Everyone loves cool, unique, and trend-setting shoes that make you and your outfits pop. I love painting and when my canvas became shoes, I was so excited to see what I could do with them. After my painting my Air Forces, I am here to let you know how you can too, express yourself in the shoes you wear!
- Supplies
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The first step is to get the supplies: acrylic paints, a leather deglazer, and a leather finisher. The deglazer is there so that the polish on the leather is stripped before painting. Otherwise, the paint won’t stick to the shoes. The leather finisher is to add the finishing coat after the shoes are painted. It adds polish to make the shoes look finished once you’re done painting them. Acrylic paints are the paint that I think works the best for Air Forces, but if you have POSCA markers, those also work. Acrylic paints are pretty versatile on this canvas so it is the best medium to use.
- Deciding on a design and color scheme
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This is the part where your style, your personality, and how you dress all come into play. Each person has their own likes and interests, and when you are painting your shoes, you get to design your shoes the way you want them. I usually sketch out the design or go on Pinterest for inspiration and decide on my color pallet based on the colors I usually have in my closet or just the colors I really like. For the shoes I painted, I chose a blue color scheme and then used a design I had drawn as my blueprint.
- Deglazing the Shoes
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Using the deglazer, you can remove the leather finisher on the shoes so that you can start painting your shoes. Also in this step, you can put blue tape on the borders of the areas you are going to paint so you are able to keep the sections clean.
- Painting the shoes
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This is the best part! Have fun painting your shoes, and remember that happy accidents exist. When I was painting my shoes, my design did not go the way I planned, but I improvised and the end results turned out even better. A mistake can actually turn out to be a really cool design in the end, so it’s okay if when painting, it doesn’t turn out the way you expected.
- Leather Finisher
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Once you have finished painting your shoes, let them dry and add a coat of leather finisher to make sure the design does not wear out or get washed away in the rain. You can find leather deglazer and finishers on Amazon and at most art supply stores. Once you add the leather finisher, wait for it dry, and then your shoes should be good to go! For the first few times you wear them outside, try not to wear them in the rain just so that the finisher can set properly, but after that, wear them wherever and whenever you want!
Painting shoes is a blast once you get into it, and you get to express your creativity in the shoes you wear, which is really cool! I hope you have so much painting your shoes! Happy painting!
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