I really was all packed up, but then Kale-Gate happened (see also here, here and a ton of other places...just google "new york times new orleans kale"). I knew a glittery, ruffly, leafy kale shoe needed to be my first shoe for the 2015 season, and once I mapped it out in my head I wanted to make it ASAP.
I started by mixing three glitters (approx. equal parts of forest green Jefferson Variety glitter, kelly green from Oriental Trading and Martha Stewart iridescent onyx which has a slight green tint) and glittering a nice little pump in my stash:
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| Glittered, but not embellished yet |
I bought a roll of green glittery tulle from Michael's and make a nice leafy looking ruffle by folding it in half and running a needle and thread through the middle of the halved tulle to gather it. Tulle ruffles are super easy to make by hand and there was a ton of tulle on the roll. If it's still on sale when I next hit up Michael's (it's in the bridal section of my Michael's in Memphis), I will definitely get some more colors.
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| Turning a roll of tulle into my kale ruffle |
When my ruffle was about the right length, I hot-glued it around the exterior edge of the shoe to kale it up. When I reached the end I adjusted the length and tied off the black thread so it would fit perfectly.
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| Shoe and ruffle ready to be joined |
Lastly, I printed and re-sized the old "New Orleans Proud to call it home" bumper sticker so I could match the font and traced, changing "call' to "kale." I used lighter colors than the original (silver instead of black, lighter purple instead of dark purple) so the contrast would be a little better on the dark green base of the shoe.
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| "New Orleans" on one side |
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| "Proud to kale it home" on the other side of the shoe. |
Here are some pictures of the finished shoe:
Some pictures with flash to show the sparkle a little better:
Of course the drawback to working year round and starting this early on shoes is that the joke won't be as fresh in anyone's mind a year from now...but I have faith that New Orleaneans are have long memories and that Kale-Gate will survive.
SO glad you are a "liar". Have already missed seeing the projects, so I'm glad you already posted one. I ran right out and bought some of the tulle from Michaels in a soft aqua and purple. I see waves when I see the ruffles... .hence the aqua. Can't wait for April.
ReplyDeleteHi Nori,
ReplyDeleteFirst--thanks for this awesome blog! I recently found out I will be riding with the Muses next year and I'm really excited to get going. Your tips and *beautiful* shoes are very inspiring as I think about decorating my shoes!
Second-Zomg your amazing shoes. I'm eager, but I also know that I'm not very crafty. I hope that my best shoes will look half as good as yours :)
Lastly--how do you get such amazing lettering? Is is the paint, do you have a certain application technique, or are you just that good?
Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Hi there! Sorry for the delayed response, been a busy bee around here lately (but on the bright side, I'll be posting new shoes soon). Anyways, so glad you like the blog and find it helpful/inspiring. Congrats on getting to ride with Muses, that's so exciting!! I'm very jealous :)
DeleteI'm sure your shoes are going to be amazing. Don't be too hard on yourself the first year, the learning curve can be steep. Luckily, there are a ton of resources out there now (there wasn't much when I started 3 years ago, so I made a ton of mistakes). My biggest (totally unsolicited) tip for a first-time shoe-glitterer is to completely cover the shoe with glitter, and do multiple coats as needed. In my eyes, complete coverage makes or breaks a shoe.
Re: lettering, I guess it's all three (well, the first two anyways, but I have definitely gotten better with practice). I pretty much only use Scribbles 3-D paint for the lettering. It's got a good viscosity and doesn't collapse when it dries. I usually buy them when Michael's is offering a 25% off total purchase coupon (there's one available this week - you can get it on their website) because they rarely go on sale and the individual bottles are too cheap to be a good use of a 40% off coupon. You can also use a Michael's 40% off coupon on one of the 6-packs. I've also bought variety packs on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Scribbles-Fabric-Paint-Packs--Glitter/dp/B001A38OKY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405287537&sr=8-3&keywords=scribbles+paint
Technique-wise, I use a transfer technique that I developed for doing glitter appliques. I've blogged about it, in greatest detail here: http://glitteringshoes.blogspot.com/2013/06/transfers-mini-how-to-guide.html
Essentially, I write letters on a ziploc bag in Scribbles paint then shake glitter over the lettering while the paint is still wet enough to hold the glitter. I let it dry overnight (sometimes longer if the paint is really thick) and then the letters peel right off the ziploc. If they don't peel cleanly, the paint probably isn't totally dry. Then I glue them on the shoe with E6000. The nice thing about the transfer technique is you can try out how you want the letters spaced before you glue them down. Before I starting transferring, I would write directly on the shoe and I would often get the spacing wrong and have to wipe it off and start over...I just got sick of that.
I usually free hand the lettering these days, but it's also really handy to print out letters, put the paper inside the ziploc bag and trace, especially when you're matching a specific font. I traced for lettering for the shoe in this post so I could match the exact lettering of the bumper sticker, and I traced the "Roman Chewing Candy" letters for this shoe: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/535013630704521662/
In the beginning tracing is a big help. I like to do 2 or 3 iterations of anything I'm transferring so if something gets a little smudged on one or doesn't look quite right when it dries, I can pick out the best of the bunch. Some of the links in my Techniques Pinterest board cover similar approaches: http://www.pinterest.com/shoeglitternola/techniques/
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know. And I would love love love to see your shoes when you get going!!!
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