know if the Sharpie lasts over time.

Lora also wanted to use a rubber stamp over the coffee cup, so she cut out a mask for the area around the cup, then pressed her whole inked stamp onto the shoe. I think the result is wonderful.

  Susan, whose organization generously provides a room for the guild's meetings (and who isn't nearly as fuzzy looking in real life...), painted a pair of booties using color blocking, with different variations of color on each boot. The boots were originally black, and she left some of the black intact. Then she used Brass and Crimson on one boot, and Brass and Halo Blue Green (I think) on the other. In back of the boots, you can see a purse Susan was painting with some of the same colors.

We had the pleasure of having a granddaughter-grandmother combination in the class. Carol was the program coordinator for the guild -- who took WONDERFUL care of me during my stay. Her granddaughter, Sabrina, is 11, and her enthusiasm and creativity were a joyful addition to the class.

Sabrina painted several pairs of shoes (including some Midnight-Sky-glittered flats), but the ones she spent the most time on were these Payless flats that she painted Pearlescent Magenta then meticulously decorated with daisy-like flowers.

Carol painted a purse and a couple pairs of shoes, including these formerly worn-looking sandals. If you look closely, you'll see that among the Metallic Rust straps is one that's partially painted Super Copper. A clever touch, I think.

Ann brought a couple of belts to paint, in both cases using the original color and texture as part of her design. One medium-width black belt got a geometric treatment, a narrower belt -- purchased in the 1960s, I think she said! -- was painted in subtle flowing arches with highlights.

After finishing her coral-and-pink-sponged tote, Shirley worked on some shoes, and in the process she rummaged through my stash of goodies, which I bring to each class, and unearthed some gorgeous teal blue feather trim. The result was fabulous. In the picture below, she has clamped the trim on while the glue, which she has applied to the black backing, sets. She'll trim off the extra strip of trim once the glue is secure.

Last but by no means least is our Halloween fanatic, Valerie, who brought a pair of black "witch" boots to work on.

The picture above is of her sponged creations before they were quite finished. In your mind's eye, add purple, green and gold crystals on the tip of the toes and up the back seam -- plus fuchsia-glittered little bats right at the top of the heel. Wearing these, she'll no doubt get the Witch of the Year Award!

Go-Anywhere Flip Flops

Before I tell you about my recent adventure in painting and embellishing a pair of Teva flip flops, I want to brag about Destiny! Her article about Diva Couture, her painted, glittered and embellished heels, is not only in the August issue of Altered Couture, it's the lead article under the heading "See What's Inside" on their web page about the current issue. Check it out! And congratulations, Destiny!

Now, about those flip flops. I LOVE to wear flip flops and if I had my way, I'd wear nothing else. In fact, on our vacation last week that's exactly what I did. I packed my glittered wedge flip flops and wore them to walk on the beach, of course, and to see an Impressionist exhibit at an art museum in San Francisco. I went out to dinner in them at a white-linen-tablecloth restaurant, and wore them to eat fabulous burgers at a brew pub tucked into a mountain valley.

Why are they go-anywhere? Because they are glittered and embellished. Also, their slight wedge makes them more than vagabond footwear.

Here's what my flip flops looked like before I got to work on them.

I got these for $10 from Decker's, a shoe outlet in Ventura, CA, for Ugg boots, Teva sandals, and Simple sneakers. (They don't have a website, but if you Google "Deckers Ventura" you'll find info and maps.) I had been wanting to try glittering a pair of sandals for a while, and since these had fabric straps, not rubber, jelly or vinyl ones, they were perfect for my needs. You can find similar sandals online; they're called Teva Mandalyn Wedges, and here's the link to them at zappos.com.

 

I started by painting the straps solid black, using Neopaque Black. Then I added a couple coats of our Glitter It! paint in a color called Starlet. Just doing this much is a perfect project for beginners. Frankly, it takes zero talent! Just brush on the paint, then dab on the glitter paint.

Next I added an embellishment over the thong. I started with some decorative plastic disks I'd picked up in a salvage store. They were pale pink originally. I painted them a glossy black with spray paint that's formulated to stick to plastic (ask at your hardware store). Then I searched through my button stash from something to create a centerpiece. I settled on some Italian buttons with a spiral motif and a finish that looks like oxidized silver.

