I just finished taking a fun, 6-week decoupage class at Cambridge Center for Adult Education, and completed a few projects. The most involved project was my pair of Nautica sneakers purchased at Filene's Basement back in the day.
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| Sneakers Bourgeois |
The first step was covering the bottom rubber sides and lace holes with blue painter's tape, then stuffing the insides of the sneakers to maintain their shape.
Then, I ripped newspaper into small random-shaped pieces, and using acrylic gloss medium, I glued two layers of the newspaper onto the sneaker, smoothing it over with my fingertips.
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| Sneakers Well Read |
After applying the newspaper, I sprayed the sneakers with Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic coating. I did this outside so I wouldn't choke on the fumes.
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| Sneakers Take A Shine |
Next, I ripped white copier paper into small pieces and applied two layers in the same way I applied the newspaper.
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| Sneakers White-washed |
After spraying this layer twice with the Krylon coating (I allowed at least a day and a half to two days between sprays), I applied my first layer of the design — the Earth layer. The grass layer consists of images I took out of interior design magazines. The flower layer is taken from a birthday greeting card my aunt gave me years ago. I xeroxed the back and front of the card and cut out the flowers individually.
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| Sneakers Aglaze with Earth layer |
My design theme is Earth and Sky, and for the Sky I xeroxed photos I took of my Christmas tree a few years ago, including vintage star lights and ornaments. The black and white moon faces on the toes are xeroxed from a great postcard I bought at a card shop in Manchester, VT years ago. The black stars are from a photo I took of the star mirrors on my Hollywood wall.
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| Sneakers Etoile Magnifique! |
After applying the Sky layer, I sprayed the sneakers twice with Krylon. For the finishing touches, I used acrylic paints — cadmium yellow medium and manganese blue — to fill in any gaps in the design. Then I removed the painter's tape and painted the tops around the lace holes with cadmium yellow. And, serendipitously, I found electric blue shoe laces as I was browsing in J.Crew, and they worked perfectly with my blue and yellow color scheme.
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| Voila! Sneakers Magnifique! C'est si bon? |
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| Sneakers Pimped Out |
