Work in Progress - Popeyes Fried Chicken Shoe

Love that chicken from Popeyes!!

Last year a friend pointed out that there hadn't ever been a Popeyes Fried Chicken shoe and I had to agree that was a shame - what Carnival season is complete without a box? It was too close to the parade last year for me to do anything with it for 2016, but I threw it in my big, groaning folder of ideas to revisit. I recently got the awesome news that I'd be riding as a sub again in 2017 (WOOHOO!) and we're approx. halfway to Carnival 2017, so no time like the present to get cracking.

As luck would have it, my little one caught this sweet light up plastic bone from Krewe D'Etat in 2016. He enjoyed it tremendously until the light wore out, then graciously let mama have it. That's what I've used for the bone:

If you don't have a d'Etat bone in your Carnival haul, I don't think it would be too hard to paper mache one (Google "paper mache bone," there are a ton of tutorials online). If you'd rather use a plastic one, you could keep an eye out once Halloween costumes hit the shelves - I sometimes see them being sold as props for cavemen costume (like this one here). Or if you're already placing an order with an online costume supplier for Halloween or something else (i.e. if you're already paying for shipping), maybe check and see if they have one.

After I hot glued the bone on the heel, I took some scrunched up tissue paper and lightly hot glued that all over the shoe to give it that crinkly chicken skin effect. A coat of mod podge over the whole surface helped sort of decoupage this tissue it onto the shoe wherever the hot glue wasn't holding it down.

Shoe post-tissue, pre-glittering

I mixed up a blend of glitter similar to what I used for the Fried Shrimp Poboy Flip Flop: mostly chunky copper glitter and fine copper glitter, with a little very fine dark red glitter, fine gold glitter, chunky red glitter and just a teeny bit of fine black glitter. If you use any chunky glitter or chunky glitter blends, remember to really aggressively brush off loose glitter after each layer dries because it doesn't adhere as well to the glue and shedding is the enemy.

Here are some pictures of the glittered shoe up close so you can see the effect of blending multiple glitters and layering the blend over scrunched up tissue paper:

I usually do two coats of glitter, but in this case I may either do a third coat or a lot of touch ups because the surface is so craggy, but I'm really happy with the effect. Here it is so far:

Next up: a Popeyes logo and "Muses 2017." Happy glittering everyone!!

Glittering 101 Workshop - Saturday September 24, 2016

Date set for the September Glittering 101 Workshop! I CAN'T WAIT!!

The workshop will be 2.5 hrs long (2-4:30 pm) on Saturday Sept. 12th. We're going to cover the basics of glittering shoes, including covering shoes with glitter, using the transfer technique for "glettering" (glittered lettering) and various types of embellishment. We'll cover the whole process start to finish, but I'll provide shoes at staggered stages of completeness so we don't have to wait for glue to dry between steps. At the end of the workshop, you'll leave with some partially completed shoes, at least one completely finished ready-to-throw shoe, and some extra materials for finishing up your partial shoes at your leisure. The workshop fee also includes a 23 page packet of useful write-ups (including a detailed step-by-step guide to glittering shoes with photos at each step, all the tips and tricks I've picked up in 5 years of shoe glittering, a guide of useful resources, etc.). Everything you need will be provided - you only need to sign up, pay up and show up!!

I originally assumed it would only be useful for beginners, but we've had a range of experience levels attend and enjoy themselves (from total newbies to experts). My primary area of expertise is of course glittering shoes, but I can provide customized workshop materials for ladies who ride in other krewes. Just let me know who you roll with/what your preferred throw is when you email me. If you're not a krewe member but would like to beef up your glittering skills, you are also welcome to join us!

Feedback and pictures from past workshops to give you a little taste of what's in store can be found HERE and HERE.

If you're interested or have any questions, drop me an email at drnoripants at gmail dot com and I can give you more info (including pricing)!