Sassy Feet! blog

A Little Bit of Shoe Q & A

Margot and I often receive emails from people asking for guidance, ideas, help and sometimes to solve a problem or two. We encourage it. Not only do these emails help the person asking the question, but they allow us to know what kinds of issues people are having so we can share the answers with you.

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Q: I love your site! I have 3 questions for you.
- What is your favorite fabric paint brands for canvas shoes?
- What is best paint sealer for hand-painted canvas shoes?
- I did a gold leaf finish on the rubber toes of Converse sneakers. What is best sealer to use over the top to seal it so it doesn't chip?

Thx very much for your expert advice :)

A: Good questions!  For painting fabric shoes, we prefer Lumiere by Jacquard. If you want less gleamy colors, try their sister product line of fabric paints, Neopaque.

No need to seal paint on fabric shoes. If you use high-quality fabric paint, the paint will bond with the fibers of the fabric. If it's manmade or genuine leather, you would use Pledge with Future Shine to seal the paint.

As to sealing gold leaf, I think the manufacturer of the leaf must have a product. Take a look at the blog Margot did on gold leafing her leather clogs.

The bigger concern about your gold leaf on sneaker toes is that it may not stay on when the toes bend and flex. Let us know if that happens.

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Q: Hello, I love your shoe blog! How do i paint my black Uggs into gold glitter Uggs? And If I do this, will the glitter crack?

A: What a great idea!  First you need to paint them gold with Lumiere (there are several different shades of gold you can use, depending on what color gold glitter you use). Then apply our Glitter It Glaze, either in Pale Gold or Antique Gold. 

If you choose Pale Gold Glitter It Glaze, use True Gold Lumiere paint.  If you choose Antique Gold Glitter It Glaze, use Bright Gold Lumiere paint.

One bottle of paint and one bottle of Glitter It should be enough to cover a pair of Uggs. You will also need a small bottle of sealer to keep the glitter bright over time.

We will send you instructions on how to apply the paint and Glitter It Glaze when you order. And, be sure to take a "before" picture!

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Q: Hi, I enjoyed reading about your shoe painting techniques and wanted to ask your advice on painting a pair of old leather Riedell skate boots. I just got them off eBay for $30, but the paint on them is cracked and peeling off.  Can I strip the paint, sand, repaint and seal them with usable and ethically pleasing results???  What do you think? 

I love the glittery high top tennies you did; maybe I could do a glittery white and some accents on the skates, once I get them ready... Right now, the skates are pretty sad. I didn't see the exact condition on the eBay site; I just thought that they were dirty. I am hoping that I can make them useful and cute.

Thanks so much, hopefully the attached pictures will help. Hope we can upcycle these into little beauties again! I'm up for the challenge of a good project, but if it's going to be a total waste of time and money, I’ll just get a boot cover.

A: As much as We'd love to turn you on to painting shoes (and in your case, skates!), and think it would be a mistake to try to paint these. Even if you sanded down the cracked and peeling areas, there is no way to predict if other areas would start to crack later on as you wore them. Then you'd have nice new paint over old cracking paint.

The other issue is that skates tend to get scuffed way more than ordinary shoes, so you'd probably have to do frequent touchups. The paint we recommend is very adherent, but it's not proof against serious scuffs. So enjoy your vintage skates -- just put boot covers on them.  Sorry We couldn't be of more help!

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Believe it or not, there are some shoe issues that our magic products and techniques CAN'T fix. Margot and I always try to give honest advice that gives you the best results, even if it means we lose a potential sale. Telling someone to use our product when it won't do any good isn't our kind of business.

So, please, never hesitate to send those questions. You'll always get quick, honest, well-thought-out advice! And we can use your Q&As here to help other DIYers!

A Tale of Summer and Winter (Bags)

*** SPECIAL SUMMER SALE on Lumiere starter kits
Now just $11.95 ($3 off)!

Quite a few years back, my wife, Erin, and I decided to save our shoulders and buy Ameribags, those backpack-like shoulder bags that distribute the weight of all the stuff that's in them in some way so they don't feel as heavy as they are. (I'm sure the manufacturers have a more succinct way of explaining the physiological benefit of their bags....)

We used them for a short while, and then they ended up in the back of the closet. Until I was hunting around one day for a bag to paint. Then I dragged out my black Ameribag and started playing with Lumiere paint and cosmetic sponges. I loved the results! And blogged about them.

That was two years ago, and despite using the bag daily, I am happy to report that it hasn't even needed any touchups yet. My wardrobe -- such as it is -- needed some touchups, though. So I decided to get a new Ameribag bag for summer. (I had fallen in love with its lighter weight and abundance of pockets, both inner and outer, no matter its rather odd shape.).

This is the point at which Erin enters the story."Do you want to paint my bag?" she offered. What a great idea! So she dug her bag out of the even-farther-back of her own closet, and offered it up on the altar of altered couture.

Oh boy, a new canvas to paint! I knew I wanted to do a multicolor sea-sponging effect, so I grabbed my big plastic tote (the kind of thing you use for lugging around cleaning supplies, but I put it to MUCH better use) of Lumiere paints, and started pulling out a lighter palette of colors. 

First I needed a background for the sponging. I brushed on a coat of Metallic Bronze lightened with Pearl White. The paints I chose for the sponging on top in a series of light layers were Metallic Russet and Halo Pink Gold, both lightened with Pearl White, Copper, and Halo Violet Gold. The result was... a little blah. Not enough contrast, I think.

So I asked Destiny what to do. She suggested sponging on Citrine, which I did -- along with Metallic Olive (just a little), Copper, full-strength Metallic Bronze and Halo Violet Gold. These last layers were very, very sparse, so lots of the colors underneath would show. (Click on the photo to see the colors better. Lumiere is so light-reflective, it's hard to get a good photo of it!)

Now for the embellishments. I pulled out a wonderful piece of iridescent purple leather, a vintage watch face and some coppery crackle fabric trim I'd been saving for something special. I can't stress enough the importance of buying something really special when you first see it -- even if you are getting just a little bit of it. I've sat on that yard of shiny copper trim for at least five years!

I glued on the leather and fabric trims with The Ultimate and stitched on the watch face (using a tiny glass bead as the anchor on top) using smoke-colored Fireline and a leather needle strong enough to do the job, but thin enough to slide through the bead.

Here's the finished bag, which I am happily carrying with ALL my stuff stuffed into it. 

And here it is with its winter cousin. Don't they make a lovely couple?

And don't forget our SPECIAL SUMMER SALE ON Lumiere starter kits - Now just $11.95 ($3 off)! Nine different colors, enough paint to mix, match and sponge NINE pairs of shoes or three small- to medium-size bags.

March of the Fan Shoes

Whenever Margot and I get emails asking advice or expressing interest in our craft, we always conclude our correspondence with, "Please send us before and after shots. We LOVE getting emails with photos of your creations!" When we say this, we aren't paying lip service. We really, really mean it. We love to see and SHARE your artistic visions -- like the ones below.

1. Lindsey - She found these designer shoes at a consignment shop, perfect fit and shape but she hated the color. A simple makeover using Metallic Pewter transformed them from a strange green-brown into a shimmering darker gray.

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2. Kristi M. - She wrote us a very thorough email explaining her amazing creations, which I will paraphrase here:

I just wanted to share with you a couple pairs of shoes I did using the Lumiere paints.  I was inspired by some wedges that Alisa Burke painted as well as her artwork. I painted for myself some shoes that started out as inexpensive striped espadrilles from Old Navy.  I sketched in my design with pencil and filled it in with the Lumiere paints. I went back and did the dark outlines with Pitt pens. I never did get around to doing a clear coat over everything, but it turned out not to matter.

The paint actually outlasted the life of the shoes with no wear at all after a year and a half!  I stepped in water a couple times wearing them and it seeped up through the jute soles, ruining the insole and making them too uncomfortable to wear anymore. :( I would love to get my hands on some Tom's peep toed wedge shoes to paint next.

The sneakers I painted for my niece. I did them so from one side it looked like the were all floral and from the other side, all swirly polka dots.  She had seen some that my now 10-year-old daughter and I painted together (they are too filthy to share at this point) and wanted some for herself. They are so fun to do!

Thanks for all of the great inspiration you provide on a regular basis!  I really love the pink tennies you blogged about recently and would love to do a pair for myself! (maybe in turquoise, though) :).

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3. Kari - Her email to us was concise enough to serve as the description here as well:
Before (gold) and after (dark silver)! I can't wait till I get black shoelaces so I can wear them. Thanks so much for your help.

I used Metallic Pewter with Neopaque Black added to get the dark silver shade I wanted. Then I used the stamp-pad ink you recommended (StazOn or Adirondack alcohol ink) on the sole. I also used straight Neopaque Black diluted with some water on the inside fabric part that would show while wearing them.

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4. Lynda - Above are Lynda's CLOSETFUL of upcycled beauties. She discovered our book and realized there was a DIY fashionable solution to having to wear orthopedic shoes. She wrote, Here are SOME of the makeovers I have done since I discovered your great book. I have had extensive foot surgery, and have many UGLY but expensive shoes I have been transforming, thanks to you.  Surely you recognize your techniques.

Thanks for showing me how to update these expensive monsters. I actually get compliments on...my shoes!  Thanks to you! I do not want to mislead you, however.  Not all of them are orthotic, but they are all high quality, supportive, and usually ugly.  The best example is the red one with the uncoiled zipper down the front.

Nicely transformed, Lynda.

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5. Lynne S - Margot recently attended a meeting of wearable art group, PenWAG. There she ran into Lynne S. who was wearing a pair of her customized shoes. So, Margot snapped a couple pics with her phone. From the pictures, I'm guessing Lynne used a cosmetic sponge and dabbed on light layers of Metallic Bronze and Metallic Rust.

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6. Sandy D. - These fun, funky wedges were created for her niece's wedding. She wanted something that represented the sand and the sea. Sandy used lots of colors and really went for it. She wrote, As you know, when I paint, each shoe screams a story at me, so the footbed, which represents the ocean, is Halo Blue Gold, the wedge, which represents the beach, is Halo Pink Gold, the glitter, which represents the sand, is Honey Spice.  The small space between the "ocean and beach" that is like foliage is Citrine.

I believe the fish are Metallic Gold, along with Pearl Magenta and Burgundy.I wanted something fun, something that screams Hawaii, beach, ocean.  The reason I went with that color for the ocean was because my niece mentioned something about "greenish" and "guava,"and I thought the Halo Blue and Pink Gold represented these two colors very well.

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Seeing emails loaded with pictures is one of my favorite things about being a part of Sassy Feet. I know I have said this many times before, but I really mean it. It is inspiring and infectious and it makes me want to get creating! So keep sending them in! 

Paint (and Dye and Tint) Your Own Kicks

You could pay a fortune these days for custom sneakers -- or you could customize them yourself. Hint: the second option is MUCH more fun! I did a simple color job on these Champion brand kicks, and I'll walk you through it to show you how easy it is.

Before you paint or color your shoes, you need to know what they are made of. In this case, the blue is suede, the white stripes and heel trim are leather, and the white sole is rubber or plastic. You can dye suede and it will come out as soft as it started. Leather (or faux leather) you can paint with Lumiere or Angelus paints, and rubber or plastic soles you can tint with permanent alcohol inks, like StazOn, Pinata or Ranger Adirondack Ink. 

Here's how to use these three products.

Lumiere Paint- Prep leather by rubbing with rubbing alcohol (or use 100% acetone for manmade leather), using cotton balls or a rag. Using a soft brush, brush on 2-3 coats of Lumiere. Wash brush with water. Seal with Pledge.

Angelus Suede Dye - Brush suede free of dust, clean oil stains if any. Using wool dauber that comes with the dye (and a small brush for reaching tiny areas), saturate the suede. Apply 2-3 coats, depending on the original color. Blot dauber and brush on a paint rag; they will dry soft and ready to reuse with dye. When fully dry, use a stiff brush (I use a nail brush) to brush up the nap of the suede. No sealant needed, though you could spray on a suede protectant.

Pinata (or other brand) Alcohol Ink - Squeeze into a disposable cup (and stir frequently if using metallic colors). Using a cheap brush, brush the ink onto the rubber/plastic areas. Apply 3-4 coats as needed to cover evenly. Let dry (this can take at least a day). You can try cleaning your cup and brush with acetone, or you can toss them out.

The final touch? Custom shoe laces. You can purchase colorful new laces, paint the original white laces with Lumiere paint diluted 25% with water (iron them when dry to set the paint), or purchase trim that you can use as laces.

I chose silver cording for these sneakers. I used a big blunt needle to help me poke the end of the "lace" through the eyelets, then I tied a knot in the end of each lace so it wouldn't ravel.

So, no excuses for out-of-the box shoe colors. I chose soft colors for this pair, but you could get wild, live it up -- and save money! Do sneakers for kids, men, and your elderly mom who refuses to wear anything that isn't 100% comfortable and non-slippery. (And send us your before and after pics for the blog!)

 

 

A Roundup of Shoe Inspiration from Robin

A few times a week, I get emails from my friend Robin with all kinds of cool, trendy shoes. I usually file the ones I think are the coolest and most easily recreated. She often thinks she is bombarding me, but I always say "Bring 'em on" and even share my very favorites with Margot as designs I think we should attempt. I want to share with you a few and give you my tips on how to shoe-it-yourself.

Let's start with something simple. Take this pair of "Myth" strappy suede sandals by Jimmy Choo, only $895.  All you would need is a pair of black strappy sandals, a medium square tipped brush, and a pop color like Citrine or Bright Gold.

Just mask off the criss-crossing straps you don't want any paint to get on and follow two straps up the shoe, painting as you go. After two, or three, coats, you'll have your own graphic design.

Next up is another fairly easy pair of
shoes to mimic. If you have red pumps, all you need do is tie a big floppy bow with dual-colored satin ribbon and stitch it onto the back of your heels with a leather needle and some Fireline Thread in Smoke color.

When we advise people to stitch on embellishments, we always recommend leaving the knot on the outside of the shoe, hiding it within the embellishment. This will prevent the knot from rubbing against your feet. Also, if you have trouble finding ribbon that is a reversible red/black like this one, you can use two separate colors of ribbon tied into one bow.

Chain makes a marvelous embellishment. It's usually inexpensive and comes in a lot of colors and shapes.

To do something similar to these black pumps, all you need is Fireline, a leather needle, a couple lengths of chain, scrap leather to make tabs, a few jump rings and an embellishment of your choosing. An embellishment with a place to attach the chain would work best.

Cut two strips of leather, 1/4" wide and 3/4" long, to make the tabs. Fold the tabs in half around the last link of chain and stitch them to the throat of the shoe, on the inner ankle side. Attach a jump ring to the other end of the chain and to the embellishment. Then stitch the embellishment to the shoe.

These next shoes are a little trickier in that they require the ability to paint with a semi steady hand. If I were doing these, I would probably lightly sketch my design onto the wooden platform with pencil, then use Neopaque Black, applied with a toothpick.

I'm a huge fan of the toothpick painting method. This is dipping the tip of the toothpick into the paint and stippling the paint onto the shoe, in a motion like the needle in a sewing machine. If you have the hand control of a pin striper, a fine line script brush will also work very well.