I stitched on the embellishments using an ordinary sewing needle and some smoke-colored FireLine thread, which is ultra-strong. And that was that! These are some of the easiest shoes I've ever done -- and they go... ANYWHERE! (Can you tell I am a teeny tiny bit pleased with myself?)

More Shoes by Our Fans

Over the past couple of months I've had some interesting email from other women who love to "do shoes." I thought I'd take this week to show you some of the cool things they've done. In some cases, they even sent "before" and "in progress" shots.

Julie sent a series of photos showing the paint job she did on a pair of Ecco shoes that were quite comfy, but never got worn because they were a light golden tan color. They are made of Nubuck, which takes Lumiere quite well. 

Because the soles and eyelets on the shoe were tan, Julie decided to do an animal print. She chose leopard and sent along a photo she used for inspiration.

Below are the finished shoes. I love the contrast between the smooth texture of the painted spots and the matte surface of the Nubuck. The only glitch Julie ran into was that when she went to seal the shoes with Future, it left some dark spots on the unpainted Nubuck.

Yes, it's best to apply Future only to painted areas. Or you can skip it altogether if you don't want a shiny finish. (The manufacturer of Lumiere does recommend sealing with Future, but my experience is the paint adheres just fine without it, as long as I prep the shoes properly before I paint.)

Julie took this setback in exactly the right spirit. About the dark spots she said, "These weren't new shoes to begin with, so it just gives them a little more character."

Next are some really fun sandals from the prolific Sandy, who is now painting custom shoes for friends and other clients. She did these last summer and I'm glad to finally have a chance to show them to you. She used Citrine and a mix of Burnt Orange and Halo Pink Gold. On the footbed she painted tiny footprints -- with red toenails.

"Then I strung the beads on wire and then wired the whole thing to the shoe," Sandy wrote. "The middle just screamed for a gold sun and orange crystal to top it off.  The little flowers are material which I pasted on.  I wanted these to look like a throwback from the '60's, and that's what they feel like to me."

Here is a progression of before, during and after photos sent by Nadia, who's from Canada. She said reading our blog inspired her to design her own wedding shoes. "With supplies and everything, it cost me less than twenty dollars. I was quite pleased with that!!"

When I saw that Nadia had painted her shoes Crimson, I asked her what color her wedding dress was. Her answer? "Actually my dress is white, but I wanted a hint of colour and shoes sounded perfect!" I think they'll be a saucy -- and sassy -- surprise peeking out from under her white gown!

I want to show you one more pair of shoes before I close this post. They are from Adrienne. I asked her to write something about herself and her shoes, and here's what she said.

"I, too, am an artist of many media. I was inspired to do this because of two things. 1) I'm a certifiable shoe freak. My friends call me Imelda. I have a 3-shoe-month zappos.com habit.  2) I recently bought a purse from zappos.com from a line called "Anushka" which is Coach quality, but painted. Look them up, you're going to LOVE them. Put art, shoes and purse-painting together and TADA. I'm having a great time. 

"Thanks for the encouragement. I have some other ideas up my sleeve...I'll keep you posted, and THANKS for the introduction into a new field of artistic expression."

I'm the one who should be saying thanks -- to all the talented women who have taken up their brushes and beads and baubles and shared the beautiful results with us!

What a Talented Class!

This post is a few days late because I was recovering from a very exciting teaching trip to the Sacramento area. It was my first opportunity to teach members of an ASG (American Sewing Guild) group -- in this case the ASG Gold Country Chapter -- and let me tell you, these folks are hugely creative!

We had nineteen people, including their super-helpful special events chair, Jenny Lyon, who started small by glittering her Blackberry case with Starlet Glitter It paint, and before we knew it, she was painting a large purse Citrine! The range of people was great, from a young, hip 20-something woman to a pair of sisters in their late sixties. I even had my first male student.

I wanted to show you some shots from the day we spent together. Above right is Deborah painting a pair of "cage" boots. She finished them off with a ribbon fan encircling an ombre wired rose.

One of the things that interests me most when I'm teaching a class is to see the color combinations my students pick. Often they are something I wouldn't have thought of myself, but they look great! The booties that Carol (at left) is doing are a good example.

I bring 25 colors of Lumiere with me to each class, so there's lots of opportunity for coming up with fresh color combinations. And that doesn't include the colors that people mix.  This class was a standout in terms of mixing colors. They just started doing it without any nudging or instruction from me. 

Tecla (at right) worked happily at mixing Metallic Olive Green with varying amounts of darker colors until she got the exact shade of camouflage green she wanted for her sandals.

