Above and below: From old and boring and looking a little worn to glittery good!
I've been wanting to combine glitter and shoes for a little while now. With my daughter's christening, I really needed black shoes, but alas all I had was these old fawn coloured ones. They are, however, the most comfortable high heels I've ever owned.
The fawn colour doesn't seem to go with anything, and are more day than night. Perhaps great if I worked in an office, but I don't, so I knew something had to be done to them.
Glitter and shoes have long been a match made in heaven. Ever since Dorothy wore those fantastic shoes to see the Wizard, girls everywhere have wanted a pair of glittery shoes of their own.
What better way to perk them up than with a load of glitter just in time for my daughter's christening? I loved the result so much, I wanted to share it with you all. Here's the low down...
Materials:
- 1 pair of shoes you want to update
- 20g or more of your chosen glitter (ideally finer rather than chunky)
- Fabric glue
- 1 paint brush
- 1 can of clear, gloss spray
- 2 plastic bags
- A few sheets of paper (can be junk mail or newspaper)
- 1 old chopping board (optional)
Above: Paint the glue in sections and add glitter little by little.
Step one: Prepare your area.
Fold two sheets of paper in half and place to one side. Use another sheet (or an old chopping board like I did) as a glue mat.
Step two: Get glueing.
Hold one of the shoes up, and paint glue onto a section of the shoe. Be careful not to paint where you don't want the glitter to go - i.e under the sole or in the inside of the shoe. Only glueing a section at a time will insure that the glue won't dry before you can get the glitter on.Step three: Go mad with the glitter.Holding the shoe over the two folded sheets of paper, sprinkle the glitter all over the glued area.
Press the glitter to the glue and shake off the excess onto the paper. (By doing it over the paper, you can pour the excess glitter back into the tub by folding the paper up. It's a lot easier to get the glitter back in the pot this way!)
Continue glueing in sections and sprinkling glitter until you have completely covered each shoe in glittery goodness.
Step four: Second coat of glue and glitter.
By the time you've finished the second shoe, the first should be pretty dry and so you are ready for your second coat.
Basically the second coat is exactly the same as the first coat. Just glue and glitter in sections.
It's a little harder the second time round as you can't see where you haven't glued so easily, but it doesn't matter too much if you over lap.
Step five: Final fabric glue coat.
The third coat is just glue, no glitter. It's to try and convince the glitter to really stay on the shoes.
Like the second coat, dab rather than drag the brush.
You don't want to remove any of your hard work you've achieved so far, so this is quite important.
Above: Dab the glue over all the areas you want the glitter to stick.
Place the two plastic bags and the kitchen roll or tissue into the shoes to cover the inside of the shoes.
Left: Plastic bags inside the shoes so you don't get glossy insoles!
Wearing a mask and gloves, spray the whole of the shoes with a few fine layers of the spray gloss. (Those nasty fumes are very dangerous kids, this should be done outside!)
Voila, you've finished, hoorah!
Leave the shoes to dry for 24 hours.
Then you are ready to hit the town and show off to the world your crafty talents.
See more of my makes over at Tofty Makes.[All images © Emma Toft]
