by Erika
Hey guys, I'm back with another tutorial, and I'm here to show you how to make decoupage shoes. The ones I've gotten questions on are these (0:10): they're starburst flats, as I call them. Basically, (shoe decoupage) is a shoe with pieces of paper on it, and it's not that hard, I promise. I'm going to show you how to make (decoupage shoes) today. The first thing you'll want to do is figure out what kind of shoes you want to be doing. I'm going to show you 2 different kinds (of decoupage shoes) today: I'm going to show you how to do canvas ones and then plastic ones; they're not actually plastic, they're more like a leathery surface. I've done these a couple of times, which is why there's stuff already on them. But I'm going to show you how to do them again today.
First, clean your shoes off. If you have canvas shoes, make sure that you bleach them out. If you want to keep the color that they are - say you're not going to be putting any permanent marker on them - you can leave them how they are, and that's perfectly fine. We're going to do these (canvas) ones first today. Want you need to know about canvas shoes is that the surface absorbs water, so you have to make sure that you find a water-proof glue. The glue that I like best is E-6000. (This stuff is already spilling out onto my desk, LOL.) It's my favorite type of glue, it's water-proof, you can use it for pretty much anything. For canvas surfaces, there's not much to know (as far as applying the glue is concerned).
I'm going to use a goldfish today. It has some stuff attached to it so I'm going to cut it off, cut around it. You can pretty much use anything (as the decoupage material). You can use comic strip, other pieces of fabric, ribbon, anything else that you want to put on there. You can make (the decoupage) however you want...Now that I have my fish, I'm going to spread a layer of E-6000 glue where (on the shoe) I want to put it. I'm going to put it right on the heel. Just put the E-6000 on the shoe like so (2:07), and then take a brush and spread it around. This (method) also works if you put the glue on the pieces of paper, and then put the paper on (the shoe), but I did it the hard way, LOL.
Put the piece of (goldfish) paper on. I promise you that this (decoupage material) stuff will stay, it won't just come off. I haven't done this much to a canvas shoe before, but I've never had a problem with it...Make sure that you put all of the paper surfaces down like so (2:39). (We need a little bit more glue, I'll just put it on the brush.) Have all of your surfaces covered. Make sure you tuck down all of the things hanging off (the paper). This fish has fins and stuff on its edges so I'm putting a little bit more glue to make sure that they stay down. Now we have the fish on our shoe...
The second thing you can do is put mod podge on (the shoe). There are 2 different kinds you can put on there: you can put a glossy one, which will make it shiny; or you can use the matte one, which is basically used to flatten the surface (of the decoupage canvas) and is not that much of a difference. I'm going to use the glossy one, because that's the only one that I have, LOL. Take your paintbrush and dip it in the mod podge, put a little bit on it, and go over the fish like so (3:53). This (mod podge) stuff is going to go on white, but actually dry clear. Put it on like that...This is basically to give (the decoupage fish) a water-proof sealing, if you go through any water. When I wear my (sneakers), I do a lot of dirty stuff (that sounds bad, LOL), going through water. And it's monsoon season right now, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to be around some water...(The shoe) will look like that (4:19). It's kind of cloudy right now, but I promise it'll dry clear and it'll look really cool. So that's canvas shoes. You can (apply mod podge) to the entire (shoe) surface, or just a little piece like I did...
Now for plastic shoes, (the decoupage technique) is the same idea but you want to make sure you clean them first really, really well. Bleach works wonders, and if you need to detail or if you have scuff marks, use a bleach pen. There's a scrubby surface on (the pen) so it'll work to remove all the bad stuff. (Again, the decoupage technique) is the same idea (as before). I took all of my (paper) from my magazine. You can use comic strips, if you have a favorite one. If you want to (decoupage) a pair of shoes centered around that, then go for it. I'm actually going to try and use some fabric on this (shoe). It's like green leopard print that has some black spots on it, so I can't really do anything sewing-wise with it. I'm just going to cut out a piece like so (5:21). (Ta da!)
Same idea with the fabric (as with the goldfish) - you can use the mod podge. I think it works better than the glue. Though the glue will keep it on really well, the mod podge works just fine, so open (the mod podge) back up again. I'm going to put it on the fabric. Just spread a thin layer. (The fabric) will get kind of sticky because it's porous, and (the mod podge) will go through to the other side. Don't worry about it. Find out where you want to put (the fabric on the shoe), like so (6:01). Smooth it out. If there are any air bubbles, make sure you get them out before molding (the fabric) to the edge of the shoe. If you're going to cover an entire pair of shoes with fabric, don't try and cut out (one piece of fabric) for the entire design of the shoe. You're better off doing little pieces (at a time) like this. Once this is dry, you're going to have pieces (of fabric) hanging off (the shoe); it's not going to be perfect. If you have anything like that, take a pair of scissors and just cut along the edges (of the shoe). An exacto knife works well, too, but (with the scissors) you get a clean edge like so (6:40).
You can also use pieces of paper like this (6:45) - either dip them in (the mod podge) or use the paintbrush method, it doesn't really matter - then overlap (previous decoupage paper) like so (6:52), smooth all the surfaces out, take your brush and paint over (the paper). And you're done...I know it looks really lame but if you do the entire shoe, it looks wicked. It looks really cool. The first time that I did this (decoupage), I took all of my old magazines and I cut out pieces of pictures that I liked and I put them on a pair of heels and painted the heel edges (this part, 7:20) black. (The shoes) were an ugly tan color and they turned out really cool...
If you have any questions, feel free to leave comments. Thanks!
About the Artist: A Star(burst) is Born: Erika is very good at rainbow-color motifs. Tune in to her creativity at Youtube.