A student painting her sandals created a gorgeous medium blue -- not pastel-y at all, as I would have expected -- by mixing Indigo and Pearl White. She mixed an even lighter version for highlighting the edges of the straps, then sweet-talked me into sewing little Bali beads onto the point where her straps crossed. (Well, she was one of the ladies in her late sixties.)

Blue and green seemed to be very popular colors in this class. The green in these upcycled flats (Metallic Olive Green, I think) got a wash applied to it (a mixture of Lumiere -- looks to me like it was a metallic shade-- and about 25% water), then blue paint was lightened a bit for the contrasting areas.

This was a mixed class of people who wanted to paint purses as well as shoes, and a lot of folks did both. The purse below started out white, then got sponged with Pearl Magenta, Citrine, and (I think) Metallic Bronze. The straps, which hadn't been painted yet when I took this photo, were done with the Pearl Magenta.

 

At the end of the class, bling-lover and embroidery wizard Bobbi Bullard, who first suggested I come teach at their group, organized  everyone to put all their creations together so we could get a photo of the class's output for the day. Here is a closeup of part of the collection so you can see details of some of the other shoes that were done, followed by a shot showing the whole nine yards.

 

I count thirty purses and pairs of shoes. If you double-click on either of the group photos above, you'll see some very interesting color details and embellishments. And a big thanks to all the talented ASG members who made last Saturday such a festival of color and design!

Wedding Bell Wedges

I discovered recently that one of the wonderful women in my wearable art group (Peninsula Wearable Art Guild) is planning to get married in June. She and her darling fiance, Dave, are nearly retirement age, which made the event even more a delight in my eyes: living proof that it's never too late to find true love! 

So I offered to create "bridal shoes" for Judi as a gift to the happy couple. She replied that she didn't wear fancy shoes, just comfortable ones like Clarks or Birkenstocks.  I said, "So what? I could paint those!" She agreed and some email discussion took place about what she was planning to wear, what style and colors it would be, how long the skirt would be, etc., etc.  Judi found some comfortable shoes with nice lines to them and sent them to me along with a photo of the dressy jacket by Spencer Alexis that she was using as a model for her own top. She also included swatches of the fabrics (a lovely palette of blues, purples, and plum) with notations on where each fabric would be used (long skirt, tank top, lapels, sleeves, closure embellishment, and so on.)

When I opened the shipping box I was quite excited because the shoe design was a lot more interesting than I was expecting, based on Judi's earlier comments. It's a low wedge made by Aravon, which is known for its comfortable shoes.

As you can see, the overlapping sections of the sandal look like leaves, which was the perfect shape to go with the slightly burnt-out floral pattern in the main fabric (a solid color of deep rich blue) she would be using. (The fabric swatches didn't photograph well, so I won't show you a picture of them.) Also, the points on the leaves nicely echoed the points at the front center hem of the jacket and those made by the bands at the ends of the sleeves.

I started working on this project by asking Destiny to come over and help since she's the expert on mixing colors. Together we decided to paint the different sections of the upper in three different colors to match the fabrics, then add some detail to enhance the design.

First we mixed a deep rich blue that had tints of purple in it. We used equal parts Pearlescent Blue and Pearlescent Violet, then painted that on the shinier part of the upper.

We decided to paint the two overlapping "leaves" in the two accent colors that were in the swatches: a dark purple and a plum color.  The purple was a perfect match to Lumiere's Grape. The plum was a pretty close match to Lumiere's Burgundy, but we lightened it just a smidge with some Pearlescent Magenta.

That's when the shoe started to look really good!  But the one thing I learned early on in painting and embellishing shoes is not to stop too soon. It seems like adding the extra detail or two is what can turn an attractive shoe into a fabulous one. Now, I had already decided not to add any embellishments to the shoe for a couple of reasons: One, I'd forgotten to ask Judi what kind of jewelry she'd be wearing; and Two, I thought that the shoe might be more useful after the wedding without additional decoration.

So I decided to play around a little more with the paint. I took a toothpick (another tip from Destiny for painting narrow lines that stay the same width as you go) and dabbed it into the purply-blue paint we'd mixed. Then I gently started dragging the toothpick along the embossed "vein lines" on the leaves. This also echoed the floral pattern woven into the fabric and served to unify the design, bringing some of the blue over into the grape and plum areas.

