Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sharpie Shoe Art


( I use the term "art" loosely!)
I have been wanting to have a go at these for ages, but never got round to getting the pumps and pens to do it. Yesterday I was in American Apparel where they sell sharpies individually, and I decided to go for it. I chose three colours I liked (and a black of course) and then went to Primark and got two pairs of plain white pumps (£2 a pair) Then I played....

I learned a lot from my first mistakes, so I will share that in case anyone wants to try it.

Sharpies run into each other!! as you can see here..


to reduce this
1. don't use brand new sharpies, they are too wet. use them up a little first.
2. be patient, you have to allow bits to dry before you colour the bit next to them.
3. don't colour adjacent areas, either side of a black line, at the same time. even if they are the same colour.

so here's what I did, first I drew all the flowers on a shoe and left it to dry for about half an hour.
Then I decided which bits were going to be what colour by just adding a dot of colour to each area. (you do not need to leave this bit to dry.)
Colour all of the centres, trying not to go over the black lines just up to them.
leave to dry.
then colour as many petals as you can without doing any two adjacent areas at the same time.

repeat this step until finished.

as you can see, patience results in a much cleaner effect.


While I was in Primark, I was lucky enough to find a scarf almost the exact colour of the pens I chose, this is what I photographed the shoes on.

sooooooo.....
the big question...
will the colours run in the rain.
I experimented with a small area and a very wet sponge, and yes the was some running. not loads, but definitely some. so I decided to try heat setting it, with my heat gun and then I sprayed it with some shoe protector (kiwi power protector). Once I have given that chance to thoroughly dry I will test them again......

15 comments:

  1. Wow. Now that's different Joanne!

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  2. OMG Joanne - you've started a new craze. they look fab.

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  3. Love this idea. Can I pinch it? May do some for my niece for her birthday. Yours look fab!
    Lesley x

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  4. they look really cool, what a great idea.
    poppy

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  5. Joanne, they look perfect to me.
    Great for spring and lots of looks when you walk down the street. Definitely a one of a kind!

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  6. Wow, so different. I've seen this done before and always thought I'd give it a go, but never have. Really cool.

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  7. goodness, I remember coloring my shoes in high school, what fun!

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  8. They are sooo cool - I just saw some white canvas shoes in Pennys (primark) and was thinking of trying to alter them!!!

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  9. I think you've started something here Joanne - what a great idea and love the colours

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  10. The shoes are amazing! You think of the best things! My daughter is sitting here checking out the post over my shoulder and is in total awe!

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  11. Joanne - these look really funky and colourful - what about adding some colourful ribbon as laces to set them off :0))

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word verification is off! thanks for all your lovely comments, they mean so much to me!