Finished Harlequin Shoe

Catching up on my blogging....I managed to finish with the trim on the Carnival Harlequin shoe I started a while back.

Weekend Shoes mini-update

I'll catch-up on details later, but here are some pictures of shoes I worked on this weekend.

A nearly finished purple and teal peacock feather shoe:

A copper and green shoe semi-money themed shoe:

My take on the Wizard of Oz ruby slipper:

Tulane shoe (Go Green Wave!):

A red and teal shoe that's mostly glittered, still need embellishments:

Champage, teal and hot pink shoe (waiting on some Retro Tattoo glitter transfers):

Research - Krewe of Muses Signature Floats

The parades on my "must-see" list all seem to have signature floats, and, being as prone to sentimentality as I am, these tend to be my favorites. Bacchus (the krewe probably most famous for having signature floats) features the Baccha-whoppa, Baccha-Gator and the Kong family (among others). Orpheus has the Trojan Horse, Smokey Mary (video) and the breathtaking Leviathan (video). My favorite Rex moment is without a doubt watching the Boeuf Gras roll by.

Naturally, Muses has some great signature floats, and I'd love to do shoe-themed nods to them all:

(1) The Title Float

I've already talked a little bit about the title float (here and here). The Muses website leads me to believe the Muses officers populate this float. To recap my previous notes, the title float is a lovely deep blue and decorated with big green foliage (edged with gold leaf), white and silver stars and powder blue clouds. Across the front is MUSES written in NOLA-style tiles (blue-lettered white tiles complete with cracks and rough edges), with fiber optics in the letters so the colors shift beautifully.

Some reference images: here, here, and here

(2) The Shoe Float

The Muses' fiber optic high heel that the honorary Muse rides in has got to be one of the most iconic floats in the whole of Carnival. I'm not planning a Muses Shoe-themed Muses Shoe (too much, even for me), but after the first year (when I wrote "Muses" on the shoes in cursive), I starting trying to match the font on the shoes more to the main float (Nice clear image of "Muses" written on the float here, example of a shoe where I was trying to match that font style here)

(3) The Bathtub

I'm not sure what the story is behind the Bathtub, but it rolls every year. I have some 3D rubber ducky appliques and glass bubbles (leftover from a previously mentioned Christmas decor purge) that I think would make great embellishments on a bathtub shoe.

Some reference images: here and here
A great aerial shot showing the tiles and hot pink fringe along the bottom: here

(4) The Sirens

Not to be confused with the mermaid-themed marching krewe, Sirens of New Orleans, the Sirens float in Muses was introduced in 2013 (as documented here and here) and features "a trio of topless mythological temptresses at the bow and elaborate Louisiana-inspired decoration from stem to stern." It's also the Krewe of Muses' first glittered float, which is awesome. I've never seen it in person (as it debuted Mardi Gras 2013), but the pictures alone are just gorgeous. How over-the-top-amazing is that glittery pink and purple octopus hairdo?

Reference images: here, here (scroll all the way down) and here, slideshow in this article

How I'm going to do a Sirens shoe is TBD at the moment, but I'm keeping my mind open.

Monday in NOLA: Red Beans & Rice

Saving some ideas for a red beans and rice shoe that I'm starting:

-Want to try to write "Muses" in rice and red beans, coat with Elmer's glue? Arrange beans on wax paper or Ziploc, maybe with some lettering to trace, or maybe just free-hand? Cover with glue to seal shape and transfer.
- I've seen a few red bean and rice shoes, here's a particularly gorgeous one on the Muses website. Like that one, I want to decorate with actual dried red beans and rice and I think I'm going to decorate with a spray of Camellias I picked up 70% off at Michael's (as a nod to Camellia red beans)
- Dirty Coast Monday shirt

- Fleurty Girl resin red beans & rice magnets

I would love to try making my own little resin embellishments for shoes (Fleurty Girl also has really cute voodoo resin magnets and King Cake baby resin magnets), but I haven't ever done it before. Something to keep in mind

The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto

My husband just got back from Toronto, and evidently his hotel happened to be right across from the Bata Shoe Museum, and brought home this little treasure for me:

A sparkly shoe wine stopper!! I CANNOT ESCAPE SPARKLY SHOES!

But, then, who would want to?

Who dat?

The black glitter is Oriental Trading (from the Halloween collection), and the gold on the lettering, interior and heel is Tulip "gold." The sole (though it doesn't show in any of these pictures), is dark brown to match the football (Recollections, color "espresso").

Michael's had these wee sports ball Christmas ornaments massively on clearance, so I got some little footballs and basketballs. I have found discounted Christmas ornaments are an excellent source of Muses shoe embellishment, I plan on posting more on that in January. I flipped the ornament over, removed the cap and glued it in a little nest of black marabou (with hot glue).

Glittering done, but before the bottom edge gold sequin trim and lettering were added. I eventually added "who dat?" on this side ("Muses" and "2014" on the other)

 

Keeping track of the finished shoes stored in NOLA

In addition to the 17 finished shoes I brought down to NOLA in May, another 20 are on their way down today:

Bagged, boxed and heading to NOLA 7/7:
    - Carnival harlequin shoe
    - Purple, green and gold sandal
    - Blue, gold and black buckle shoe
    - Pink low heeled flowery shoe
    - Who Dat? shoe
    - Rose shoe
    - Louisiana citrus
    - Lavender daisy mule
    - Abita purple haze shoe
    - Doctor Who shoe
    - Blue, green and white shoe
    - Black, purple and gold shoe
    - Disco goldfish shoe
    - Blue, pink and silver powderpuff shoe
    - Gator loafer
    - Hubig's shoe (version 2.0)
    - Heard it through the grapevine
    - Water lilies
    - Neon 1980's shoe
    - Pink and orange sandal

37 total shoes in NOLA now! Huzzah!

Another 20 are in progress, and I have about another 30 unglittered base shoes stashed.