Lastly, a fun pair of thick-soled beach flip flops. I bet just about any message can be carved on the bottoms, in reverse, with an Xacto knife. Hmm.... I wonder if these work?!

Delicate Sandals of . . . Barbed Wire!

 

I love shoe designs that are a little bit in your face. So when I saw these leather "barbed wire" Milo sandals by Gio Diev last summer, I was intrigued. Then serendipity took me to Fire Mountain Gems, a jewelry-supply site, and I found they were selling barbed-wire-design leather cord.  It was more than I could do not to order some!

I immediately stared searching through our shoe stash for just the right sandals, with straps I could replace with the "barbed wire." I found a pair with genuine cork wedges and manmade leather straps. 

The key to swapping out the straps on sandals like this is to use the existing straps to anchor the new ones. First I MEASURED the existing straps. (Dont' forget this part!). Then I cut off the ankle strap and two toe straps, leaving a scant inch anchored into the wedge. I prepped and painted the remaining straps and the little stubs with Neopaque Black (since the leather barbed wire was black).

Before we go any further, I want to apologize for not taking work-in-progress pictures. But I do have "after" shots and closeups to show you.

The next step was to fold each little stub in half and stich it closed, leaving a loop through which I could thread the barbed wire. (Don't just glue these loops -- I have tried that in the past and they invariably pop open after a certain amount of stress. Not. Good.) I used a leather needle and Fireline beading thread to do the stitching.

Once the loops were secure, I measured out the necessary lengths of barbed wire cord for the toe straps, added an inch to each one (allowing for a half inch extra on each end to fold into connecting loops), and cut my new straps. I threaded one end of each barbed wire cord through a folded stub, then used fairly hefty silver jewelry wire to TIGHTLY wrap the end to the new strap and hold everything closed.

Now, I am NOT a beader or jewelry maker, so if I can do this, so can you. Look at the pictures and you'll see what I did. (The ends of the wire are bent back upon themselves and squashed flat with needlenose pliers so they won't poke the foot.) All this was actually much easier to do than to describe!

For cutting new ankle straps, I added the extra inch to each strap, then a generous amount extra so the ends could be crossed around the ankle several times and tied. (The original straps had buckles, but the "barbs" on the new straps wouldn't allow for that.)

Once I had all the new straps in place, Destiny and took a look and said, "What ELSE can we do??" We are never satisfied with just a little change, barbed wire or not. I recalled having some black chain maille left over from a previous project, so I got that out and headed off to the hardware store for black brads I could use to nail the maille to the wedge. I did so, cutting raggedy edges in it with my metal shears.  

Of course, even that wasn't enough for Destiny and me. We added little brass and black safety pins and a few silver charms to dangle from the chain maille.  Only then we were satisfied!

And this concludes tonight's episode of "Art Girlz Adventures in the DIY Shoe Studio" with Destiny and Margot. Hope you've enjoyed it!

P.S. Our next blog will feature THREE articles we have just had published in Altered Couture magazine.

Cracking Up!

What the heck is THAT stuff? Multicolored elephant hide? It is actually a new product we told you about in January, after returning from the Craft and Hobby Association's annual show in southern California.

It's called Kroma Crackle, and it's the first crackle medium that can be used on flexible surfaces. (A medium is the fluid that paint companies add pigment to so as to make paints.) We've been testing it on leather since we got a tube and finally (it helps if you read all the directions...) got results good enough to report to you.  

I am going to refer you to the Kroma Crackle website for detailed instructions, but I will walk you through the process I used, and give you two tips specific for working on leather. Also, bear in mind that the successful project I did was a handbag, which typically will get less stress and bending than shoes. Destiny and I are doing some shoes next, but we didn't want to have to wait any longer to tell you about this.

I chose a leather bag with a big flat surface to make it easy to work on and to get a big display area for the crackles. The first step in using Kroma Crackle on ANYTHING is to paint the surface with acrylic paint. I chose a fabric/leather paint called Neopaque in a medium blue shade. This color is what you'll see between the cracks when you're done.

Next you squeeze a big dollop of Kroma Crackle into a paint cup and stir in a little of the paint color you want the crackle to be. I chose Lumiere's Pearlescent Emerald. The instructions say to just use a little of the colored paint so as not to interfere with the ability of the crackle to adhere to the surface. If you don't add any color, the crackle will dry white, as in the photo at the top of this post. (In that photo, it's not quite dry yet.)

You apply the crackle to the surface with a palette knife, as if you were icing a cake. The thicker the coat of crackle you apply, the bigger the cracks. Now comes the hardest part: Waiting for it to dry! It takes about three days. Keep an eye on it, and if the crackle starts to peel up too much, press it down with your fingers. (The final steps in ths process will ensure it won't peel when you actually use the bag -- or whatever.)

Close-up of plain white crackle as it dries

Once the crackle is fully dry, DON'T succuumb to temptation and bend the leather, proud of the job you've done. (Like I did.) Now you need to apply a clear coat of paint to seal those cool little cracks to the surface. The Kroma website recommends any artist's medium, but I found that wasn't strong enough to stand up to serious bending and re-bending, like the flap of this bag gets.

Instead, I used our own clear leather medium, Glitter It Glaze without the glitter. I brushed on a thick coat, let it dry, then sealed with a shiny coat of Pledge Floor Finisher, as I would any coat of leather paint.

Samples of Kroma Crackle dry-brushed with various colors of Lumiere

The nice people at Kroma say you can also tint the finished crackles by dry brushing on color or applying a color wash, but I found that doing either got color in the cracks more than I liked.

To finish off the bag, I painted the back and the front area underneath the flap with Angelus leather paint in Sapphire. I also glued Kaffe Fassett cotton fabric over the "wrong" side of the flap as it had some stains on it. I glued the fabric down with Fabri-tac, then sat back and enjoyed my accomplishment!

For detailed directions on using Kroma Crackle, go to their website, www.KromaCrackle.com. (There's also a great new video they've done at http://vimeo.com/63631880.) The only two adjustments to their directions you'll need to make when doing shoes and bags is to use paint that is formulated for leather and manmade leather, like Lumiere, Neopaque or Angelus, and to use a sealant medium that is also made for those materials, like our clear-drying Glitter It Glaze base.

Our cat gives my Kroma Crackle bag his seal -- er, paw -- of approval

Last thing: Practice first! There are lots of little things to discover, like the fact that the crackle needs to dry horizontally so it doesn't drip or run, which would mean doing crackle on your shoes in different stages. But don't let any of these cautions discourage you.

This is COOL stuff, which you can also use on paper, fabric, canvas, wood, and metal. Any questions about it, contact the Kroma folks via their website or their Facebook page. There are also lots of fascinating examples on their Pinterest board.

 

 

A Great Bridesmaid Shoe Strategy

Our daughter Jenny, who LOVES shoes -- especially Italian shoes -- was in a quandry recently when her best friend asked her to be the maid of honor at her wedding. The bridesmaid dresses were going to be turquoise and their shoes were to be white. 

I don't think Jenny owns any white shoes, nor has a use for any. But she does have at least one mom (out of two) who paints shoes....

So she found online a pair of nice leather shoes that I could paint white for her -- then paint again in some color she actually would wear.

Here they are painted with Lumiere's Pearl White.

She also asked me to paint the sole and the breast of the heel in Pearl Turquoise to match her dress. They turned out looking pretty cool, especially with the turquoise on the bottom.

After the wedding, Jenny brought her shoes over to our house and flipped though my key ring of Lumiere paint chips. "THIS is a great color," she said, pointing to Pearlescent Blue. Done, I said! It took two coats and the only tough part was using a toothpick to re-open the tiny perforations in the leather at the front of the shoe.

"Don't you want some sort of decoration on them?" I asked, not-so-subtly pushing her to look at a warm, medium brown color called Metallic Rust.  She went for it!

I decided to use the stitching lines on the shoe as guides to paint very narrow lines simulating piping. The secret to doing this well is two-fold. First, I used a soft taper-point size 2 Colour Shaper brush. This brush has a conical silicone tip and doesn't slide around like a traditional brush does (at least, in my hands it does).

The second part of the secret of painting perfect piping is to keep a little bowl of clean water and cotton swabs at hand so if you paint over the line, you can mop up your mistake right away. Of course, if the mistake dries, all you have to do is paint over it with the blue, so you can see how forgiving doing even detail work like this is!

It was very satisfying seeing the finished product come together, too.

A BIG improvement over plain white -- and they were fun to do. I find that kind of detail work very meditative. It takes concentration and focus, but not a huge amount of effort because making a mistake is no big deal. Now that's my kind of project!

P.S. Jenny loved them, too! 

Tennies Transformation

Ever since seeing my mom wear jeans and sneakers in the Fifties (when other moms were in twinsets and skirts in my suburban Philadelphia hometown), I've been a jeans and sneakers girl too. So when I saw the latest iteration of Chucks (aka Chuck Taylor's Washed Canvas sneaks), I was sold! 

I was not sold, however, on the $100 price tag. Instead of clicking BUY ONE, I grabbed a pair of nice cheap white sneakers ($14.99 at Payless) and got out my paint and brushes.

First I removed the laces. Then I sponged water all over the canvas, because I wanted to duplicate the watered-down, weathered effect on the Chucks. I also diluted the Pearlescent Magenta Lumiere I had chosen, adding about 25% water, which thins the paint without affecting its ability to adhere and last on the shoe.

Lastly, I chose brushes that were firm, even stiff (like the green-handled scrubber brush I usually use for stenciling on fabric). These would help me work the thinned paint into the surface of the canvas. 

Here's a closeup of the nice uneven, faux-faded coloring I got.  

The next step was to use the same diluted-paint-and-stiff-brush technique on the cotton laces. (I didin't bother to wet them before painting.)

The last step was to tint the rubber soles. Paint just doesn't stick to rubber for long, so I got out my StazOn stamping ink, which works great to add color to rubber soles. I didn't have a pink shade on hand, so I used a Blazing Red. I applied it using a gauze pad (the kind for skinned knees) and diluted it on the pad (to get a lighter shade of red) with StazOn All-Purpose Cleaner, which is actually an ink remover.

The great thing about this whole project was that the paint and ink jobs were SUPPOSED to look uneven! Too much red/pink ink on the sole? Wipe some off with the cleaner. Too much paint in a certain area? As long as it was still wet, I could take a clean stiff brush and get some off.

Oh, yes, the other great thing about this Tennies Transformation was that it took just a little over an hour! 

Easter Makes Me Think of ... COLOR!

I'm not much on Easter and I'm not so much on eggs, but I am absolutely in love with COLOR! I think surrounding ourselves with our favorite rich (and in my case saturated) colors is one of the keys to happiness. This blog is dedicated to COLOR and may the images below inspire you to new intensities and new heights in your color creativity! (By the way, if you click on the egg photo above, it will take you to a recipe for dyeing Easter eggs in vibrant colors, thanks to a blog called All Things Mama.)

 

Occasionally it's a good thing when artists don't clean their brushes right away....

Bins of color dye in India, from be-nomadic on Tumblr

Artist Nancy McCarroll's watercolor worksheet

David Chidgey's art glass mosaic

Kaffe Fassett fabrics and quilts

Our Sassy Feet palette of Lumiere paints

"Devidas" by Christian Louboutin

  

Neal's Yard, London

Tiled steps at 16th Avenue and Moraga in San Francisco

 

Sergio Rossi sandals

Happy attendee at an Indian festival, shot by a Flickr user called danishdynamite

When you are surfing the web and come across pictures whose COLORS light you up, email them to me (along with the URL/link where you found them) and I'll use them in my next all-color-all-the-time post!   

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.' "

Coach, Krink, and Sassy Feet

As Margot and I flip through the top fashion magazines like Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, and W, we always see amazing (and sometimes completely unrealistic) designs from the industry crème-de-la-crème -- with price tags to match. Those prices can range from $200 to $2000 and beyond. One day, while we sat and drooled, it came to us... We could do something like that!

Here's an example. Handbag maker Coach recently collaborated with Brooklyn-based graffiti artist Craig Costello, who's signature style is... well, you can see it in this photo. He markets a line of graffiti art supplies (I am not making this up) under the name Krink.  

Since I have an affinity for street and graffiti art, Margot didn't hesitate to email me when she read about the new Krink for Coach limited edition line of leather goods.

I saw the pics of the drip-spatter-and-smear style bags and knew I had to make a designer doppelganger. Remember my Goodwill purse from last month, the one with the bonus wallet I found inside?

I grabbed the wallet and collected the following supplies: A sea wool sponge, Lumiere paint in Metallic Russet and Metallic Bronze, and the small round brush from our multi-pack of brushes.

I started by using the sea wool sponge to dapple the background in Metallic Russet. This was to mimic the very light splatters in the Krink design. Then I added in a few dabs of Metallic Bronze just because.

When you are using a sponge of any kind, make sure you have a place to tamp and test how thick the paint is. If you have a pointy sponge like the sea wool, and it's too loaded with paint, you'll end up with blobs instead of little pointy dots.

After that sponged layer dried, I used the round brush and Metallic Bronze to start painting drips down the wallet. Drips are fairly easy to create. They are just rounded, uneven, sort of vertical lines. I added some thinner lines and spots to vary the design and give it more dimension.

Granted, my doppelganger wallet isn't an EXACT replica of the Krink-for-Coach line, but it certainly has the same feel.

As I hope you'll discover, doing design-alikes is really fun. Margot and I are planning on showing more of them here, so if you see any shoes on the web that you think would make good subjects, send us the link! 

Fun Discoveries to Try from CHA

From the amazing DCWV display at the CHA convention

When Destiny and I went to the Craft and Hobby Association's winter trade show last month, we combed the convention center floor for new products we could try on shoes and bags. We came home with quite a few ideas (including some not-new products that we simple hadn't heard about before), which I'll share with you today. Over the weeks to come, we'll try these products on leather and manmade leather shoes -- the toughest test! But for now, I'll just give you a rundown. (If you try any of these before we do, let us know how they worked for you!)

Sometimes the most interesting events at a convention are not the ones you're expecting. Early one morning I was sitting in the lobby waiting for the show floor to open when I started talking to the woman next to me about her wonderful bag.

She turned out the be the author of the best-selling book One Zentagle a Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun. 

Her name was Beckah Krahula and she had heard of Sassy Feet. Then she gave me a copy of her book. I told her I thought that Zentangle designs would look GREAT on a wedge, and she suggested using Pentel Gel Rollers for Fabric for doing permanent line drawings on fabric shoes. 

The bag I was admiring was in a multitude of colors and she had painted it using USARTQuest's Perfect Pigment acrylic paints, which I hadn't heard of before. Like the other products in this post, we're going to give them a try on shoes! Stay tuned.

There were A LOT of companies showing different types of glitter, which interested Destiny and me A LOT because we have been on a years-long search for black glitter that will actually, uh, glitter! Black absorbs light instead of reflecting it, which causes a real problem when you want your black glitter to sparkle. We did find a product that might work, called WOW Chunky Glitter from American Crafts. I've ordered some and will make samples as soon as it arrives!