When that was done, we decided to use Future to add shine to the blue side of the shoe (as in the original Aravon design), but leave the other side unsealed so it gleamed but wasn't shiny. (The manufacturer recommends sealing Lumiere with Future, but in my experience you don't really need to unless you want the shiny effect of new shoes.)

  The last step was to do something about the insole, which was originally brown to match the polyurethane wedge/sole. Now, you can't successfully paint that kind of sole -- the paint just peels off -- but it was quite a dark brown so Destiny and I figured if we painted the insole with a mixture of Neopaque Black and Metallic Rust, it would be such a dark brown it would probably look like black, and it might even convince the eye that the sole was black, too. Talk about sneaky....

And it worked! We were ridiculously pleased with ourselves at how well that turned out -- you can no longer tell that the wedge and soles are really a dark brown.

So here's to Judi and Dave -- may you enjoy your marriage immensely and have many wonderful adventures together in the years and years and years to come!

Love,

Margot

Turning Orthopedic Shoes Stylish

In my recent post on "More Shoes by Sassy Feet Fans," I told you about my client Barbara Jo who ended up designing an embellishment for her own shoes. Now I'm going to tell you about the pair I painted and embellished for her.

Barbara is a woman who loves stylish shoes, but she also has very delicate feet so she's really limited by what styles she can wear. She told me that she basically buys black shoes and brown shoes from a particular maker, inserts orthotics in them, and just lives with her limitations. When she found out that I could paint shoes for her, she was thrilled!  She came by one day with two pairs of shoes. The black ones you saw in the earlier post. Here are the brown ones.  They are made primarily of dark brown stretch fabric with a leather inset at the heel. 

I also asked Barbara Jo to bring clothes in the colors she likes to wear, so I'd have some idea of what kind of color palette to work with. Here's a  closeup of what she brought.

 
Together we decided to do a sponged surface (like the one I did for my own purse, which I blogged about back in August). It's a great effect for shoes or a purse that you want to wear with an array of different colors.

Based on the colors of Barbara's clothes, I pulled out six different colors of Lumiere from my paint box: Pearl Magenta, Crimson, Burgundy, Halo Violet Gold, Grape and Metallic Bronze. These are dark and light shades of red, purple and bronze. I squeezed a little puddle of each onto a palette, then used a wedge-shaped cosmetic sponge to daub small amounts of the colors onto a sample scrap of leather. I didn't pick up a big blob of each color -- just a bit -- and I didn't mix the colors beforehand. I simply used the sponge to mix the colors on the leather itself. I also didn't worry about the paint drying before I applied more. Here's what the sample looked like.

Barbara came by and said she liked it. We decided to paint 2/3rds of the shoe and leave the rest brown. Barbara also picked out an embellishment I'd made -- more on that in a moment. I started on the shoes by taping off the areas that wouldn't be painted. I used drafting tape to cover the soles and the edge where the brown would meet the sponged purple-pink.  This is because  it's hard to paint right up to an edge when you're using a sponge instead of a paintbrush.

I also cut a little template to tape over the brown fabric back where the leather heel detail was. At right is a photo of the area I'm talking about.  I did this by taking a sheet of printer paper and pressing it onto the raised leather area. Using the flat part of my fingernail, I traced the edge of the leather, then cut out the area along the line I'd made in the paper. I held the cutout up to the shoe to see if it adequately covered the brown fabric, trimmed it up a bit, then adhered it with double-sided tape. It didn't need to be watertight at the edges, because all I was going to do was gently sponge on top of it.

From then on, I just kept sponging until I got a mixture of colors that looked like the sample I'd done. It takes a little courage to do this kind of shoe painting. I mean, you don't know exactly how it's going to turn out. But you can always sponge over areas that you don't like and eventually (unless you use too much paint and saturate your sponge) you get great results.

Here is the finished shoe, including the button-stack embellishment Barbara Jo chose, which I stitched on using FireLine. It consists of a butterscotch agate donut topped by a Chinese coin and a cast white bronze button.  

As  you can see, the sponged paint comes out looking a little different on fabric than it did on the leather sample -- it's a little more muted -- but the end result was quite satisfactory!

Here's the finished pair. Barbara Jo left my studio with them with a big smile on her face -- and plans for what we could do to make her sandals look stylish for summer. Boy, do I love my job!

