Add a Little Color to Your Sole

This project was brought on so organically that I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite of the month. I was modeling and we were doing street shots where I “kicked” the camera so that the bottom of my shoe came into focus. The shoes I was wearing were kind of boring on the bottom so it wasn’t the look we were going for, but the photographer was wearing Pride Vans with a rainbow-colored sole. I borrowed his shoe and tested out the shot it looked amazing! For a few days after the shoot I wanted to get a pair of shoes like his, but without spending any money. I looked at the shoes I originally wore for the shoot and decided: why not make my own?

I used:

A pair of shoes

Rubbing alcohol

Cotton balls

Acrylic Paint

Paint brushes

Mod Podge

Ruler

 I started by cleaning my shoes with soap and water to get most of the dirt off the soles then let them sit until they dried. When they were dry, I applied rubbing alcohol to the soles with a few cotton balls. I did this twice just to make sure I cleaned them as much as I could. Once the shoes were clean and dry, they were ready to paint so I had to pick my colors.

I fell in love with the Pride flag shoes, but I didn’t have all of those colors in acrylic paint. Since I’m still trying to use up my craft supplies before I buy anything new, I decided rainbow just wasn’t going to happen. I ended up going with the blue, purple, and pink Bi Pride flag at a diagonal so mess ups wouldn’t be as obvious.

I decided to start in the center and go outwards. I used my ruler to make a purple line diagonally across my shoe using two points that were the same on both shoes. Once my line was on, I made another parallel line about an inch or so away. When you look at the flag, the center purple stripe isn’t as wide as the other two so this worked out proportionately. I used small paint brushes to fill in this stripe, doing my best to stay off the white of my shoe. I let that dry and then outlined and filled in the blue and pink carefully. The first layer took about 3 hours to completely dry. Once it wasn’t tacky to the touch, I put a second coat of each color on and set them out to dry overnight.

The next day, I used half inch paint brushes to coat the whole sole in mod podge to keep the paint from chipping. Mod Podge takes a couple of hours to dry so after I cleaned the house, I put on a second coat and let it dry again. Now I have a pair of super cute shoes that I can use for future photo shoots or simply walking around town. I can’t wait to see the designs you put on your shoes! If you take any fun pictures of any crafts, tag me on Instagram @SmileMakePeopleWonder and use the hashtag #DandelionSmiles. As always, subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next exciting idea!