From the same manufacturer, we found some shiny POP! microbeads, which we want to try with our colorless Glitter It glaze. I have a concern that they may be too heavy to apply to non-horizontal surfaces without dripping, but we'll see.

The product that we got most excited about is something called Kroma Crackle, which creates a FLEXIBLE crackle glaze over your painted surface. Now, there are plenty of crackle paints and glazes on the market that work nicely on rigid surfaces, but this is the first one we've heard of that works on a surface that has to bend and flex like shoes and bags do. In fact, the folks showing off their invention had a sample painted onto a brown belt. 

You can paint the background in one color, apply the crackle medium (and you can tint it with a little bit of paint if you want), then you can apply paint on top of the crackles before sealing. Destiny and I are going to have FUN experimenting with it! To learn more, go to the Kroma Crackle site. 

One of the products we "discovered" at CHA is Elmer's Painters markers and pens, which apparently work on leather, manmade leather, and lots of other stuff including rubber! They had shoes and rubber boots on display that had designs drawn on with the Painters Pens and the paint seemed pretty stable when we tried to unobtrusively scrape it off with our fingernails....

They come in several color ranges (Bright, Pearlescent, Pastel) and we've ordered sets in medium point (called markers) and fine point (called pens) to put them to the test. 

While we were at CHA we stopped by the Jacquard booth and met owner of the the company that makes the Lumiere paint we use on shoes and bags.  

Despite having raved about his paint for six or seven years now, used it in all 40+ of our classes and sold it in our online store, I'd never met the head honcho, Michael Katz.

In chatting with him, we mentioned wishing there was a way to stamp Lumiere on to shoes and bags. "Haven't you tried our Pearl Ex Stamp Pads?" he asked.  So he sent us one the other day and we're putting it toward the top of our list for experiments. Thanks, Michael!

Two more discoveries to go! The next is a narrow. flexible satin ribbon that is embedded with tiny LEDs. It's called LED Textile Ribbon and it's made by Artistic Ribbon. The LEDs are driven by a small battery-operated unit. 

The ribbon comes in 20" pieces, with LEDs every two inches. You can set four different lighting patterns, and the ribbon can be glued or sewn onto your surface. We chose a sample of blue lights on a black ribbon, and Destiny is talking about putting them on the flap of a shoulder bag. Can't wait to see that!

Last of all, mixed-media meister Tim Holtz is bringing out a new paint later this month that is supposed work on leather. It's called Distress Paint -- not to be confused with his very popular Distress Crackle Paint. Of course we are going to try it, and of course we'll report our results. We love this mad scientist stuff!

Power to the (small) People!

I was remembering the other day how back in the 1990s when I was in therapy to deal with the aftereffects of being abused as a child, I used to do art as part of my healing process. I made stuff out of clay (nothing you could recognize!), drew with oil pastels (ditto), and played with colored pens and rubber stamps. Recently, a friend suggested I might want to do some more playing -- and I thought of using children's shoes as my canvas.

It occurred to me that it would be really fun to make a pair of little girl's shoes that expressed what I could not express when I was a child. Below are the two different "art-therapy" shoes I created. I had a blast doing them!

These are called "Don't Step on Me!" They use screw-in cone-shaped spikes to make their point (pun intended).

These are tiny little stomper boots called "I said NO!" They are painted with Sharpie poster paint pens, which work pretty well on leather and manmade leather, though if you put them on too thick they tend to crack.  I added the chain at the last minute. I like how it breaks up all the NO's. It also looks sorta tough, which I also like.

I highly recommend hitting your nearest thrift store for children's shoes and -- whether you choose to express old feelings that didn't get aired at the time or you just want to create something wonderful and unusual -- get out your paints and your embellishment stash!

P.S. Destiny and I decided that she is going to take the other shoe in each of these pairs and do something exactly opposite -- sweet, girly, delicate? I'm not sure what, but we'll find out when she blogs about them. 

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!

Spring Colors + Your Questions Answered

No one is entirely sure who decides this stuff, but the Pantone company has announced the new colors for spring, and I thought you'd like to see them. Pantone specializes in systems for standardizing colors and color names, which enable everyone from designers to manufacturers to retailers to customers to be sure they are talking about the same color when they talk about, for example, emerald green.

Emerald is, in fact, the "color of the year" for 2013, a decision made by the same team of anonymous arbiters that decides on the colors for spring and fall. These 10 people meet in an all-white room in an unnamed European capital twice a year to look at colors and decide what they like best for the coming season(s). 

Now, I think the emerald in the photo above looks like emerald green, but I don't really think the color swatch does. Ditto some of the colors in the top image, taken from the Pantone site. Oh well, just think of me as your faithful reporter. Mine is not to reason why....

Applying Suede Dye

We just received this question in response to our blog on dying suede:

QUESTION: Thank you for this information! I am really excited to dye my light gray suede boots and see how they turn out! I only wanted to ask, is there a special brush you recommend for dying good quality suede boots? I am a bit afraid that it would come out blotchy.
--Margaret 

ANSWER: The Angelus suede dye we recommend comes with a little woolen dauber in the small bottle. If you buy a larger bottle (which I recommend -- suede really sucks up dye), you can order the daubers separately.

These work better than a brush in my experience because they hold lots of dye. Also, your dye job will look blotchy after one coat, maybe even after two (depending on how dark you are going to dye your light gray boots). But after the third coat, your boots should dry looking nice and even.

Once the suede dye dries, you brush up the nap on the suede with a soft brush -- nail brush or toothbrush will do -- and you'll be amazed at how great the suede looks.

Paint That Won't Stick

QUESTION: Do you know of any way to get a solid coat of Lumiere to stick better to shoe leather? in particular, I'm hoping for a way that will keep the paint from breaking apart and peeling at the shoe's crease points.

I've done a couple of pairs of oxfords in solid gold and solid silver, and they looked fantastic at first, but then the crease points started peeling after a couple hours of wear. Do you think it would help to heat-set it?  Maybe with a hair dryer or something?
Ronnie 

 

These clogs were so old, the leather had gotten really dry, and when I painted them, the paint cracked across the toe!

ANSWER: Lumiere usually sticks to leather just fine, even at the crease points, but there are a few things that could be causing your problem..

 

• Not prepping the leather sufficiently beforehand by rubbing with either alcohol (for leather) or 100% acetone (for manmade leather).
• Painting on very old, dry leather. 
• Painting on very, very soft leather, like the kind used for kid gloves. I think this kind of leather is just too pliable for the paint to stick really well. 
• Not letting the paint cure for 3 days before wearing the shoes. This is the amount of time the manufacturer recommends, though I sometimes ignore that myself.

That said, the manufacturer does say that if you are using Lumiere on fabric, it should be heat set, so that might help. A hot hair dryer would work -- for fabric they say to dry press for 30 seconds at whatever temperature the fabric needs, so the paint CAN handle high temperatures, such as you'd use to press linen. I have done this myself, paint-side up, and no harm comes to the iron. Obviously you can't use an iron on your shoes, I'm just saying you won't wreck the paint by getting it hot.

Before you start repairing your paint job, lightly sand down the cracked paint, and wipe away the paint dust with rubbing alcohol before you reapply the paint.

Let me know if anything I have mentioned might have caused the problem, and I want to hear how your "repairs" turn out.  The more we can teach each other what works and what doesn't, the more fabulous shoes we will create!

Tips on Doing Cowboy Boots

 QUESTION: I just stumbled upon your blog on painting Western boots, "Go West Young Woman."  I am intrigued, to say the least!  I am going to attempt this myself, but before I do I wanted to ask you if you had any tips or recommendations on the actual painting?  Such as, did you use painters tape to create crisp lines, or did you paint freehand? 

I can't thank you enough for sharing this idea!  My boot collection is about to become very colorful. Yay!
Lisa

ANSWER: You are going to have so much fun painting your boots! I did my boots freehand, though it might be good to use painter's tape to mask off the sole at least. (My colleague Destiny masks off lots of areas before painting so it's really a matter of taste.)

My own strategy was to paint from light to dark. In other words, I applied the lightest color of paint first and didn't worry about staying exactly within the stitching lines of the boot. This is because as you apply successively darker colors of paint, they will cover any "mistakes" made with the lighter color of paint.

Depending on the original color of your boots and the colors and brand of paint you choose, you will need two to three coats of paint. I did my boots in front of my computer playing DVDs of old TV shows, and the time passed fairly quickly.

There's a little more information in our book about painting cowboy. Good luck -- feel free to send me before-and-after photos for our blog!

 Good News

The next issue of Altered Couture will feature three pairs of our shoes, and the issue after that will include three more pairs and a handbag. Destiny and I are definitely on a roll!

Good Deal, Goodwill

I started this blog all ready to blame the holidays for my absence from posting, but when I digitally leafed through past posts, I was startled to see that July 31, 2012 was my last blog. That was when we were gearing up for Costume College. SHAMEFUL! How could I be away for so long?

Luckily, a recent trip to Goodwill has sprung me purse first into creative mode and I finally have a new project to blog about!

As I was spending Sunday thrift-storing a few weekends ago, I found myself in a Goodwill. There I came across a brown manmade leather handbag that was brand-spanking-new, had some interesting features, and many pockets. There wasn't even dust inside. I immediately snapped it up and headed to the register to shell out my $4.95. Later when I met up with Margot and was prepping the bag, I discovered it had a back pocket and a matching wallet, too.

I grabbed our collection of Lumiere paint chips and started thinking about colors. I didn't really want to paint the entire bag, so I looked at colors in the Lumiere palette that would complement the dark brown. I settled on four: Metallic Rust, Halo Pink Gold, and a custom mix of Old Brass & Neopaque Black.

I also noticed that Margot had spread out several zippers (both plain and hand-painted) on the craft table. I snapped up a plain black, plain brown, and a black one sponged with Halo Pink Gold to create an embellishment.

I had to snip off the bulky brand tag off the front pouch (actually, Margot did it for me, being a whiz with little sewing scissors). My plan was to cover that area with an embellishment to hide the needle holes.

I started painting by mixing Old Brass with a few drops of Neopaque Black and painted the pouch flap. After that dried, I used Halo Pink Gold (2 coats) on the body of the pouch.

One coat of Metallic Rust went onto the narrower pouch and the two tabs securing the handle to the bag. Lastly, I brushed one coat of Halo Pink Gold onto the base of the side strap details.  I didn't apply multiple, solid coats because I wanted the paint to mimic the mottled finish of the original faux leather.

Next, I had to create the embellishment to hide where the brand tag had been cut off. I measured and marked all three lengths of zipper tape for the width of the flap, and drew a line of Fray-Check where I planned to cut them. Once the Fray-Check dried, I snipped each zipper, being cautious of the metal teeth with scissors.

First I assembled the embellishment by gluing all the zippers together, then gluing the combo to the bag.  Here's the step by step: I put the black zipper onto the table, then ran a line of Fabri-Tac glue across the top edge, lined up the brown zipper so it was slightly offset, and pressed it down on top of the black one. I left about 1/8 of the black tape showing. I glued the brown zipper the same way and pressed Margot's sponged zipper on top of that . When the glue was dry, I applied a liberal amount of The Ultimate glue (we prefer this brand for gluing fabric to manmade or painted leather) all over the back and clamped it to the pouch flap.

After the embellishment dried (overnight), that was it! I had a brand new handbag. It's my "daily driver" so-to-speak and I couldn't be more happy.  I guess the little wallet will be part 2 of this love story some day soon... Hmmmm.

Triple Zipper Clutch

Zipper patented in 1896 as a closure on boots

I don''t know exactly why, but I'm fascinated by big zippers with metal teeth. Maybe it was growing up in the days right before plastic zippers. Maybe it's the combination of soft fabric and hard metal. Maybe it's their utterly simple and effective design.

The result, though, has been that I've used zippers as trim on shoes, as embellishments, and as the subject of a how-to tutorial. Lately I've taken to painting and/or glittering zippers and using them on shoes and bags. Here's my first completed project like that.

This particular brainstorm started when I went on ebay to find old metal zippers. I ended up with a bunch of 7" and 22" vintage zippers with large teeth and big metal rings as zipper pulls.

Then I decided to see what would happen if I dabbed some of our Glitter It! Glaze onto the zipper tape. 

I chose colors of Glitter It! that were similar to the color of the zipper tape so I wouldn't have to paint the tape first. The results were great! (From left, the colors are Crushed Crystal, Dusty Lavender, Watermelon -- to be added to our store in January -- and Starlet.) Now all I needed was something to put them on.

I dug around in our stash of second-hand bags and shoes, and came up with this simple clutch. I played around with where to place the zippers and which of the Lumiere colors would work best together if I did some color blocking.

I chose Grape for the top panel, left the middle panel its original black, and painted the bottom part in Halo Pink Gold. (Of course, Grape and Halo Pink Gold are the colors that photograph the worst. The Grape is actually much less blue and the Halo Pink Gold is more orange. Oh well.) I also painted the back of the bag in solid Grape.

I had already played around with placing the zippers, and decided to open each of them a little to show some of the black area beneath. I wanted to make the middle zipper open farthest, which is why I painted that little black triangle in the center of the Halo Pink Gold area, as you saw in the color-blocking photo.

Once I had the placement right, I marked it with tailor's chalk, then cut the zippers' top edges and glued them down with the Ultimate, which is what I prefer for gluing fabric to painted leather. I didn't need to worry about the cut edges ravelling because the Glitter It! Glaze I'd applied acted like glue in keeping the zipper tape from fraying.

I did the same thing at the bottom, though I needed really strong shears (I used Fiskars Ultimate Titanium Craft Scissors) for cutting through the teeth. (Before cutting, I applied E6000 glue to the teeth all around the point where I would cut so the zipper wouldn't accidentally open while I was working on it. That has happened before and it's a b**** to get it back together!)

Then I sat back and admired my work! Sad thing is, I don't carry clutches! I keep putting them down and leaving them behind. But I still love my new Triple Zipper bag. I think of it as my Christmas present to myself, and gifts don't have to be practical! 

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!

Doing a Paint-Stenciled Sweatshirt

 When I was a kid I used to love those photo puzzlers where you'd see a magnified closeup of a part of something -- like a curved piece of something white -- and have to guess what it was (the handle of a teacup).That's sort of what's happening with the photo at the top of this blog.

On Saturday night, Oct. 19, Destiny and I are hosting a painting party at the ETA-California conference in Irvine, and we'll be teaching folks how to sponge and stencil their tops. I decided to do a sample using an old black hoodie that had a VERY stubborn oil stain on it. (Lumiere paint works wonders to hide stubborn stains! And this is the same paint we use on shoes, so you probably have some of it around the house already.)

First I used masking tape to tape off some geometric shapes in the top center of the sweatshirt, where the oil stain was.

Then I used a cosmetic sponge to sponge on several different colors of Lumiere -- Metallic Russet, Metallic Olive Green (very lightly), Metallic Bronze and Pearlescent Violet (also very lightly). I didn't wait for each layer to dry as I was sponging them very lightly.

When I pulled up the tape it revealed a cluster of widely spaced geometric forms. Then, of course, it needed something more.

I dug out a wonderful stencil of a flock of birds and decided to have the birds flying through the design. I sprayed the back of the stencil with a stencil spray adhesive (any kind of temporary spray adhesive will work), and pressed it into place.