The Fabulous Vicki León, Part Deux

One thing I've learned living the Life of Destiny is nothing is ever as scary as you think it will be once you arrive.  We spend a lot of time getting nervous, excited, preemptive, and worried when big events are in our near future. I was so nervous about doing those fabulous jewel-toned pumps (see my previous post) for the fabulous (and very sassy) Vicki Leon.  My worries, of course, were unfounded as Vicki was thrilled and the pumps turned out wonderfully.  In fact, it all turned out so wonderfully that I was asked to do another pair! All right!

This time the shoes weren't meant to be as high-profile as the last. These were her comfy, broken-in, well-loved leather lace-up shoes that she planned to wear while tromping around the cobblestone streets of Italy. The only problem for VIcki was that they were starting to look well-loved.  You guys all know that is no problem for us!
 

Vicki handed over her "spats" to me for a funky makeover, but she wasn't really interested in the pearlescent, luminous finish of Lumiere paint (the brand we usually use). She wanted a matte finish on her leather lovelies. We have just the thing.  If Margot and I want a leather paint that covers as flawlessly as Lumiere, but dries to a matte finish, we use Angelus leather paint. It comes in a lot of colors and has always given us great results.

I started by prepping the surface with a deglazer made by Angelus.  Once the surface was prepped and completely dry I started by painting a custom mix of purpleish-pink on the upper leather panel. I let the shoes dry about 10 minutes in front of a heater, which shortens the drying time. Then I painted on another coat. Next I used Angelus black to paint the tongue and toe. I only needed one coat of black.

My only snafu came when I did the laces, which needed A LOT of coats of yellow. I lost count on how many I did to cover the laces evenly. It did work eventually, however. I don't think the problem was due to the Angelus paint, because the other two colors went on flawlessly.  I think the problem was the nature of the color yellow. It's a light pigment, like white, and sort of translucent. The final touch was to add some black "blocks" on the laces to tie them in with the shoe. Once all the painting was done, I brushed on an Angelus sealant/finisher.

I wasn't there when Vicki picked up her shoes, but I heard she was very, very pleased! Phew! I managed to pull it off again. I'm so glad she loves them. And to think, a Sassy Feet! pair of shoes were touching the cool cobblestone streets of Europe! Wow. How wonderful!

 

Combining Paint and Fabric Collage

I have a thing about high-top and low-top sneakers. I really like to wear them -- they make me feel like a kid again -- and they are great to paint and embellish. The Lumiere paints I recommend for use on leather work beautifully on fabric.

Also, you can often find great deals on Converse lookalikes at Payless. That's where these gray plaid low tops came from. I bought them for myself (as opposed to buying them to use as a sample shoe for Sassy Feet techniques) and wanted to do fabric collage on them. As it ended up, they became a combination of painted and collaged. 

I started with packet of 12 different purple and blue cotton prints from my local quilt store. There was an 11"x7" piece of each print, more than enough to do a pair of sneakers, high or low top.  I started by using my pinking shears to cut out narrow 7"-long strips. Then I arranged these so there was good contrast between each strip. Here's what that arrangement looked like, shown with a measuring tape to illustrate that the strips are slightly different widths.

Then I got out my Fabri-Tac glue, which I prefer for gluing fabric to fabric and which I squeeze into an 89-cent glue applicator so I can get a finer line of glue and not kill my hand gripping and squeezing a big bottle. Next I started snipping pieces to fit the height of the shoe.

No measuring, I just glued one end of the strip to the place where the rubber sole met the fabric upper, then glued my way up the strip until I reached the top of the shoe and snipped off the excess (which I saved to use on another part of the shoe) with sharp little sewing scissors. I worked from the back forward, overlapping the strips and being sure I had glue on the entire back of the strip I was gluing.

I worked my way all around the sneaker like this. When the main part of the sneaker was done, I then fabric-collaged the Velcro straps, the tongue, and the part of the sneaker they were fastened to. And guess what? It looked terrible!  There was too much collage, too confusing to the eye. So I pulled off the fabric, wiped off the glue, and when the shoe was dry, simply painted that area with Lumiere Pearlescent Violet., which created a wonderful contrast in texture to the fabric.

There were two more steps to this project. First was to cover the raw edges of the cotton strips so they would be protected from the friction caused by slipping my foot in and out of the shoe. For this I used fold-over elastic, which can be purchased very cheaply from a few online stores, including www.sewzannesfabrics.com and www.faysfabrics.com. It comes in quite a variety of colors. I attach the elastic by stitching it down at the beginning, gluing the middle and stitching down the end.

