Blogging my way through wedding planning, crafts, life and all the unexpected events in between.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Shoes Part 2

You may remember when I posted about my intentions for my wedding shoes in Shoes Part 1.  Well today was an unexpectedly beautiful, perfect-weather-for-crafting-outside kind of day.  I took advantage and pushed other projects back and broke out the shoes.

Here are my supplies:
Trial pair of shoes from thrift store, paint (dye), old, thin paint brushes, my Kate Spade prescription sunglasses (tres chic), and my Wedding shoes <3

I had done a test on the thirft store shoes to determine the color dye I liked best and that would be closest to teal.  Each dye was close, but which one would be best?

Dye number one: A bit tooooo green.  Especially out in the sunlight. Eek!

Dye number two: waaaaay too light blue, carribean sea color.  DOUBLE EEEEK!
After I ate a fruitcup for some thinking power I realized I could MIX THE COLORS TO GET A BETTER COLOR! GOOOOOOO ME!!!! (I also reused my fruit cup as my mixing bowl)

This is MUCH better.  I even test some crystals on it to make sure it would work out well.  Per-Fec-To.
I started with the "sides" and worked around the straps and down towards to the toes.  Then I started on the heel. I worked the two shoes simultaneously so if there needed to be more dye made/mixed it would be the same "shade" on each of the same parts.  It made perfect sense to complete it this way in my head.
Shoe ONE is DONE!  And in under two hours!  Gooooo meeeee!
Shoes TWO is complete!  YAY!!!
I even worked inside on where my toesies will go.  It was painstakingly awkward, but I still managed to do it.
Artistic Shoe Picture
Ta-Da! Self-dyed Shoes!  I am so happy with how they turned out and am SUPER excited to begin shopping around for crystals!  I know the next step with the glue will not be fun, but I cannot WAIT to get my shoes completed and to practice wearing them around the house!

Overall, this project was fairly simple.  I didn't tape off sections of the shoes or worry if I got some on the sole.  I used a paper towel and some spit to get it off.  Worked wonderfully.  I recommend this dye to anyone - it was easy to use and didn't have an overwhelming smell.  I got mine at ACMoores but I noticed the other day they didn't have any in the store.  You can order it online from the maker too.  My advice: Don't be afriad to tackle a shoe DIY!  It was fun! 

What do you think so far?

6 comments:

The Vintage Modern Bride said...

wow that's awesome! they came out great! ps..i love that you used a paper towel and spit ;)

Ms. Lemon Puppy said...

Ooooh I love the blue color. I can't wait to see them with the crystals! And it makes perfect sense to work on the shoes simultaneously.

Tiff For Tat said...

Wow awesome job, they came out great!! I love how you decided to mix the colors together and got exactly what you were looking for! GOOO you!

Cathy said...

Cool, get you indeed. They look fab and not DIY at all, great job. I also like how you mixed the colours and that it worked how you wanted it to.

Mel {The Oceanside Bride} said...

Wow! Shut up you dyed your own shoes?!?! This is awesome! That is the same color shoe I was looking for and had an awful time finding it and NEVER thought to dye my own. Great job!!

Saying I do said...

wow! they look fantastic!