Then I used a cosmetic wedge to mop up a little of Lumiere's Pearlescent White from a paper plate, and dab it straight up and down onto the stencil. Next I did the same thing (though not as heavily) with Pearlescent Magenta.

Here's a peek at the just-stenciled part.

When the first part of the flock was dry, I repositioned the stencil and continued to work up toward the opposite shoulder. When it was dry, I sealed the paint by ironing it for 30 seconds.

This is not a perfect art -- a closeup reveals some smudgy edges, but I like to think that's part of the charm! The great thing is, you get really fast and really interesting results -- and it's super fun to do.

One caution -- unlike painting or stenciling on shoes, it's VERY hard to get the paint off when you make a mistake -- the fabric grabs the paint and absorbs it very quickly. If that happens and you don't like what you've done, just paint over it!

The Last Slice of Summer

This is the second version of a "watermelon handbag" I've worked on over the years. The first was a vintage metal-mesh silver bag that I tinted with Staz-On alcohol inks so that it would look like watermelon -- well, like watermelon tourmaline -- a type of crystal I've always loved.

 

The ink worked just fine on the metal, but I was never totally satisfied with this version of the watermelon bag, so when Destiny and I were experimenting with some new glitter colors and I noticed that the bright pink that she'd chosen and the green that I'd chosen were perfect watermelon colors, I had to use them together!

I dug around in our second-hand handbag stash and found one with a flap that was almost the perfect shape for a slice of watermelon.

I started by removing the strap and painting everything except the flap and the side panels with Neopaque Black. I painted the side panels with Metallic Olive. I sealed both those areas with Pledge Floor Finisher to give them shine. Then I sketched the lines of a watermelon slice on the flap and painted the green part of the rind  with Metallic Olive, the white part of the rind with Pearlescent White, and the lovely pink center part with Pearlescent Magenta.

You can just make out the green of the side panel

These would form the undercoats for the three colors of Glitter It Glaze I would use. In case you haven't worked with our Glitter It Glaze, you need to apply it over a similar color. It is not meant to be used to change the color of a surface, merely (hah!) to add sizzle and sparkle. (Sorry I forgot to take work-in-progress photos.)

Next I patted on the Glitter It Glaze. I custom mixed the pink and the green shades from the new glitter colors we were experimenting with (you can custom mix your own by buying just the Glitter It Glaze base from our store, then adding your own high-quality glitter -- please use high-quality, though, otherwise the glitter can run, thus tinting the glaze and actually clouding the sparkle of the glitter itself.)

It took -- as it usually does -- two coats of Glitter It to make an even covering.

When I got done, I thought, This looks great, but there's something missing. Aha! No seeds! I decided that the watermelon seeds should not just be painted on, but should be three dimensional.

So I painted a small scrap of leather with Neopaque Black and sealed it to make it glossy. Then I cut out a little template in the rough shape of a watermelon seed, traced the outline on the unpainted back of the leather scrap, and started cutting out little seed shapes.

My final step was to glue them to the flap with Beacon 527, the glue we recommend for attaching leather to painted and glittered surfaces.

I am VERY pleased with how this bag -- which I call Sweet Slice -- turned out. And this presented me with a dilemma. Should I offer the bag for sale at the ETA conference later this month or keep it for myself? It's fun to sell my creations, but it's a little bit more fun to keep them. I'm still kicking myself for selling the fabulous (if I do say so myself) Mahjong shoulder bag I made last winter. What should I do? Got an opinion?

FAQs From Our Fans

Before we get to questions and answers, I want to tell you that Destiny and I have completely updated the Sassy Feet website -- new and bigger before-and-after photos of shoes and bags, plus links to our two YouTube videos, our Facebook page, our Twitter account and our Pinterest photo boards. Whew! Go enjoy this stuff so we'll know it was worth doing!

Now to the Q&A. We get several emails a week with questions about painting, glittering and embellishing shoes, and we answer each one of them personally. I am going to try posting these more frequently since some of you may have the same questions. Let's get started.

QUESTION: I finally had some time to sit down with your paints and give this a shot. Took a pair of old cap-toe shoes that have been collecting dust for a while, and decided to gild them up, a la Martin Margiela (whose biggest size is three sizes too small for my colossal feet). I used three shades of Lumiere.  Your Glitter It Glaze is on the middle section.  

They turned out fantastic -- hopefully the first of very many. One question -- if I wanted to do more of a distressed look, do you think it would work to rub on some Neopaque Black and then quickly rub it off?

I'm indebted to your site for its exceptional clarity and ease of presentation.

Ronnie  

For just $525, you can have these lovelies....

ANSWER: Thanks for your kind words -- and your shoes look great!  Yes, you can give them a distressed look by rubbing on Neopaque Black, just remember that distressing doesn't happen evenly, so rub in on lightly and unevenly. And keep a damp rag nearby to immediately remove any black that goes on too heavy or you otherwise don't like the look of.

By the way, have you seen Martin Margiela's new paint splattered sneakers? $525 for something you could SO do yourself! And they would look better, too....

QUESTION: I really, really like your shoes and I thank you for being so generous with your knowledge. My name is Jill and I live in Perth, Western Australia. I am a textile artist who paints, dyes and sews wearable art. I have been looking for Pledge Premium Floor Finisher with Future Shine but it is not available in Australia.

We do have Pledge Wood Floor Finish with  Future ^® Shine and Pledge Tile & Vinyl Floor Finish with Future^® Shine. Are either of these suitable to finishing the painted shoes?

ANSWER: Oh, good question! The marketing meisters at Pledge changed the name -- you can use the Wood Floor Finish with  Future ^® Shine for sealing your shoes.

QUESTION: Can you use Lumiere paint on fabric such as suede? If so, how would you seal in the paint? Also, can you use Lumiere  on Nike Air Force Ones? Their shoes are made of genuine leather.

Manmade suede boots painted with Lumiere -- if you click to see this image full size, you'll see the nap is no longer soft

ANSWER: You can use Lumiere on genuine or manmade suede. (Genuine suede is made from leather, manmade suede is actually fabric.) The only downside is, it will no longer retain its soft nap. The paint adheres well, but it makes the suede or manmade suede hard to the touch. If you are working with genuine suede, you could use suede dye instead. We wrote about this in an earlier blog. 

As to the Nike Air Force Ones, they should take the paint well, as long as they are leather, manmade leather or fabric. But  paint won't stick for long to the plastic Nikes swooshes and soles. (If the Nikes' soles are rubber instead of plastic, however, read on.)

QUESTION: Hi! I love your book and can’t wait till next weekend when I’ll have time to try my first pair of shoes. Here's my question. I have a few pairs of sandals that have rubber soles.  Can I use the same paint to decorate the sides of the soles, or do I need to use something else?  Also, is a different kind of prep required for the rubber parts?

Susan 

Before and after sneakers, painted and glittered, and with the toes and soles tinted with StazOn ink

ANSWER: The Lumiere paints we use and recommend are not made to stick to rubber, though one artist I spoke to says she always uses them for the soles of her sneakers. For me, they've always peeled off whenever I applied them to rubber!

What I use for coloring the rubber soles of shoes is alcohol-based stamp-pad ink. To do this, you'll need:

• Rubbing alcohol and a couple of cotton balls
• 1 bottle of re-inker for StazOn or Adirondack stamp pads (not the pads themselves), which come in LOTS of colors
• Something to squeeze the ink into
• A little paint brush you can throw away

Before you apply the ink, rub the soles with a cotton ball dampened with rubbing alcohol to be sure they are clean and ready to absorb the ink.

Squeeze some of the ink into a cup and use a cheap brush to brush it onto the soles and toes. One coat should do it. The ink will penetrate the rubber and stain it. Hang onto the little bottle in case you need to do touch ups later.

QUESTION: Do you guys have much experience in painting canvas shoes? That's what I usually do. I normally use fabric paint (since canvas is fabric, and the paint is washable/waterproof.) But I need an emerald green color for a specific project I'm doing, and I haven't found any fabric paint that color.

So I used a regular craft acrylic paint and mixed it with robin's egg blue and white to create the turquoise look I wanted. But I am worried about how the craft acrylic will last -- is it going to chip off? So I'm thinking about using a paint sealer. But does that give it a rigid finish, or can the finished product bend and move?

Eliana

ANSWER:  When you use craft or artists acrylic paint on shoes of any kind, you end up with the problem that this paint isn't formulated to be flexible. It can crack and peel, especially if applied thickly. You can get around that in the future by adding a little of what's called fabric medium.

As to the fabric shoes you've already painted, adding a sealer isn't the answer. Sealers protect from the outside, where as cracking or peeling is something that happens on the inside -- between the canvas and the paint. (FYI, if you use our sealer to seal painted shoes, it will flex and bend. You won't get a rigid finish.)

So your craft-acrylic-painted shoes may crack and peel, but If it were us, we'd just wear them and enjoy them and see what happens. Good luck!

QUESTION: I made several pairs of shoes using comic strip papers and Mod Podge. Problem is, the comics keep cracking and pulling away at stress points on each side. The shoes are of manmade materials and I did not prep them in any way.

Kelly 

ANSWER: Lots of bloggers and even some supposedly reputable magazines say you can use Mod Podge or glue to attach comic strips to shoes, but they simply don't last! They WILL crack and peel off because paper is neither sturdy nor flexible -- it tears when it bends. And Mod Podge is not flexible when it dries, so it will crack. Even if you use a glue that will be flexible when it dries, any paper that's attached to the surface of your shoes will crack when the shoe bends.

What I do with cool paper designs that I want to put on shoes is I scan them into my computer, then print out the scans on cotton fabric that's made to go through an inkjet printer. Then I glue down the fabric using a glue like Fabri-Tac (if the shoes are leather or fabric) or The Ultimate (if the shoes are manmade leather). You can buy sheets of inkjet fabric in many craft and fabric stores. I wrote a blog post about this awhile back -- check it out!

QUESTION: I have seen lots of blogs that have instructions on how to glitter your own shoes. I know you have the special paint and sealer to do it, but if I just wanted to use glue and loose glitter what glue would work the best?

I have tried Mod Podge and it cracks. Some people have used rubber cement, fabric glue, tack glue, gemstone glue. I am using it on pumps that are faux leather. They tend to crack where your toes bend. Also I know you use acetone to clean your shoes before painting them. Will wiping them with acetone also cause the glue to adhere better?      

                                                                                

Katrina

ANSWER: Yup, all the glues we've tried for applying glitter do crack eventually (plus the glitter comes off all over your house, car, etc.), which is why we use a clear glaze made for leather and manmade leather as the base for our glitter. You can buy a bottle of it without the glitter in it, and add your own if you want. It's $5.99 and if that's all you buy, it is light enough that we can ship it first-class, which is pretty cheap. One bottle will cover at least two pairs of shoes.

By the way, wiping manmade leather (GENTLY) with acetone will make glue adhere better, but it won't do anything to keep it from cracking where the shoe bends. Nor will a sealer (see Eliana's question above.)

And that's it for this week! Go forth, use your new knowledge and PAINT SHOES!!

Paint Job for a Leather Portfolio

I've been wanting to experiment some more with stencils on leather, so I decided to give this plain black leather portfolio a drastic makeover. I'll give you a tour of the finished "product" in pictures and briefly describe the process. Then at the end I'll give you a couple of tips on the techniques I used.

The front is stenciled (using Mary Beth Shaw's 9x12 "Web" stencil) and cosmetic wedges to dab on the  the paint. I also used an alphabet stencil down the right side. In the area along the top, I used a regular fan brush to apply the paint, then a semi-dry fan brush to create the feathered effect. I also used this effect all along the edges. (I have to confess I was making up most of this as I went along....)

The colors I used were Lumiere's Metallic Bronze, Halo Pink Gold, Pearlescent Violet, Metallic Olive Green and Metallic Rust.

Here's a closeup showing the feathered area that I painted using a semi-dry fan brush.

The back is brushed and sponged with a trimmed-down George Foreman sponge (more on that below).

The inside is also Foreman-sponged, but with much more Metallic Olive Green (on the left) and Pearlescent Violet (on the right).

TIPS ON STENCILING: It ain't a perfect science. Even if you hold the stencil tight against the leather of whatever you are painting, you have to expect that there will be a little leakage of the paint underneath the edges. This is because leather and manmade leather don't ABSORB paint the way fabric or paper do. Instead the paint ADHERES like glue. So be willing to do touchups with a tiny brush when you remove your stencil.

Remember, too, that your stenciled image won't be flawless, as you can see in the enlargement of the stenciled lettering above. Best to choose stencils that won't look bad if they are not perfectly filled in.

TIPS ON FOREMAN-SPONGING: This technique uses synthetic sponges made for cleaning George Foreman Grills. These have an irregular pattern of little points, like a sea sponge, but since they are synthetic, those points never go soft from the wetness of the paint so they never lose their "pointiness." They also make really nice tiny dots. (I use scissors to trim off the ridges so I can sponge a wide area without getting a ridge pattern.)

*                          *                          *

I worked on this portfolio for three, maybe four evenings, while watching the first season of "The Closer" on DVD from the library. The first stencil I used was steampunk-themed with lots of gears and tiny details. It came out terrible! I painted over it with black and started over the next night with a much less precise stencil. The moral of this story is -- let your imagination take the lead and don't worry about making mistakes. You can always paint over them!

Post-Apocalyptic Airship Captain

In just over two weeks, Margot and I will be teaching and selling our cool products at Costume College 2012 in Woodland Hills, CA. Costume College is a conference for costuming enthusiasts who create anything from historical to science-fiction to fantasy costumes. Donning costumes, attendees will be able to celebrate their creative craft, learn new skills, and buy supplies to satiate all their costuming needs.

Margot and I have done a shoe or two in our day, but nothing really with a certain era or a specific genre in mind. So we have plenty of shoes that "would do" for the event, but we wanted to create a few new and amazing designs for this exact occasion.

Since I love steampunk, my hand shot up like lightning when that genre was mentioned. OH ME! MEEEEE! PICK ME, PLEEEEASE MARGOT! She did. (Well, how many people did she have to choose from?) Here's how I did it.

I rummaged through our stash of shoes until I found a leather boot that had a Victorian look.

First I removed the laces and prepped the shoe with a cotton ball dampened with rubbing alcohol to remove any dirt or coating from the leather. (I would have used acetone if the shoes were manmade leather.) Then I poured out a quarter-size dollop of Metallic Rust paint and rubbed on a thin, uneven coat with a paint rag -- I wanted the boots to look worn and battle weary. If you do this, be sure to dab the rag on a paper-towel first or you might end up with too much paint on the shoe.

Next, since the ribbon laces on the original boot were not functional (the boot zipped up on the inner side), I replaced them with some woven pieces of cord that I knotted together. This added to the "makeshift" look I was going for.

I  wanted to add a leather flap the would extend across the laces, so I sketched out the shaped I had in mind, then cut a test piece out of craft felt -- it's cheaper to ruin than leather! After trimming the felt to get the exact shape I wanted, I traced the shape onto a scrap of crackled black leather we had in our stash and cut it out. To give the edges an extra aged look, I used a little more Metallic Rust and my fingertip to smudge the edges of the flap. Then I attached the flap just inside the zipper with Beacon 527 (we recommend this for gluing leather to painted leather) and clamped it for about 20 minutes.

