Our new "FUN" thing to do is to paint on "Shoes" (los Zapatos).
We had so much fun we thought we would share our project and the process. We have been gathering all sorts of tips and tricks as we go along as this is all new to us and we have gone into it with an atmosphere and mind set of "lets see what happens!" There is never a mistake, at least thats our motto....If we have FUN then it is a successful Venture!
We bought a pair of inexpensive white canvas Sneakers from the local Market here in Mexico (spanish word for canvas is Lona, new word to add to our vocabulary). We paid around 175 Pesos (muy Barato!) for them and eagerly brought them home to try out our new fabric paints we had bought from the local craft store.
We wanted to make it look more like a water color than a thick painted surface so we knew we had to water the paint down. We thought we had better practice a bit with the technique and google and youtube tricks and tips. It paid off to practice and also youtube was very useful. Search painted shoes and you will find some fantastic examples, many wonderful comic pictures are painted on canvas shoes. love it! Shaney is on to the next pair for Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos, in honour of our nonphysical loved ones) here in Mexico with Jack Skellington!
Shaney decided to start with a budda and a cute little quote that put us in the right frame of mind for finding the flow of FUN, no judgement and self defeating thoughts were allowed as we learned a new technique....I love it!
Here are a few of our practice sheets, we just tore up an old white sheet we had that didn't fit any of our beds. (I save everything, to my daughters horror! lol) But you just never know when you might find a use for it! mmhmm well Its my story and I am sticking to it!!
Okay now, onto the SHOES!!...
First we took out the laces and found pictures we wanted to put on them. Drew it on a piece of foam sheet we had cut the same size as the side of the shoe we would be painting. So we knew it would fit, mostly. We cut out the foam stencil with a tool that heats up and cuts! Worked fantastic. I could have cut it with scissors but I wanted to try out my new tool! Placed the stencil on the shoes and traced with a pencil lightly. Looks good. Take a thin tipped Fabric marker and outline the pencil lines. You are now ready to begin painting!
We painted the background first using the paint like coloured water to begin with and saw how it spread making sure not to get too close to the edges of the picture we wanted to keep white. We allowed it to dry and went over it as many times as we needed to make it as dark as it turned out.
We decided to go with a Marine theme color all over the shoe and made it an ombre. When the canvas is wet it bleeds into the other colors nicely. Hard to control unless you do a little at a time. So be patient....ya right! Where ever it bled we used white paint to cover it up.
We finished it off by outlining with the black marker again and then heat set it with my heat gun. Dyed the laces to match and heat gunned those too...
Voila!
The other side, the inside of the shoe, turned out to be a really great color don't you think?
YEA!! Fun Sneakers to wear around town!
We hope to create a variety and sell them at the local market, we are not sure what we will be able to sell them for but I will keep you posted. Have a fantastical Day imagining what you want your sneakers to look like...I know we will be searching for inspiring new pictures and quotes to paint on ours!!
*side note you can also spray the shoes with water before you paint to create the Ombre, it bleeds into each color nicer, and don't be afraid to spray as you paint it helps the paint to travel when it is wet!
Namastaynpaint for fun