The last element in this design is the toe. I decided not to leave the original white rubber toe. However, all but the most expensive specialty paint will peel right off of rubber, so I had to think of something else. That something else was... more fabric collage! You can use either E6000 or Flip Flop Glue by Beacon to attach fabric to the rubber toe -- I think I used Flip Flop Glue, since it was less sticky and therefore easier to work with.  

I have to say, I love how these low-tops turned out! They look great with jeans and go with all the blues and purples I love so much to wear. Plus, they are absolutely one of a kind. If you like the fabric-collage look, drop in to your local quilt store and see if they have any pre-cut packs of color-coordinated prints. Or rummage through your stash. It's really fun to mix and match prints. If you're ambitious, you could even use this technique on a purse. Hmmm..... Maybe I'll try that next. Stay tuned!

Painting a Zebra Print

Apparently one of the big trends this season is animal-print clothing and accessories, and I have to say that even in my non-urban corner of the country, I see women carrying very cool oversize handbags with a giraffe-hide pattern done in black and white and highlighted with dark red trim.

I couldn't imagine myself being able to paint a giraffe pattern, but I thought I might have some luck doing zebra stripes, especially if I had a pattern to trace onto the shoe.  First I started with a shoe that had plenty of flat space for working on. These black slip-ons of manmade leather are a perennial at Payless, where I've bought several pairs over the years. (They also have a really nice leather version -- unusual for Payless.)

 

First I painted the shoe Metallic Rust, because I wanted my black stripes to have a tawny brown background.

Next I went hunting online for patterns of zebra stripes. Wow, what an adventure! Too many choices, many of which were stylized, geometric or otherwise Not What I Had In Mind. So I decided to look for stencils and found one I really liked by a British company, Stewart Gill.

I purchased the stencil and tried to use it to draw lines on the shoe with a chalk pencil. I have to confess that this didn't work so well! I ended up with a whole lot of little lines and I couldn't tell which were the background and which were the stripes....

So I gave up and decided to use the stencil as a visual guide and just wing it! I found a paint brush in my toolkit with long thin bristles called a #1 Script Liner. It seemed to me this would help me draw long lines, and I think it did, but an artist friend, Lisa Hoffman, just laughed at me and said I would have done just as well with an ordinary brush. Geez... I LOVE having special tools for special uses! What a wet blanket!!

Anyway, that's the brush I used and here's the result.

  

I confess that after doing the black stripes, I went back and did some touch ups with the Metallic Rust, but not a lot. It turned out to be a whole lot easier than I thought it would be. I'm famous for saying, "I can't paint," meaning I can't paint a tree that looks like a tree or a cat that looks much like a cat. But I'm willing to admit now, I sure can paint stripes!

As you can see from this photo of the front of the shoe, I decided my stripes would run at a diagonal and I started them not at the very toe, but partly up the upper (where the orange arrow is pointing)and worked up and down from there. I did this to establish the angle I wanted the stripes to go.

I spent a fair amount of time looking closely at the stencil, noticing where the stripes forked, how they varied from wide to thin, and how some of them tailed off in the middle of the pattern.

As I worked, I didn't think the stripes were actually very good, but once I got done, WOW! My very own tawny zebra shoes. I'm pleased.

I also fiddled around with a photo of the stripes I painted in my paint program so you could get a taste of how cool zebra stripes look in black and a brighter color.

Check these out! And you could paint both the stripes and the background in colors instead of sticking with black stripes. If it's helpful, click on the photo with the arrow, print it out, and use it as a guide for painting zebra stripes. Better yet, experiment on your own and discover how easy it is to do.

I'll have to keep that in mind myself -- I still have to paint the left shoe in this pair....
 

When Shoes Refuse to Be Painted

Last week I talked about working with some Steve Madden shoes. This week we'll go to the opposite end of the spectrum and talk about the ulimate non-designer shoes: Crocs.  Most people either love Crocs or hate them. (If you're a Croc hater, read on anyway because you'll find ideas you can use on other shoes).

Crocs grabbed my interest as a DIY shoe designer because one of my very first DIY shoe students brought Crocs with her to class. I told her I didn't know if the Lumiere paints we were going to use would adhere. She cheerfully said she'd try it anyway. She painted her pair a gleaming Burnt Orange, and told me later that the paint peeled off the first time she wore them.