To make the buckle and short strap, I cannibalized a dorky boot bracelet from another pair of boots. I cut off the leather holding the metal ring in a point and measured how much of the remaining strap I would need to reach around the boot and fasten. I cut that end in an angle so it aligned with the zipper. Then I used  Beacon 527 to attach the leather strap/buckle combo to the boot.

Finally, the hardware -- no steampunk design is complete without it! I dug through all the trays of findings, buttons, embellishments, and beads we have until I'd amassed a healthy stack of things that looked like they might fit the post-apocalyptic/steampunk theme. I began playing with stacks of cogs, gears, metal bits and sprockets until I was happy with the arrangment.

In my mind, I wanted the flap to look like it locked on to the boot, like the gears actually interlocked. I settled on some pieces from Tim Holtz, a button from Treasure Cast, a watch part, and quite a few metal bits -- washers and so on -- that came from the hardware store.

Once I was happy with my stacks of things, I took a photo with my phone, and unstacked everything. Then I squeezed a small glop of E6000 onto a silicone mat. With a toothpick, I applied the E6000 where the two surfaces would touch and pressed each pair of embellishments together. I let them set up long enough so they were firm (if not fully cured), then used E6000 to glue them in place on the boot. E6000 does take 24 hours to cure completely, so don't wear your creations the same day!

What a stellar transformation! Perfect for any Post-Apocalyptic Airship Captain!

You Painted Your What??

A couple of months back, we found an old but stylish leather couch sitting outside our neighbors' house with some other odd stuff. Turns out she was having an impromptu garage sale. We loved the couch, but it was a very worn and faded aqua. It cried out for... LEATHER PAINT!

Now that was an idea that got my creative energies excited! We bought the thing for $50, carried it across the street to our house, and inveigled Destiny into coming to a couch-painting party. After a fair amount of planning and three and a half hours of hands-on work, we had an amazing piece of new furniture on our hands!

The Lumiere paints (and amounts) we used were:

• Super Copper - 3-4 pints
• Metallic Rust - 8 oz.
• Crimson - 4 oz. - mixed with a small amount of Neopaque Black
• Halo Pink Gold - 4 oz.

Here's the story, in photos and captions. 

Before. We cleaned and prepped the surface by rubbing with rags damped with rubbing alcohol.

I wanted to sponge the couch in rich warm colors that would work with our gold and dark red walls. We did a test piece with sea sponges and Lumiere on a small piece of hide.

 

Here are the painting supplies we used. We chose a small compact-foam roller for applying the base coat -- it went on quickly!

Rolling on Lumiere's Copper paint. 

After one coat of copper paint. It didn't cover the aqua completely, but since we were going to do three layers of sponging, this was good enough.

We decided to use a synthetic sponge made for cleaning George Foreman Grills instead of the sea sponges we used on the sample piece. These would give us finer detail and wouldn't go soft from all the paint we would need to use. (Destiny blogged about using this cool tool recently.)

 Sponging on Metallic Rust paint. This is when we noticed that the ridges in the sponge were making lines of sponged paint.

Off with the ridges!

After the base coat of Copper and sponging with Metallic Rust.

Sponging on the Crimson paint.

 After adding the layer of Crimson. By the way, the rolled-on layer of Copper took only about 10 minutes to dry before we could paint another layer. The sponged layers took longer -- maybe 15-20 minutes, since some of the paint ends up in thick little blobs that need more time to dry.

Adding the final layer! It's called Halo Pink Gold.

 Close up of the finished pattern.

Our new painted leather couch! We didn't seal the paint with Pledge with Future, as we do on shoes and bags, because we didn't want to make the surface any shinier. Also, with a sponged pattern like this, touch ups are invisible.

Happy couch painter enjoying the fruits of her labor!

From Cheap to Classy

 About a year ago, I went on a mini shoe shopping spree. Zappos.com was having a high heel sale, and I succumbed to five, yes FIVE, pairs of high-high-heeled shoes. I only spent $60 total. What, like you've never done it? ... Don't judge me! Point is, most of the pairs had something interesting going on: zebra stripes, black pyramid spiked heel, cheetah print, buckles, or patent leather. A few of the pairs have seen the light of day at this function or that one. But the plainest pair just milled about in their box way in the back of my closet, sad and lonely.

Last week Margot and I decided to have a shoe day together. It had been awhile since our last day of creative madness. I did a quick scan looking for the perfect pair of shoes to play with and grabbed my poor neglected pumps. My life has been transforming lately and I wanted to make myself something awesome.  I sat down with Margot and started in with what I was planning.

The one thing I knew was I didn't want to repaint the entire shoe. It was covered with small metal studs and that would be a... well y'know... to paint around them. I figured I could paint above and below the studded area, though, so I masked that off, and prepped the "leatherette" surface by rubbing it with acetone. Then I painted the platform below the tape and the inside of the heel Sunset Gold.

At this point I was stuck. I was having a hard time deciding which colors looked best so I yelped at Margot for help. We both stared at our ring of paint chips, trying this color and that color. She mentioned using our sea sponging technique on the upper and I was sold. I decided on Metallic Bronze and poured some out, ready for the next step. Instead of a natural sea sponge like we normally use, however, she handed me a synthetic sponge made for cleaning George Foreman Grills.

These have an irregular pattern of little points, like a sea sponge, but since they are synthetic, those points never go soft from the wetness of the paint and lose their "pointiness." They also create a much finer pattern than even sea silk sponges do. I dabbed on one coat of Metallic Bronze. That's all I needed.

Next, the embellishments. I wanted a strap! I played with different ideas but Margot lobbied for using chain. Who could resist chain? Not I. So I pawed through our amazingly diverse stash until I found two lengths of chain, one brass and one copper, two copper washers, and two brass nautical stars. I measured around my ankle, and marked each length of chain. (A very handy way to mark chain is to secure a safety pin in the last link you want to keep.)

Margot nipped the chain for me (I wanted the copper chain to hang lower than the brass so I measured a longer length of copper), and we fixed split rings to both ends of each chain. The loop end of a toggle clasp was attached to a split ring on one end, then the three split rings were connected (see the photo above). On the other end, we used a lobster clasp on a split ring instead of the loop-and-ring combo. It was kind of like making an anklet.  The split ring with the clasp loop was stitched to the back of the shoe using a leather needle and Smoke Fireline thread.

The embellishment for the toe was created by stacking a brass nautical star onto a copper washer and gluing them together with E6000. I also glued dome findings onto the backs so they could be stitched onto the shoes. Once the E6000 had cured, all I needed was to mark where I wanted the embellishment on each shoe and sweet-talk Margot into using a leather needle and Smoke colored Fireline thread to attach them.

Neither of us could believe how awesome the transformation was! The heels turned out really stunning. No one would ever believe they only cost $4.95! The best part is they are mine!! Now I need to wear them somewhere... Hmmmm. Maybe I can just put my feet up and enjoy them, for now.

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....

That's Totally My Bag, Baby!

Any artist who has ever done a commission knows it can be a stressful meeting of the minds. But Margot and I have been HUGELY lucky in this department. Our Sassy Feet patrons have been a delight so far (ha ha!), and my most recent commission was no exception.

Peninsula Wearable Arts Guild member, Pat Oakstar, attended our October event in Campbell, CA, and brought along a huge, funky, one-of-a-kind leather shoulder bag she'd bought in San Francisco's Haight-Asbury district about 25 years ago. This bag was a real work of craftsmanship, all the way down to its heavy brass-clasp hardware. And it was BIG.

Pat told me she knew three things for sure about this bag: She never used it, she wanted me to paint it, and she thought it would look cool decorated with insects. The rest was up to me.

Some of you longtime readers will remember Pat from another custom excursion I blogged about a couple years ago. For those who remember (and those who clicked the link to read it), you know Pat's not timid! She's out there, bold and vibrant. Definitely not afraid of color! I was excited to get started.

I settled on dragonflies as the main theme (with Pat's approval, of course). There would be three large bugs: one in cool-tone colors, one in warm colors, and one in green/gold tones. All would be soaring on a swirling, glittering wind. I would also put a line of various insect silhouettes marching up and down the strap. Margot has crowned me the one "who can paint things that look like things," so I began by lightly sketching my design right on the bag with a ball point pen.

I painted each dragonfly using  a huge range of Lumiere colors including Pearl Blue, Indigo, Pearl Turquoise, Pearl Violet, Citrine, Metallic Olive, Sunset Gold, Metallic Bronze, Burgundy, Pearl Magenta, Metallic Russet, and Crimson.

I took a quick progress photo for Pat, who was very pleased but said, "I love your artwork. It's beautiful!  In fact, it's almost too beautiful for that rustic hunk of leather. Never mind the handle. The 'crazy' in me wants MORE bugs on the front. Maybe a swarm??? You're the artist, though, and I leave it up to you completely." 

I thought, More bugs it is! Since we were no longer doing the line of marching insects on the strap, I figured the swarm Pat wanted could be silhouettes of dragonflies in various sizes.

I also did a freehand design of Sparkly Silver Glitter It! Glaze to serve as the gusting swirls of wind. It was a good choice since it would be translucent when dry and you could see the color of the original leather behind all the tiny particles of glitter.

Here are the final, not-from-a-cell-phone pics:

I had so much fun creating this! I'm very pleased Pat was as happy with the results as I am. I cannot wait for the next creative adventure she takes me on. I'll "travel" with her anytime!

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!

Upcycling a White Elephant... of Sorts

I've never been one for white shoes or handbags, so my friends were dumbfounded when I brought this thing home from the local thrift store. Not only was it white, it was BIG and it was embossed with fake reptile scales and it totally DIDN'T look like anything but plastic.

Ah,I LOVE a challenge! Actually, what moved me to adopt this pathetic and rather dirty specimen of manmade leather was the fact that it had all that nice texture of the reptile scales. That plus the fact that it had disintincly marked off sections. I wanted to try color blocking the different sections then bringing up the texture of the scales by rubbing black over the paint. Here are some photos of the process.

The colors I chose were Lumiere's Pearlescent Magenta, Halo Pink Gold and Pearlescent Turquoise. Both the pearlescent colors and the metallic colors in this line of paints look wonderful  when darkened with the flat black paint from the related line of paints called Neopaque. Here's what they look like painted on the faux reptile skin (AFTER I'd prepped the whole darn purse by rubbing gently with 100% acetone).

Next, I dipped a small rag in a puddle of Neopaque Black, rubbed it on each section (one at a time) and immediately rubbed some of it back off,  so the original color would not be totally obscured.

Here's a close up of the before and after showing the difference in how much more texture was "highlighted" by the addition of the black paint.

Now here's the whole purse after being rubbed with the black paint.

Now I needed an embellishment to center in the top panel. I dug around in my embarrassingly large stash and came up with a metal washer from the hardware store and a small square sample of chain maille from a batch I'd ordered several years ago. I glittered the washer and dabbed some Staz-On alcohol-based ink on the chain maille.

Then I glued a dome button converter from Fire Mountain Gems to the back of the washer using E6000 so I'd have little loops to use in stitching it to the purse.  Here's what it looks like as a whole.

I took photos of it for this blog, hung it from a hook in my studio and let it sit. Inside, I knew it wasn't quite right. It took me a month or so before I was willing to admit that the glittery, dangly embellishment was not right for the rubbed-reptile look. But what to use instead? So, as I always do when I am stuck, I asked Destiny. She started rooting around in my embellishment stash and pulled out four components.

These were,from left, an Italian silver-tone button, a copper washer from the hardware store, a vintage-look Asian coin and a 55mm resin donut from Natural Touch Beads. When she stacked them all together, they looked like this. The choice of the aqua/turquoise resin donut was perfect: It echoed the Pearlescent Turquoise paint, while the copper washer echoed the Halo Pink Gold. The bronze of the Asian coin is barely visible below the copper washer, but it made a nice rim to the copper.

I decided to ignore the fact that it took Destiny about 96 seconds to pull these components out of my stash and stack them, while it had taken me 50 times that long to design the first (and failed) embellishment...

Anyway, overlooking this flaw of hers, I glued the parts together using E6000, glued on a dome button converted to the back using the same stuff, then stitched it in place. Here's the final result.

I am finally satisified with it. It's still large, but it no longer looks like a white elephant -- or a white whale, for that matter. All it needs now is a name. Any ideas?

 

Last-Minute Gifts for Creative Friends

I'm sure you've been inundated with stores sending you emails about ****GREAT SAVINGS**** and so on -- my inbox has been jammed! Me, I'm doing ONE blog post for you to offer my suggestions for presents that will open a whole new world of creativity for your artisan friends. You could even invite them over and "do shoes" together!

The Sassy Feet Essentials Kit has everything for beginning DIY shoe designers: 

• A sample pack of NINE Lumiere paints -- each bottle will do a pair of shoes, even if they need three coats to cover the old color
• A set of the paint brushes we like best for painting shoes and bags, including the hard-to-find fan brush
• A bottle of sealer for adding a shine and a protective finish
• The NEW edition of our book, Sassy Feet! Paint, Embellish and LOVE Your Shoes (and Bags)! Signed by the authors
  

 $37.95 ($41.10 if purchased separately)

 

Our fabulous (if I do say so myself) new edition of Sassy Feet! Paint, Embellish and LOVE Your Shoes (and Bags)!, the popular guide to the joys of DIY shoe design and handbag upcycling! Completely revised and updated with more than 80 projects for painting and embellishing your shoes and bags. Fun and inspirational with lots and lots of ideas for creating one-of-a-kind accessories. Tells how to paint, sponge paint, color block, transfer designs, stencil on leather, and apply glitter glaze, PLUS all the different ways to attach embellishments. Creativity-provoking eye candy with a big helping of how-to!

"Teaches you how to move from Payless to beyond Neiman Marcus -- and does it with infectious enthusiasm!"  -- Program Director, Wearable Art Connection of Southern California

$19.95  Signed by the authors
 

How about Do-It-Yourself Ruby Slippers? Our Ruby Slippers Shoe Embellishment Kit contains everything needed to turn ordinary flat or heels magical! And it's suitable for beginners. Our kit includes:

• Detailed, step-by step instructions with photos
• A bottle Crimson Lumiere paint specially formulated for leather & manmade leather
• A bottle Ruby Slippers Glitter It! glaze
• Two red satin bows, already tied
• Five yards of Fireline beading thread
• One leather needle (size 3)

$29.95 ($33.95 if purchased separately)

Give the gift of GLITTER!  Encourage your favorite female (large or small) to glitter her shoes and bag for extra holiday pizzazz! Here are color combos of Lumiere leather paint and our Gitter It! glaze that will cover most any shoes or bags. Instructions included!Will cover a pair of shoes and a small-to-medium-sized handbag, OR a pair of knee-high boots. Many more color combos in our store.

