Monday, June 28, 2010

FUN Wizard of Oz Commission Altered Shoe Tutorial

Some of my readers may remember these as one of my favorite projects... these were actually submitted to a doll magazine on my behalf and won a prize... for Best New Use of a Product... and they're just cute!


By then I had the "bug", but these are the pair that started it all... They were created way back in the day ;) as part of a mail art swap on a Yahoo Group (remember THOSE?!) these were shipped off to two separate recipients, but actually found their way back to me after residing in Little Rock, Arkansas and Lake Tahoe, CA for a few years each. We called them "Wicked and Rubee" and took several silly pictures of them in all sorts of crazy situation!


Well, a student was in my studio recently and spied them sitting there among a display of Wizard of Oz Memorabilia (its just my favorite movie, that's all!) She decided that she MUST have a pair as a gift for a friend... What else do you get the girlfriend who has EVERYTHING and loves the Wizard of Oz? Only she wanted them smaller so I hit up my mom... in some parts she's known as "She who has TINY feet and NEVER throws anything away".

For example, these are her M.O.B shoes from my sister's 1985 wedding! Purple. Suede. Candies!!! So hip and trendy... in their original box from Macy's for $37!  She offered these as a possibility... also...



The "Flash Trash" shoes which have a matching purse! These are from the days of Cruise after Cruise where my Mom and Dad loved to dress up in their cruise clothes and dine and dance! 



Just look at the organization in my genetics! Mom marks right on the box what you can expect to find inside "Black Suede with Flash Trash & Purse"! I couldn't bear to destroy the Flash Trash plus I was afraid that they wouldn't support my idea so I went with the wedding shoes...


Clear gesso to prep the sued to take some abuse in the form of spray paint... while that dries


Start fiddling with the armature for the "paper mache" type treatment the other shoe will receive...


What else is a frozen pizza box good for? I mean it probably has more nutrition than the pizza that my husband ate, but its getting some pretty good use here, right?



High tech solutions!!! I have every clamp, strap, third hand type holding system in town, but leave it to me to bust out a package of clothes pins to get the job done...



Meanwhile, the gesso has cured AND I have taken the smallest Herrmann to Swimming AND Tennis Lessons PLUS all of the other Monday Mommy chores I have on the list, but there is ALWAYS time for spray paint! I hadn't discovered my love of spray paint when I carefully applied 4 coats of craft paint to the first RUBEE slipper! This paint already looks amazingly shiney - almost like the paint of a car!



I didn't take any process photos of the Mod Podge/ paper mache part basically because I was a GLUE MONSTER and didn't want to touch anything, but imagine strips of the Orinda News and a ton o' Mod Podge and this is the result!





Look at the shine on this shoe! So fun!!! Too bad it will mostly be covered with glitter and sequins by tomorrow! 



Not bad for a day's work, right? 

Let's Get our Craft ON!!!

1 comment:

  1. I eagerly await the next installment in the Yellow Brick Road of Altered Shoes. So far, this is fabulous and just further justifies my belief you deserve the crafty equivalent of an Oscar.

    ReplyDelete

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jul