A while ago I posted a tutorial on using leather paints to refashion a pair of leather shoes from plain to special. But sometimes an entire shoe doesn't need to be repainted, yet needs just a bit of upscale. Or you just feel like having fun!
Like these Hush Puppy mary janes...I love the wingtip detail. But I didn't need a plain brown pair of sandals, so I decided to see what I could do to make them more interesting.
I debated over what to do...thought about doing them colorful with little flowers, but I'm not good at freestyle painting and besides, these already had a design on the toe. Then I decided they lent themselves to a two tone shoe, with the toe and heel cap another color.
Meanwhile I also had this pair of black heels – cute knot detail on the toe, but I wasn't wearing them because I have some black classic pumps I prefer. I thought of selling them, but when I realized they were leather I decided to have some fun instead and draw attention to that toe detail by painting just the knot.
So for these two projects I used the same tools as my others – a rag, the Angelus deglazer, Angelus leather paints, and the satin finish.
It's easy!
First you have to strip the factory finish from the parts of the shoe you want to paint. This means you need to rub them with the deglazer, to prepare a base for the paints. But you do not want to get the deglazer on the parts of the shoe you are not painting, so be super careful.
A little of the finish color will come off on the rag - that's ok. You should see a difference in both texture and finish after a few seconds of rubbing. It's hard to see in the photo, but the rubbed areas have less shine, and feel different – not so smooth, more like unfinished hide.
For the knot part, I had to rub as well as I could in the wrinkles.
Then you start painting. For the brown pair, the wingtip detail made it easy since it was raised above the rest of the shoe and you just have to be careful along the edge.
But the knot part of the black pair I could lift the edge of enough to slide scraps of paper underneath, which meant I didn't have to worry about getting paint on the shoe. The other possibility would be to hold a piece of paper right against the edge as you paint above it.
Then you just start painting. If you are doing more than just one color, do the base color first - all coats necessary. I only needed 2 on the brown pair. It took more like 4 coats for the black pair since light on dark always takes more coats.
Then you can do the detail. This paint dries quickly. By the time the one shoe is done, the other is dry, so you can pretty much keep painting until you're done.
If you get a little of the contrasting color on the shoe, don't panic - it's easy to touch up.
The wingtip design I did with a toothpick, filling the holes with tiny drops of paint. And after the white was dry, I touched up the places it had run onto the brown by carefully edging a drop of brown paint over the trouble spot.
The back part was more of the same, without the toothpick. It was much easier to use dark paint against a dark sole because I could overlap the sole with the paint and it wasn't visible!
First shoe done. Now the unpainted one looks kind of...boring!
As for the black pair, when they were quite dry I pulled the paper out, tugging it down and out so it didn't tear the paint along the edge.
Again, from blah to unique!
I'm still on a search for the perfect pair of black and white (or navy and white, or red and white) 1940s spectator heels, but until then, these will do.
Just make sure when you're doing a wrinkled detail like this knot that you get your brush in all the wrinkles and crevices. If you get a little paint on the sole, try scraping it off with your fingernail right away. Usually it will scrape off of rubber or even a leather-edged sole if you get it right away. Fabric or jute would not be so easy.
Then I repeated the steps on the second brown shoe, and the pair was complete.
I let both pairs sit overnight to completely dry before rubbing the satin finisher on with another rag. And they're ready to wear!
Hopefully this will inspire you not to throw out your boring pairs of shoes, but instead to re-imagine them! Believe me, it's addicting. You start looking for leather shoes you can paint. Did you say I need a pair of pale pink heels? You're right, I do!
Till next month,
~Kristen - Verity Vintage Studio
Look for my new tutorials posted sometime during the first full week of every month. Hairstyles, crafts, repurposing, project journals, do-it-yourself vintage or alterations, etc.
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