• RED - Crimson Lumiere paint and Really Red Glitter It! glaze

• GOLD - Bright Gold Lumiere paint and Antique Gold Glitter It! glaze
• SILVER - Metallic Silver Lumiere paint and Sparkling Silver Glitter It! glaze
• GREEN - Pearlescent Emerald Lumiere paint and Shamrock Glitter It! glaze

$15.20 for a bottle of paint and a bottle of glitter glaze

• Or, just add some holographic silver sparkle to the black shoes you already have -- order Starlet Glitter It! glaze for just $9.99. Covers same area as noted above. (We do have black paint if you need it for $5.19 a bottle -- click here.)

Okay, those are my best suggestions for the women (and intrepid men) you love. Now I'm gonna go back to painting and embellishing an ugly old yellow leather tote into a wonderful Christmas gift for one of my favorite twentysomethings!

Show-y Shoes!

Weekend before last, Destiny and I were invited to teach and have a booth at the wonderful Education in the Textile Arts sewing conference in Irvine, CA. If you don't know about these conferences (there's one in Dallas, too) and you love to sew, check out Peggy Sager's website -- and don't miss her fabulous free YouTube videos on all things sewing. (Peggy is the designer of Silhouette Patterns.)

So, knowing we were going to a big show, Destiny and I decided we needed NEW SHOES for the event! I got some crisscross gladiator sandals from Famous Footwear on sale and decided to glitter some of the straps to go with a black-and-greeny/gold chiffon jacket I'd just

picked up for a comparative song at a thrift store. I started by painting the straps I'd chosen in a color of Lumiere called Old Brass. I only did one coat of paint because I knew that when I applied the glitter glaze it would hide any irregularities. I purchased matching high-quality glitter (this was a color we don't stock in our regular line of Glitter It glaze) and mixed it into our Glitter It glaze clear base. 

The results were subtle -- and beautifully worked with the chiffon jacket (seen in the background above)!

Then it was Destiny's turn. I'd bought her some cute flats at Payless and offered to paint and embellish them for her as a thank-you for the fabulous job she did on our new edition of the Sassy Feet book. They had nice lines and showed a bit of toe cleavage, which especially appealed to her!

She picked the Lumiere shade Halo Pink Gold, and asked me to attach a little spray of fans, as I did on the Fan Dance shoe in our book.

 Well, I cooperated when it came to the color, but right before I started to dig out more of those pretty green fans, I came across some black glass beaded fringe.... And I showed Destiny what it would look like when glued around the top edge of the flat. She was sold!

On the second day of the show, I wore some simple black suede sandals with a small sterling silver zigzag embellishment across the toe -- and took a lot of flack for not having SASSIER shoes!! So I came home, took off the zigzag (it was stitched on), got out my leather needle and Fireline thread, and stitched down six Italian silver buttons I'd gotten from our booth neighbor, Dawn Sklar, who sells outrageously discounted vintage and modern buttons and trim.

Dawn only sells at shows and flea markets or I'd point you to her online store, but her friend Judy Tomsky sells buttons like this on her site Natural Touch Beads, (The spiral buttons are on this page.) While you're there, don't miss her yummy resin beads -- they look like gumdrops or sea glass. You can use them as they are or even paint, smear or stamp them with Lumiere. Try it!

Finally: A Demo About Painting Shoes

At long last, Destiny and I got our act together and created a video demo of how to prep, paint and seal shoes. For you handbag-altering fanatics out there, the process is exactly the same.

Needless to say, this being our first demo, it's a little inexpert in places (I was the camerawoman), but we are proud of it none the less! It's on You Tube, but those nice folks let us embed it here in our blog. We hope you enjoy it (and forgive me for cutting off Destiny's head in part of it...).

 

A Fabric 'First'!

Margot and I are currently creating some designs for an art exhibit at the Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield, MI, called "Shoes, Purses and Mahjong: A Few of Our Favorite Things." As we discussed our plans for the exhibit, I suggested we make a couple Mahjong-themed bags. Margot liked that idea very much, so we started phase two of our process - what to make??

Margot has created nearly a zillion (I may be rounding up) incredible designs with fabric collage like the Lonni Rossi Bootie, Anne Bagby Slides, and a Kaffe Fassett handbag, but I realized I had never tried my hand at fabric collage before. I was shocked at myself! Why not try a mahjong fabric collage on a purse for the show?

Before I go further, let me tell you just a bit about mahjong. It originated in China and although it's played with tiles, like dominos, it's much more like the card game gin rummy. The tiles usually have a white background (no doubt they were originally ivory) and are imprinted with Chinese characters and symbols. These are organized in suits, as Western playing cards are.

I began my project by rummaging through our purse stash and finding a bag with a large flat front flap to use as a nice canvas for my collage. I decided I'd mimic the 3 of Circles tile because it was colorful but not too complex. Then I picked my fabric colors: a purple-ish floral cotton for the background, an aged yellowy orange for the mahjong tile itself, and red, green, and blue scraps of quilting fabric for the 3 circles.

I drew out my shapes on each color of fabric, squeezed Fray Check on the lines (to keep the fabric from raveling when I cut it), then cut out the shapes. I covered the flap of the purse completely with the purple-ish fabric, gluing it down with Fabri-Tac. Then I laid the rest of the shapes down and stepped back. It. Was. TERRIBLE!  I wish I had taken a  picture. The purple floral fabric looked so matronly next to the others that it did not work at all!  Luckily, I had chosen two different fabrics for possiblities to use as the red circle and I decided to lay everything on top of the "unused" red.

POW! It popped immediately! So I cut a new shape and glued it right over the purple flap. Since this was my first time doing fabric collage, I suppose it was the creativity Gods making sure I got LOTS of gluing practice.... Next I glued down the mahjong "tile" base, then I glued on each colored circle.

Now it was time to paint in the details from the tile I was copying, starting with a Crimson "3," the recreating the flower details in the center of each circle with Sunset Gold. Finally, by rubbing on and wiping off a little more Sunset Gold over the original dark reddish brown of the leather, I "antiqued" the rest of the bag.

Except, in purse design as in shoe design, "finally" doesn't really mean finally. It seems there's always something more one can do to make the design come fully to life. That's what happened next.

During our planning process for our purses, we raided the abundant stash of our favorite mixed-media artist for mahjong tiles, cards, and counters to use as inspiration and possible embellishments. I picked out some interesting tiles, drilled a hole into one corner of each tile, attached a split ring, and slid the split ring onto a chain. I added a large jump ring to the top of the chain and ran the purse's shoulder strap through it.  The mahjong counters and tiles became a fabulous, movable embellishment dangling fetchingly from the side of the bag.

I think it looks mighty fine for my first adventure in fabric collaging. "Yahtzee!!!" Wait, I mean, "MAHJONG!!!"

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!

We Answer Your Emails: Episode 1!

Summers are crazy for everyone, Sassy Feet! included. Margot has been up to her ears in things to do, so I am stepping in and posting some of the questions people have emailed her, along with her answers. (If any of you have figured out how to clone yourselves, let us know! Margot and I could both benefit from the ability to be in two -- or three -- places at once!)

Question from T.:
I want to paint some purses -- they are not leather, but the regular Nine West purses of artificial material. What paint do I use? Regular acrylics? How long-lasting would the paint be? And do I coat it with something at the end?

Margot says:
You can use the same paints and supplies on purses that we use on shoes. And yes, you can paint purses made of artificial material, like manmade leather (just not plastic). Here is an example of a purse like this that I painted.

If you go to http://www.sassyfeet.com/howto.htm on our website, you will learn about the brand of special acrylic paints we recommend -- Lumiere -- and how to seal the paint using Pledge Premium Floor Finisher with Future Shine.  We sell the paint and small bottles of the sealer in our online store, and only charge the actual cost of the postage, no handling fee.

Your paint job on your purse will last for a long time! The paint doesn't chip or run or peel, as long as you prepare the surface properly before paintings (see the how-to page or read on). Also, there are lots of examples of painted purses on this blog. Use the Search box at the top left to find posts that we have written about purses.

Question from G.:
How does one change the color of the side of the sole of the shoe, like the white part of this sneaker?

The sneakers I want to paint are black with dark purple highlights. I can do the upper, but don't know how to turn all that "real estate" black. Any ideas? Or is this a no-go?

Margot says:
The challenge is that acrylic paint won't stick to rubbery plastic, like the kind used for the soles and lower sides of running shoes. It will just peel off when the shoe bends and flexes.

When the soles are white or a light color, however, you can try two things, but neither would be the perfect solution. The first is paint pens, which some folks swear by. The second is Sharpie pens, which I think will work better in terms of not peeling off, but you'll have to touch up the color over time.

In my classes, I usually recommend that people work the color of soles like this into their shoe design instead of trying to change it. As the old proverb says, "Face the direction the horse is going!"

Question from L.:
My daughter is dying for glittery orange sneakers, so I ordered Sizzling Orange Glitter It [example of this color glitter at left], and Super Copper Lumiere paint, along with the Pledge sealer. I ordered the copper paint because the directions on the website say I need to paint the shoes orange before putting on the orange Glitter It. Is that right?

If so, do I put on the sealer in between the paint and the Glitter It?  And how would you suggest covering the grommets (I'm doing a pair of canvas sneakers) to keep them paint free?  Are there any other tips you'd offer before I begin?

Margot says:
Yes, you do need to paint the shoe first because Glitter It is really like a glaze, so the color of the shoe beneath the glitter shows through.

As to the grommets, go ahead and paint both the sneaker fabric AND grommets. One coat will probably do it, but if not, wait til they're dry and paint on another. This is much easier than trying NOT to paint the grommets. Lumiere paint is not supposed to be able to stick to metal, but in my experience it does pretty well -- and you can always touch them up later if the paint starts to wear off.

Then mix up the glitter with the white-looking glitter base. There are instructions printed on the packet and bottle. STIR WELL BEFORE AND DURING USE. Pat on the mixture with a small, soft FAN BRUSH (pictured). Don't try to brush it on or you'll end up just pushing the glitter paint around. Let dry completely (could take about 45 min.), then pat on a second coat to even out where the glitter is. I wouldn't bother trying to glitter the grommets. They'll look fine just painted. After the shoes dry, it will be another couple of days until they "cure" and your daughter can wear them.

You won't need to use the sealer at all. The glitter paint doesn't need sealing -- and it serves as a sealer for the Super Copper. Tightly cap both the paint and glitter paint in case you ever need to do touch ups -- or make another pair for when your daughter grows out of these.

Question from A.N.:
I love your website and your shoes!  I have had a crazy idea for the holiday season and I am planning on painting a bunch of Ugg knockoff boots for the kids in my family (all 14 of them).  I just can’t spend the money that it would cost to buy them custom Uggs, so I decided to improvise! 

I read that you suggest Lumiere paints for painting on leather shoes.  Does this brand work for the scuffed leather that the Ugg knockoffs are made out of?  Have you tried this before?  I would really appreciate any help that you can impart! 

Margot says:
Yes, the Lumiere paint will adhere to Uggs knockoffs, but it will smooth out the surface so they are not suede-like anymore. They'll have a smoother finish, which a lot of people like. Also, you won't have to take the time to prep the surface or apply sealer, since that "scuffed leather" of Uggs knockoffs is really a type of fabric.

Question from S.M.:
Love your book "Sassy Feet"!  I am going to paint a white leather purse Metallic Rust Lumiere paint, and I wondered if the white plastic zipper could be painted as well?

Margot says:
Surprisingly enough, I have had a very good results painting plastic zippers with Lumiere paint. Keep the zipper closed and paint it lightly. (You can paint the fabric part of the zipper with a heavier hand.) Then if you need it darker, give it a second coat. When the paint is dry, open and close the zipper a couple times to loosen it up again. That's it!

Question from K.C.:
My mom and I painted our shoes and had a great time, but the paint cracked and is popping off at the stress creases of the shoes.  We did not apply the paint too thick; we did two thin coats to cover the original color.  What do you suggest we do?

Margot says:
Did you prep the surface of the shoes first? (Wipe them with a cotton ball dampened with rubbing alcohol if the shoes are leather; use plain acetone instead of alcohol if the shoes are manmade materials.)

[K.C. wrote back to say they hadn't prepped the surface, so I wrote her back this response.]

Mystery solved! What you can do now is to gently sand down the areas where the paint cracked and then prep the surface of the shoe. Let it dry THOROUGHLY. Then apply a new coat or two of the Lumiere paint.

Question from J.:
Gosh, it’s so hard to believe by prepping with alcohol it will not peel. Do you have to scrub or just lightly rub on?  What if they get wet by chance? Have you had trouble with that?

Margot says:
To prep genuine leather shoes with alcohol, slightly dampen a cotton ball and rub it -- don't scrub it -- over the surface of the shoe. Wait until the surface is dry before painting. This really will enable the paint to stick.

Once your shoes are painted, the paint will stay on even if you walk in the rain. Of course, they can get scuffed, like any shoe, but then you just prep the scuffed area and do a little touch-up painting.

If the shoe isn't prepped, the paint is not actually being applied to the leather -- it's being applied to the dirt or oil on the surface of the shoe, or to whatever finish the manufacturer used on it. Once you remove that stuff, the paint will stick just fine. Also, the paint will dry quickly, but it will continue to "cure" for 3-4 days, at which point it's permanent.

Question from B.S.:
I am finding that some of my painted shoes crack at the ball area. Is this normal? I do have rather long, chimp like toes. When the shoes crack, any surface decoration, paper or fabric, seems to fissure as well. On my first few pairs, I used Mod Podge as a sealer. Is it the Mod Podge or my monkey toes?

Margot says:
That's the Mod Podge creating the cracks (assuming you are using Lumiere paint and not plain craft acrylics). It isn't flexible when it dries. If you prep the surface of your shoes properly (see explanation above), use the right paint (one formulated for use on leather or manmade leather) and the right sealer, you shouldn't get cracks.

One exception: No matter what you use to apply paper to the surface of your shoes, the paper will tear when the shoe bends. What I do when I find a design on paper that I want to put on shoes is I scan the paper into my computer, then print out the scans on cotton that's made to go through an inkjet printer. Then I glue down the fabric (I use Fabri-Tac if gluing directly onto leather or The Ultimate if gluing onto painted or manmade leather).

If you are creating a DIY shoe and/or purse and run into a snag, EMAIL US! We will answer! We love fielding questions, and you'll become a living part of Sassy Feet's blossoming development!

Love your book "Sassy Feet".  I am going to paint a white leather purse metallic rust and wondered if the white plastic zipper could be painted as well. 

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!)

On Turning 100: It's Better Together!

Destiny and I are DELIGHTED to announce that this is our 100th POST! To mark that amazing occasion, we thought we'd talk about how we collaborated on a particular design. For me, running my ideas past Destiny, and vice versa, is one of the best things about doing Sassy Feet!  Her artist's eye and her 27-year-old's in-your-face sense of style work surprisingly well with my inborn sassy attitude and out-of-the box thinking, which has survived 60 years of life trying to get me to obey the rules. (Not gonna happen, except for speed limits.)

Destiny and I have a booth at the upcoming fashion show of my wonderful wearable-art group, nicknamed PenWAG (if you're curious, click the link), so we have both been making altered shoes, purses and t-shirts. I have a stash of slightly used (or new) purses I've gotten from thrift stores, and I chose this one to work on, as it had a nice flattish surface for embellishing. I knew the odd spattering (of paint?) on the front wouldn't matter, as I was going to paint over it.