I took that as a challenge.  So I bought a pair of off-brand "Crocs" (made from EVA) and experimented. I tried sanding the surface before painting with Lumiere. The paint peeled off anyway. I tried prepping the surface by spray-painting it with a primer for plastic surfaces. Again the paint peeled off. Then I tried spray-painting them with paint from the hardware store specifically for use on plastic, like patio furniture. Guess what happened? I got so frustrated I threw them out, which is why I can't show you a photo of big sheets of paint peeling off my EVA clogs.

Okay, I thought. Some surfaces just won't take paint, and I guess EVA -- which, unlike plastic patio furniture has to flex and bend -- is one of them. So what CAN I do to them? Well, I can embellish them!

It seemed to me that the easiest way to embellish this kind of shoe was to lace and tie something through the holes so thoughtfully provided by the manufacturer. So I got some very colorful ribbon yarn and tried a number of lacing patterns. Result: Better than nothing, but nothing special. Then I got the idea to add small colored jingle bells to the mix and tie them on with lots of little knots. When I cut the yarn after each knot, I left generous tails, which were what formed the embellishment. Above is the result. I call them my Cafe Croc-a-likes.

My next step was to see what I could stitch onto a pair of Croc clones. Using my favorite design technique, the juxtaposition of opposites, I went looking through my stash of chains to see what I could use. I came up with some gunmetal-colored double curb chain, which I had bought awhile back at Ornamentea. I draped it this way and that over a red clog until I found a simple pattern that made the most of the chain. Then I got out my Dandyline beading thread and stitched down only the beginning and end points of the chains. That way, the chain would move a bit and make a nice noise when the shoes were worn. I call these my Punk Croc-a-likes.

Last of all, I decided to figure out how to glue embellishments onto EVA clogs. After experimenting with several types of glue, I determined that E6000 works best. This time I started with shocking pink clogs, black velvet ribbon and two black lace yoke appliques, usually used on V-necklines. I glued those on, let dry 24 hours, then added two little Swarovski elements for even more juice in the "juxtaposition of opposites" game.

The result is a pair of Boudoir Croc-a-likes. One note: The nice thing about using lace appliques is that you can cut them to size without worrying much about their raveling. I've used white ones on bridal shoes and a lovely slate blue pair on faux suede boots painted Burnt Orange. You can find them online by searching for "lace appliques yoke."

'Bout Time We Talked About Glitter

Given the name of this blog, I probably ought to talk about this glitter thing. Now,I'm not normally a glitter girl. I'm not glitzy or glamorous. I don't wear diamonds (my engagement ring has sapphires and garnet). But I find the sparkle of glitter rather appealing.   And as my friend Melissa the waitress says, "It's hard to be mad when you're sparkly." She let me glitter her heavy black workboots and walked the floors of Taco Temple here in Morro Bay with sass in her step! 

The thing that drives everyone nuts about using glitter, though, is that it gets ALL OVER THE ^#$?^#@  PLACE!  My co-conspirator in crafts, Destiny Carter, says that glitter is the herpes of the craft world. So I came up with a way to submerge the glitter in a clear leather paint so that it would still sparkle like mad, but it couldn't get out and sprinkle itself all over your life. (It works on manmade leather and fabric shoes too.) Here are some before-and-after shots of shoes I've glittered to get you thinking about what's possible.

Above is a sport shoe with its sides painted Burgundy and its top painted  then glittered with Sparkly Silver. At right is a simple canvas skimmer, painted Bright Gold then glittered in Antique Gold. I painted the white piping black, then used a 1/4" wide flat brush to paint the "stripes" with Metallic Olive Green. 

   
This shoe was another that started out as fabric. Because it was already reddish in color there was no need to paint it first. (Our glitter paint, called Glitter It!, works best when it's used to add sparkle, not to change the color of a shoe.) I glittered it with Really Red, painted the insole black, and glued black and red snap tape around the platform.

  

So whether you're going to be a bridesmaid or a bride, a glamourpuss, a vamp, or a hipster (do they still say that?)...

WHO DOESN'T NEED GLITTERY SHOES??  Especially if you need to go home again (Ruby Slippers).

 

To see our whole palette of 21 glitter colors, click here. Not to sound too much like an ad, but at $7.99 a bottle, getting sparkly is a great way to feel good in hard times. Besides, a bottle covers two pairs of shoes so you could always shower with a friend (as it were) at half the price.