Thursday, October 04, 2012

DIY shoe colourblock - a cautionary tale

Spoiler alert: I decided to share my experience colour-blocking a pair of peep-toe pumps with fellow aspiring DIYers. In an era of 'OMG - so easy!!' pinspiration, it serves as a bit of a cautionary tale.

I bought the neutral peep-toes shown in the second photo below to wear with a bridesmaid dress. Unfortunately, a rainy day and muddy lawn ruined the heels beyond repair. $80 for a pair of shoes I wore once? Something had to be done. Thinking myself pretty crafty and clever, I decided to spray-paint the heel burgundy. I mean oxblood. (Because that's what we're calling it these days, right?). Easy peasy, I thought.

I ever so carefully taped every square millimeter I didn't want painted, which took a good 20 minutes. Then I got to work, applying three coats with ample drying time in between. Despite my best efforts, the colour bled onto the sole and the upper. No problem, I though; I'll spray-paint the upper portion black and be even MORE careful. Again with the taping and 3 coats. This time not only did the paint bleed again but I also got some drip marks on the upper itself. FML. Luckily, the drip marks aren't too visible other than up close. I may even be able to buff them out. But still, I was feeling pretty frustrated. I had just painted my bathroom walls (a much easier project by comparison), so I grabbed the chemical product I used for cleaning the paint roller brushes. I applied it to makeup pads and Q-tips, and used that to clean up my shoes. It actually worked pretty well, apart from a bit of discolouration on a section of the sole where I had to scrub a little.  

Finally, I loved my shoes. I wore them with pride with my jade cropped trousers for one glorious day (a day when I had the foresight to do blog photos). And then the paint started to flake in spots, probably from tapping one shoe against the other, or against something like a stair riser. As we speak my shoes are having a time-out in my office desk drawer. I'm debating whether it's worth attempting more coats of paint applied with a paintbrush, followed by some kind of sealant. Or maybe I need to stick to shoe DIYs involving ribbons and stud earrings (as seen here)? Have YOU tried any DIY projects on your shoes? How did it go? 

xx
 
 









Top - XOXO via Winners
Pants - Gap
Shoes - Nine West
Eyeglasses - Marc O'Polo
Bracelet - Toronto boutique
Earrings - Gift



8 comments:

  1. Valiant effort, my friend :) I avoid DIY projects at all cost because I'm a criminal failure at such tasks. I think they look great though, and honestly for a night out no one would ever be the wiser!

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  2. I absolutely love what you did with these heels and seeming them in person (the transformation from one to another was amazing!) you definitely need to have patience and perseverance for it!

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  3. ugh! kat, how frustrating. :P you're more patient than i. pretty sure i would have thrown them across the room, after screaming my head off. i'm joking, sort of.

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  4. Whoa, I'm super impressed. You can't tell from the pictures. I say try try again. I feel like this WILL work.

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  5. Well let me just say how phenomenal they look in these pictures and how much I love those jade coloured pants! I can relate to your frustration, my DIY glitter shoes were all fine and dandy until they started to crack (and this was after applying sealant). From then on out, if I can't hot glue it to shoes, then it's not happening :)

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  6. Katie of Ak Weredork9 October 2012 at 02:22

    Heh, I think your DIY came out pretty decent. I kept seeing everyone doing those cap-toe diy and thought I'd give it a try on a lot pair of pumps. The end result was quite awful and I ended up just ruining them. :P I think I learned my lesson with that one!


    However, I really like how you went with the two toned look, with the heel a different color, the burgundy/oxblood/wine/maroon(hehe, you can go on and on!) looks quite lovely. That's such a shame about the paint flaking off. Actually, its a bummer about those shoes being ruined in the first places, they're so lovely!

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  7. I absolutely love what you did with these heels and seeming them in person (the transformation from one to another was amazing!) you definitely need to have patience and perseverance for it!

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  8. Valiant effort, my friend :) I avoid DIY projects at all cost because I'm a criminal failure at such tasks. I think they look great though, and honestly for a night out no one would ever be the wiser!

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I genuinely enjoy reading everyone's comments. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!