I had some particular embellishments in mind -- my favorites, as a matter of fact: some oversize mesh roses, a vintage watch face or two (I bought a lot of these a couple of years ago), some sample pieces of chain mail, and little wooden gears I'd found on etsy that I'd embossed to look like rusty metal.

I painted the purse with Lumiere in Halo Pink Gold, then pressed the embellishments on with earthquake putty to see how they'd look. My wife, who's also an artist, suggested stacking other, smaller embellishments on top, which I did. The result was... unsatisfying. The design didn't quite work, though I didn't know why. Here's a photo of the purse at this point.

It was time to ask Destiny for help!

Steampunk is one of my most favorite styles. I love the contrast when furturistic sci-fi meets Victorian industry. Plus the sense of fantasy the style has: airships, ray guns, wings, cogs and gears. It really speaks to me. When Margot showed me her design plan, I was intstantly excited at the idea of watch faces, metal mesh roses, and interlocking gears. But a couple things struck me as out of place.

As much as I love Halo Pink Gold, I knew it wasn't quite right for this. Much too clean, pristine and bright. I suggested that maybe Margot wanted to "tarnish" the paint job. Maybe a black rub, or some brown dappled splatters.  My eyes wanted the surface to look more like the color and texture of the gears.

The next thing I wanted to tweak just a bit was Margot's placement of the gears. I think I am allergic to symmetry (in most cases). I liked the idea of something hanging down off one strap, but I thought it would cover too many of the embellishments, positioned as they were, so I rearranged the pieces underneath the opposite strap. In my mind I had a picture of an interesting layout where the gears looked like they were actually interlocked and turning at some point.

Margot had brought a few scraps of chain mail with her, so I placed them up near the dangling ribbon, because, well, what design couldn't use a little chain mail? We took photos of our changes so Margot could reference them later. It's a good idea to do this when designing because you always think you will remember what you did. But, you won't. I promise you.

I went home and got back to work. First I got out some Neopaque Black paint, diluted it with a little water, and started rubbing it on with a wedge-shaped cosmetic sponge, a little at a time.

The trick was to not rub the paint on too thick -- we wanted the rosy gold background color to still show through. I kept a paint rag and clear water handy to immediately "erase" places where I'd gotten the paint too black. I also decided to paint the handles of the purse black. Here's the result.

Much more vintage looking! I then decided to ignore Destiny's suggestion of spattering some brown paint over the rubbed-on black.

Time to glue together the embellishments (using E6000) and stitch them down with FireLine.

At this point, things were looking pretty good, and I pinned the chain mail in place. Hmm. It wasn't quite right. Time to ask Destiny's opinion again. I took this photo and emailed it to her.

I thought the gears looked so cool on top of the tarnished golden paint job, but I could see what Margot meant about it needing "something else." My eyes were immediately drawn to the bright red roses, which were a great color contrast, but not a great texture contrast.  I suggested maybe using a little StazOn ink to add a light vintage touch to them as well.

I loved the pop of color so much, I thought it needed some red on the dangling embellishments, too. I wasn't sure what to use, but maybe tinting the lighter piece of chain mail with StazOn would work or finding a lush piece of red ribbon.  I knew Margot would figure it out!

I wasn't so sure about messing with those nice big one-of-a-kind mesh roses, which I'd found on etsy, but I do have StazOn remover (they call it "All-Purpose Cleaner"), so I figured, what the heck. It looked good!The same thing happened when I dabbed a cotton ball on to the stamp pad of StazOn's Black Cherry and pressed it onto the lighter-toned chain mail. Nice! That girl, I thought to myself, knows what she's doing!!

Here's the finished handbag -- isn't collaboration wonderful?  Here's to the creative marriage of true minds, and to our 100th post!

It's My (Altered) Bag

Have you ever bought something you thought was really great, used it once or twice, and left it to sit in your closet for four years? Of course you have! We ALL have.

In my case, it was a black leather Ameribag. This is the little back-pack-like bag that's supposed to be easy and comfortable to carry, even when it's loaded with STUFF. Now, that claim is pretty much true. There's something about its shape that distributes its weight in such a way that your shoulders don't hurt five minutes after you've slung the thing on.

It has two drawbacks,though. First, they're pricey, especially in leather, which is what I got, despite it being on sale. Second, mine sort of looked like a big black gumdrop, which is why it ended up in the back of my closet for so long. Until I remembered it was there and realized I could paint it!

I used a technique I described in a post last year where you apply four or five or six colors of Lumiere over a black background, using a cosmetic sponge to dab and daub on the color. Below is a closeup of the kind of result you get.

I started by prepping the leather surface by rubbing it with a cotton ball moistened with rubbing alcohol. Then I picked my colors: Lumiere's Pearl Violet, Metallic Bronze, Super Copper, Metallic Russet, and Metallic Olive.

I dabbed them on sparsely one at a time, and let each color dry before dabbing on the next. If you try this, don't mush the sponge around or you'll end up with mud instead of nice distinct colors. I used the flat bottom of the sponge and dabbed the paint on horizontally, then at the end I did some vertical dabs with the edge of the sponge to create more visual interest.

Let me show you the finished bag, then tell you about the detail painting and the leather beads I added.

I painted the trim, piping and pocket flap on the front in the solid colors, using the colors I had dabbed on. Then I went fishing in my stash and found some leather beads in the shape of leaves that I'd gotten years ago at a bead show. These are actually two pieces of leather glued together with a channel in between for the beading thread. Using Fireline and a leather needle (for penetrating the leather flap), I stitched down the leaves.

This was just fine - for a couple of months. Then I discovered two things. One, I just wasn't happy with the big block of Metallic Olive on the flap. It was too different from the nice daubed appearance of the rest of the bag.

Also, the leather beads started coming apart and drooping (in this photo they are still behaving themselves). When they did this, you could see the Fireline and the whole thing starting looking tacky instead of wonderful.

 So I finally decided to change things. I took off the beads and painted the flap a solid black with Neopaque Black. The black mostly hid the holes from where I'd stuck the needle through the flap, and I liked the effect better. Then I went back to my stash to find a more durable embellishment.

I ended up the other half of a pair of embellishments I'd made, the first of which I used on a demo sandal, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. (If you want to know how I made it, click on that link.)

The result worked much better to my eye. I may do some fine-tuning, but for now, here's my edited and revamped Ameribag!

 

If this type of bag interests you (or your shoulders), you can get one on sale at the Ameribag site or ebay, where you'll find other people like me, who bought one and stuck it in the back of their closet. And if you don't like the color it comes in, paint it!

Much More Than A Silver Lining

When Margot told me about her simmering idea for metal leafing on shoes, I was dazzled by her ability to envision yet another unexpected application for this wonderful DIY craft she's pioneering. Putting it shortly, I wanted in!

She had already done gold-toned mixed metal leafing on a pair of clogs (See: Rescuing Some Old Friends) and had a bag of silver (and some coppery red) she had yet to try. So, she sent me home with the all the sterling supplies and a pair of faux-straw patterned wedges to transform.

First, I painted a coat of Speedball metal leaf sealer (photo on our previous blog, as mentioned) onto the faux-straw wedges and allowed it to fully dry. Then, I applied a coat of adhesive. After about 30 minutes the adhesive was tacky enough to start applying the leafing.

 I used a pair of tweezers to pull pieces of leafing from the bag and laid them onto the wedge. An old, junky soft paint brush works exceptionally well for burnishing the metal leaf smooth. Every so often, I would add a chunk of coppery leaf in random spots. After the whole wedge was covered, I inspected it for places I had missed. There were a few, so I brushed on a bit more adhesive, let it sit and applied more leaf. When all the spots were covered, I was applied another coat of sealer over the whole wedge.

Since the wedge had coppery koi-like "fishscales" within the silver, I chose to use Metallic Russet, Pewter and Black as my paint colors for the upper and insole. I used the larger, straight-edge brush in our kit to paint Black on everything but the undersides of the straps and footbed. (Since the main body was fabric, I didn't need to do any prep.) If you aren't as steady with a paintbrush as you'd like to be, you can use blue drafting tape to mask off the areas you don't want painted.

Now for the insole! It was made of faux leather, so I prepped it t with a cotton ball dampened with 100% acetone). Then, using a fan brush, I painted the insole with two coats of Pewter. Allow the first coat to dry before applying the second. Metallic Russet was applied (2 coats, again) to the inside of the straps using the straight-edge brush. As an accent, I used a small round brush to paint some gear-shaped accents on the footbed.

The pièce de résistance was an excellent, handstacked-button embellishment created by Margot that had a very steampunk look about it. It was stitched on with a leather needle and Fireline to the gathered toe strap. I added a swarovski crystal to the center of the clockworks to finish it off.

This pair of wedges is now fit for any time-traveling, sterling silver, steampunk princess!

A Taste of the Tropics

Two nights ago I had the pleasure of teaching a shoe- and purse-painting class to a group of very talented women, sewers all, from the American Sewing Guild's Central Coast (of California) chapter. They've promised to send me photos of their creations (it's always too hectic at the end of class for me to take photos), and when they do, I'll post them here.

One of the things I do at the beginning of each class is to demo how to paint shoes and purses. WIth the paint we use (Lumiere), you don't brush it on as if you were painting your living room wall. You lay it on gently and smoothly, with just a few strokes, as if you were putting on nail polish. And you use a soft, small fan brush to do it.

That night, I used one of a pair of shoes that a stylish friend had donated to the Sassy Feet cause as my demo model. It's a very nice Cole Haan genuine leather slide in a color that reminded me of the lush tropical green of Hawaii.

I used Metallic Copper to paint the upper, which was a great contrast. Usually, that's where I stop when I'm doing a demo. But as the evening went on, this group of artisans didn't need a lot of help from me, so I picked up my brush and kept playing around with the shoe. I painted the underside of the upper in Metallic Olive Green.

Then I put  my nearly worn-out fan brush (it had gotten sort of spiky over time!) to good use. It looked to me like the fan with its slightly spayed bristles might make interesting shapes on the insole of the shoe. So I dipped it in Metallic Olive Green and started pressing it in little arcs. This took a little chuzpah, because I had no idea how it would look -- and what if it came out terrible and all my students saw what a mess I'd created?

I've always been a risk-taker, though, so I plunged ahead. Luckily, I liked the effect! The brush marks looked like palm fronds. I decided to paint little berries onto the fronds (not sure why, it's holly that has berries -- just consider it artistic license). I used Metallic Bronze daubed with Metallic Rust for the berries.

Fine. But class wasn't over yet and still no one needed a lot of help from me! So I added some detail on the top and bottom edge of the upper, again using the spikiness of my old fan brush to create interesting patterns.

At this point in the class, I usually demo how to stitch on an embellishment, and I had brought one with me that I'd created by gluing together (with E6000) a large resin doughnut, a smaller metal donut and a gold-tone button. The colors of this embellishment had dictated some of my color choices for the paint.)

Here's the finished shoe, which I call the Tropical Slide. Thanks, ladies, for keeping me company while I created it. (And don't forget to send me your photos -- you all created some amazing pieces!)

But I've always been a risk-taker, so I plunged ahead. Luckily, I liked the effect!

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!

 

Our Version of Shoes Fit for a Princess

The British are revving up for the royal pomp and ceremony of the marriage next month of Prince William to the common but extraordinary Kate Middleton. To get in on the P.R. action, Footwear News asked five top shoe designers to suggest shoes for the bride to wear.

You can see the creations by Manolo Blahnik (at right), Giuseppe Zanotti and others by clicking here, then choosing the IMAGES tab or launching the slide show. In the accompanying article, each designer explains what they did and why. Of the shoe pictured here, an ivory silk pump with organza lilies of the valley and pearls, Manolo says, "It represents springtime and everything fresh and new, which is what Kate Middleton is all about."

This is all well and good, but poor Kate is going to have ACHING arches before the day is one-quarter through. Destiny and I have some alternate suggestions for the bride!

First is Destiny's Cinderella Dreams, a lovely little off-white flat juiced up with lace, Swarovski crystals, dabs of Metallic Gold Lumiere paint, and a whopper of a gold-and-rhinestone embellishment. If we were trying to be relevant (and pretentious) we would say that the shape of the lace echoes the arched windows in Westminster Abbey, if you looked at them standing on your head.... I guess that was a stretch, but other than being beautiful, these shoes would keep a smile on Kate's face through her long, long, long day.

My candidate for Kate is an adaptation of a famous Salvatore Ferragamo design. This mid-heel shoe started out black. I painted it Metallic Gold, then draped it with gold chain, including a lovely angled waterfall of chain around the front of the ankle strap.

It was something of an engineering challenge to create that waterfall, but I LOVE the results. It's called Gold Standard.

Last of all -- and returning to the somewhat painful realm of high heels -- let us suggest our Pale Gold glittered platform heel dripping with gold crystals. It is truly fit for a princess -- because it took HOURS of painstaking, unpaid labor (mine) to stitch on the crystal mesh!

If any of you want to recommend these fabulous shoes to Kate, just email her the URL of this post and tell her she ought to order by April 10, for an April 29 wedding!

We Can Top That

Margot and I always look for ways to put the perfect finishing touch on our designs.  It's easier on some shoes because they have interesting aspects built in, like decorative stitching or a unique shaped heel. One of the quickest ways to add an extra touch of excellence to any shoe design is adding little ruffles or trim -- and every pair you modify has a built in spot for it: on top! Here are some boot designs that were taken that extra step by adding a little something wonderful on top.

Simply wrapping the throat of this boot with decadent rhinestone mesh cup chain made a popping visual impact on this black boot. So much so, only a bit of thin chain was needed around the sole to complete the design.

After a couple coats of luminous Pearl White, the addition of dusty rose ruffled ribbon to the upper edge of Kaylie's Bridal Boots not only highlighted the beautiful appliqué but gave it a winter wedding feel.

 

The black marabou cuff around the top of these work-booties creates a wonderful and sexy contrast (as does the stiletto heel!) to originally industrial design.

 

The patina-like hue of this feather pad, along with the Metallic Rust-rubbed upper and bronze beaded medallion, help Fandango achieve it's Andalusian feel.

 

The gossamery white lace trim is the perfect final touch to these Burnt Orange boots. The lightness of the trim mimics the hand-painted Pearl White design on the toe and helps bring it all together.

Trimming the tops of your designs can help achieve that final something you were searching for, or make the dramatic pow you wanted without having to do a lot of painstaking work.  Your beholders' eyes won't realize how easy it was to accomplish, but they'll revel in how marvelous you are for creating it!

Words, Beautiful Words

One of the delightful benefits of working with a talented artist like Destiny is that whenever there's an occasion that calls for gifts, I can ask her to paint something for me. This Christmas it was a laptop bag that I had gotten on sale at Office Depot for $5 quite a number of years ago. In fact, the clearance price was so ridiculous, I bought two. And have never used them....

However, I recently had to go on a business trip where I needed to look, uh, business-like (rather than creative!), so I rummaged around and dug out this combo briefcase-tote that my laptop would actually fit in. (It's unfashionably LARGE. Or "humongous!" as the kid at Starbucks recently exclaimed.)

