Well, She said you could do it. So I tried it. And it worked!
I followed Kathleen’s wonderful instructions (and in case you haven’t been following, she recently had a Total Shoe ReDo Week with all sorts of interesting ideas).
So, I got a pair of shoes at Goodwill. Even better when they’re used but NEW with a tag!
I stuffed the shoes with paper (though I should have used rags/towels like she suggested. Some of the paint sprayed through to the inside sole).
I taped all around the sides of the bottom sole. Do this carefully and make sure it’s all covered. It’s easier to get it right the first time, than to scrape paint off later.
Then, I started spraying!
I let them dry. And I had new yellow shoes. Seriously? Fun!
After chatting with Kathleen about it, a few things I’ll do differently next time:
* Be patient. To get a smooth coat of paint, the spraying should be done in layers. Lay the shoes on one side and spray that side (from a distance). Let it dry completely then do the same with the other sides, etc. Because of the way I (impatiently) did it, the paint started slowly dripping down the sides. It also made a funky wrinkle when I sprayed another coat on top of the still-wet previous coat. So, let the first coat dry before spraying on more.
* Finish off the shoes with a clear coat. Kathleen recommends that after 6 hours of drying, putting a clear coat of mod podge or other hard enamel over the top.
* Cracking. My shoes did start to crack a bit after wearing them all day but they’re not horrible. I’ll still wear them again. We think that applying a clear coat on top will prevent some of the cracking. No research on that yet.
* Find the perfect YELLOW paint. I normally use Krylon spray paint but it only comes in a Golden Yellow or “Bright Idea” (which is a butter yellow). I used Bright Idea and it’s not the lemon yellow I hoped for. Kathleen recommends Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch spray paint in Sun Yellow. I’ll be picking some up.
And there you go!
They’re totally 80s and I love totally love it.