Well, I used it, didn't embarrass myself with the bigwigs, and was mightily bored with all that black. I came home thinking, There must be some way to paint or embellish this bag so it's interesting but still professional looking.

So I turned it over to Destiny! Together we decided to put a quote on it and I chose one of the  variations on Margaret Mead's famous lines, "Never underestimate the power of a few committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

My biggest hurdle in painting and embellishing accessories comes when the lines I need to paint on, in or between don't already exist.  Even though I've been dubbed someone who can paint "things that look like things," I get nervous before I set out.  Unlike working a piece of paper, I can't sketch first with pencil -- lines easily removed by a little nib of rubber when necessary -- especially when the bulk of the surface is to stay as-is.

In this case, I first did some weird math to decide about how many words went into each panel (number of words [22] ÷ number of panels [3], adjusting based on visual size of panels/words = 6, 11, 5). There's probably an easier way, but that worked for me.  Then, I just sketched the words in using white chalk.  When I didn't like something, I could use a paper towel (and a little spit, BLEH) to wipe the bag without ruining the surface.

There isn't a lot of preplanned science to my typography blocks. I make sure to try and separate the different font types, so as to get a good mix of serif, san serif, handwritten, and script in all the panels.  Sometimes I think about the structure and meaning of a word and add a twist, like turning all the I's in "individuals" into people. I use alignment and rotation to keep things visually interesting within each block of words. I also try to remember where two words might share a letter and use that in the design, as I did in "few" and "world."

The number of colors I used (there were five, which Margot picked) didn't divide equally into the number of words. So, without the result looking too uniform, I was able to use the colors in the same order, repeated: Pewter, Citrine, Metallic Russet, Sunset Gold, and Pearlescent Blue.  I painted everything using a medium round brush.

I am a quote junky: movies, books, articles, proverbs, you name it. Margot and I both love that particular quote from anthropologist, Margaret Mead, and when she saw it on my daily sketch blog as a scrap of typography, she knew exactly what to ask for this Christmas! I'm REALLY pleased with the results. Best bad-ass business bag in town!!

Taking a Design and Running With It!

Shoe blogs, fashion magazines and online shoe stores are FULL of inspiration and ideas for DIY shoe design. When I see something that interests me, I right-click on the photo and "save image as." Then I use the picture, which I name with the designer and shoe model, as food for thought in the weeks and months to come. Here are some of the shoes I've "saved" and my ideas on how to create them for yourself.

This is Taryn Rose's "Bonny" flat.  Painting just the toe of a shoe, particularly a pump or a flat, has been quite popular in the past year. This design adds something extra with its little gold studs.  To create a shoe like this, either start with a black flat, or paint one with Neopaque Black.

Then mark a straight line across the toe with chalk and paint the toe with Lumiere's Metallic Gold. Now find something (like plastic canvas for needlepoint, available at craft stores) to help you mark a grid for use as a guide to put the gold dots on the shoe. Afer you've marked the places to put dots, paint them using the Metallic Gold paint. When the paint is dry, add a tiny dab of Antique Gold Glitter It! paint to each dot to give it the shine of a gold stud. Last, seal the whole thing with Future.

I spotted these Stuart Weizman heels in October and knew they would be comparatively easy to copy. The secret to doing color-transitional painting like this is a cosmetic wedge and patience.

You can paint the separate areas first, then pour a little paint on a palette or plastic plate. Dab the rectangular end of the wedge lightly in the paint, then blot some of it off. Now you're ready to start dabbing lightly to make your transition areas. You usually need to go back and dab the original color and the second color several times to get a decent transition, but the paint will dry quickly and this doesn't take all that long.

To see a pair of color-transition flats I painted way early on in my shoe-painting career, go to this blog post and scroll down until you see the violet-transitioning-to-orange flats.

These Nine West suede heels are called Timepiece. They feature a black beaded and sequinned applique glued onto the heel so it extends up above the top of the shoe. (I couldn't find a side view of this shoe in red, so the photo below is of a purple one.)

All you need to do to create this shoe is to 1) Find the applique (try M&J Trim for starters; 2) Figure out how much you want sticking up above the shoe; 3) Glue a soft backing onto that part of the applique (to protect your heel from the scratchy back to the applique); and 4) Glue the whole thing down. If are gluing directly onto genuine leather or suede, use Fabri-Tac. If you are gluing onto faux leather or suede, use The Ultimate.

These glittered laceup shoes are by Christian Louboutin -- and come with a $595 price tag! You can get the same effect by getting your hands on a pair of laceup shoes, painting them Neopaque Black, glittering them with Starlet Glitter It! paint, then gluing down some black trim to create a trompe l'oeil piped seam.

Here's my last offering of cool design ideas to copy -- booties swathed in chain. 

 

 

There are two tricks to adding chain embellishments to boots. The first is finding the chain in the size and finish you want -- the stuff used in these boots has a gunmetal finish. 

The second is to create some sort of anchor to hold the chain at the back or on the inner face of the boot. REPORT, the company that made these "Ortego" booties, made a sort of belt loop out of the same fabric as the boots. You can make your own belt loop our of fabric or leather and paint it to match. If you use leather, I recommend stitching it on with a leather needle and FireLine, rather than gluing it.

I hope this post gives you lots of INSPIRATION for the New Year! Do something amazing with shoes and send me the photos!

Feather My Boots

When I start a new pair of shoes or boots, I begin with either a color I love or an embellishment I love. The boots I am going to show you today started when I came across some amazing feather trim at M & J Trim.

This multicolor 4"-long trim really caught my eye, and I thought it would look great around the top of a pair of boots. I mean, why not?? Faint heart ne'er won a  look of admiration for her shoes, after all.

I went hunting for inexpensive boots and I ended up with some booties with a foldover cuff -- perfect for hiding the satin ribbon to which the feathers are stitched. They were on sale, I think because they were white, not the most popular color for booties. Also, they were flat-soled and sort of Peter-Pan looking (until I got my hands on them).

I figured that the best backdrop, color-wise, for those flaming feathers would be black. Now, painting black over white is just about the most tedious paint job you can do. It takes LOTS of coats, three at least. I used Neopaque Black paint, then sealed it with Future (known now as "Pledge Premium Floor Finisher with Future Shine."

Once that was done, I used The Ultimate to glue the feather trim up under the edge of the cuff. Then I sat back and said to myself, "This needs something else!" I dug around in my stash of beads and miscellaneous embellishments and came up with a beaded necklace that had been my mother's. (I don't come from a family that passes on legacies of gold and pearls -- beads, peasant shawls and Japanese iron teapots are more our style.)

It seemed to me that these handily strung beads would look great draped around the cuffs. And the necklace was just long enough. I put a generous squeeze of E6000 on the beads adjacent to where I would cut the necklace in half, and when it was dry, I snipped.

Then I used dark FireLine thread and a leather needle to stitch the necklace just to the cuff (not all the way through to the inside of the boot). Had I planned better, I could have sewed the necklace down before I glued the feathers on. Then the #*$^#*% feathers wouldn't have kept catching the thread when I stitched.

But that's not my creative process. I rarely know what the finished shoes or boots will look like when I start on them. Even if I do know beforehand, I usually end up changing the design en route. Ya just gotta trust the creative process.

The result was quite satisfying! Frivolous and ethnic. But I wanted to try one more thing: a metal embellishment bent so it would fit around the heel, the way you see on some cowboy boots. I went to one of my favorite sites for embellishments, B'Sue Boutiques, and browsed through the brass stampings. I also looked at the brass filigree. I needed something that could bend, and if I'm not sure if something I like is too heavy to bend, I email B'Sue and ask her. These I bent using pliers.

These stampings are raw brass, which means you need to clean and put some finish on them. What I did was wash the stampings with warm water and dish soap, then dry them. I colored them using two shades of Staz-On ink, applied with cotton swabs. Staz-On is permanent on metal, but I am something of a skeptic, so I sprayed on Krylon "Crystal Clear" acrylic spray sealant from the hardware store afterwards.

To glue on the embellishments, I used E6000 and one of my secret weapons -- a giant racheting clamp from my local hardware store. (E6000 really works if you clamp the item you're gluing and let it dry for 24 hours.) Here's what the clamp looks like. It's an Irwin 4" Handi Clamp, and they sell them at Home Depot and some hardware stores. They are perfect for clamping embellishments onto the backs of heels.

Whenever I wear my fine feathered boots, people (women) stop and remark (positively) on them. Even teenagers, which makes me feel really good. Most of my wardrobe is quite unremarkable from a teenage point of view!

And We Will Lead You Into Outrageous

In October, Pat Oakstar, a member of PenWAG (Peninsula Wearable Art Guild) talked to Margot about commissioning Sassy Feet! to create a pair of custom boots. She wanted a wild, sassy design, but wasn't sure she could do it herself, so she handed over her tan Sketchers boots to Margot for a transformation.

Margot asked her what colors she loved, and she said red, pink and purple. Then, since I enjoy bold and unconventional, Margot entrusted the mission to me. "Go crazy, she'll love what you come up with," she directed me. Crazy? Oh, I can go crazy!

Since these boots are manmade leather, I used a cotton ball with a bit of acetone and prepped the surface (Use rubbing alcohol for real leather surfaces.) I applied two coats of Grape with a soft fan brush, allowing each coat to dry.

Then I used a round brush to paint the Pearlescent Magenta and Crimson daisy-eque petals. Both colors took two or three coats to be opaque. With a fine tip round brush, I used Pearescent White to make the little accent flowers.

At this point, we sent a photo of the boots (at left) to Pat -- and she said, "Make them more outrageous!"

So... I added large pointed petals in between the daisy petals, using the same colors. Then I took a fine tip round brush to add Pearlescent Magenta and White accents to all the large petals as well as all the Sunset Gold centers. 

The next and last step was the painstaking process that I seem to love to do so often, painting with a toothpick!  I connected all the flowers with a Citrine vine that serpentined its way around the boot.

I love the way these turned out.  I also love a woman who isn't afraid to be brash and bold. Kudos, Pat, on your choice of colors and design. More (flower) power to you! 

This Gets the "Most Improved" Award!

Last spring, I played around with adding pre-packaged embellishments to shoes and blogged about my experiments. In one of them, I started with a green faux-leather wedge from Payless. Last month, when Destiny and I were packing up shoes to paint as a demo at Day With Creative Women in San Luis Obispo, we threw in the other shoe in the pair, which was still in its original retro-looking state.

Once at the craft show, I ruthlessly cut off the bow, set it aside for possible use on another project, and decided to experiment with Glitter It! paint. The way our glitter paint works, you paint the background as close to a matching shade as you can, then pat on Glitter It! in the corresponding color.

What would happen, I wondered, if I painted the back 2/3rds of the shoe black, and the front Metallic Silver, but then used the same color glitter on top of them both. The glitter color I had in mind was Starlet, which is a mixture of black and iridescent silver flecks. You can see it (just barely) in the far lower right of the palette below.

 

Well, the result was ... not so hot. The two areas of the shoe looked too much alike. Back to the drawing board. I decided to cover the Starlet Glitter It! paint with Sparkly Silver Glitter It! paint.

That worked! Take a look.

As you can see above, I had also decided to paint the inside Super Copper. An interesting thing happened while I was doing that: I slopped over the edges a bit and the copper showed on the outside of the shoe -- and it looked great! Here's a closeup. Because of the texture in the glitter, the result was sort of smudged edge, which seemed to work well. I also chose to paint the insole itself black, to provide more contrast.

 At this point I thought the shoes looked fine and was going to stop messing with them. But then I went to a bead store that sold dichroic glass and fell in love with a couple of little pieces (the little ones were the only ones I could afford!).

I decided to make my own embellishment out of three of these, two little lozenges and an open square.

I got stumped trying to figure out how to hold the pieces together. Finally I realized that I could just line up the blue lozenges right side up, put a line of E6000 on the back of of the open square and set it on top.

When the glue dried, the pieces were sturdy enough to turn them over. Then I put a big blob of E6000 on the back and pressed a dome button back converter onto it. 

When that was thoroughly dry (I always wait 24 hours as it says in the E6000 instructions -- one of the few times I actually follow directions to the letter...), I stitched it onto the toe using Fireline and a leather needle.

 Here's the finished shoe. Quite a difference from that retro wedge I started with -- and a huge improvement, if I do say so myself!

What DIY Shoes Are All About

The best part of what Margot and I do with shoes is teaching others how to do it. We get great satisfaction out of sharing something new and then, literally, seeing the lightbulb click on above our students' heads when they realize the world of possiblities that we just opened up for them. 

A couple weeks ago, my friend Beth visited from Chicago and I told her I would teach her how to "do" shoes while she was here.  She was very excited about this prospect. 

After she arrived, we took a trip to Payless to search for some cheap shoes to upgrade.  We saw this odd quasi-bootie/sandal/heel hybrid that we both had an immature chuckle over while it was sitting in its box. It was sort of silly looking, so we kept hunting.  After a few moments, we decided maybe it was one of those shoes that looked better on the foot than in the box. Beth tried them on. This made a ton of difference. They looked FAR better AND, as a bonus, had a very large surface on which we could create a design. 

When we got back to my house Beth was very excited to get started.  She loves color and wanted to incorporate a lot of it, but was a little bit nervous about "screwing up."  I gently reminded her that we could always paint over what we had done (which is one of my favorite parts of altering shoes with paint).  She thought a Day of the Dead sugar skull theme would be a good muse for tons of color.  I took one shoe and she took the other so I could walk her through the process.

She chose Pearlescent Magenta, Citrine, Pearlescent Blue, Pearlescent Violet, Bright Gold, and Pearlescent Turquoise as her pallete.

We started by prepping the shoe (which is faux leather) by rubbing it with a cotton ball dampened with plain acetone. Then we painted a base coat of Pearlescent Magenta on the upper portion of the shoe using a fan brush.  Two coats were needed to cover evenly. Next we painted the lower portion with  Bright Gold (2 coats again) as a base.

Beth had seen my blog about the shoes I did for the wonderful Vicki Leon and wanted that speckled look, so we broke out a natural sea sponge to apply the rest of the paint colors. On the upper portion of the shoe, over the Pealescent Magenta, we sponged Pearlescent Blue, then Pearlescent Violet. (It's best to let each color dry before applying the next, but it dries really quickly.) Onto the Bright Gold base on the lower part of the shoe, we sponged Citrine, Pearlescent Turquoise, then Pearlescent Violet, in that order. 

Beth created beautiful bows with some purple iridescent wired ribbon that we found at Lina G's trim store in Morro Bay. She added a bone skull bead (picked up at Beads by the Bay) to each one. Luckily, Beth knows how to handle a leather needle and swiftly stiched the ribbon and skull onto the elastic strap at the back of the shoe, using some Fireline as her thread.

As the final touch, she asked me to use a toothpick and paint a sugar skull design with Neopaque Black, Pearlescent Turquoise, Pearlescent White, Citrine, and Pearlescent Magenta. 

And damn they looked good!!  A whole new shoe! 

Now Beth says she can use her new-found skills to open a Sassy Feet franchise in Illinois, haha.  Or maybe she's serious. Sassy Feet! goes national?  AWESOME!