You'll Need:
A pair of white or black shoes (Keds or "Loafers" work best as they have a lot of paintable area)
Fabric Paint (I used Tulip soft paint, it's made to leave the fabric flexible so no stiff shoes!)
Craft Sponges
1 Detail Paintbrush
1 Palette or Paper Plate (something to mix paint on basically)
1 Tooth Brush (obviously one you don't want to use anymore)
and LOTS of newspaper to cover your work area
So first step, either buy black shoes (which in the future I think I may do, it is much easier and I believe the paint would blend better), or take your white shoes and give them a solid black base coat. I used a matte black paint.
I forgot to take a picture of them just plain black, but I'm sure you all don't mind that much. So next step, squirt some blue and purple paint onto your plate, and cut yourself some pieces of sponge to paint with, and well have at it. I did some swirl like patterns, and then some more solid but cloud like ones on the back of the shoes. Start by making a solid base then blending out the edges. Don't be afraid to sponge over top of colors you already have down, blending is what gives the effect. This is what it looked like after the initial bases were painted on.
Once you have your bases its time for highlights. I had initially planned to do more colors and make them like the Tulip Galaxy (which is a very colorful rainbow hued galaxy), but I liked how they looked after adding the pink tones. First I mixed a light orangish pink (coral) color, and did a faint base of that, then added a lighter true pink, followed finally by some white. Here's what it looks like after highlights have been added.
Already looks much more galaxy like, right? Now the messiest, but also funnest part, adding the stars. To do this dip your tooth brush in your white paint and use your thumb to flick the bristles creating white speckles on your shoes. After you've peppered your galaxy with stars to your little hearts desire its time to add some larger planets and star bursts. This can be done with your detail brush. I used the white, and some silver metallic fabric paint I had (also Tulip brand) to do this. I also added some swirls in the galaxies with the silver, its subtle but adds some dimension. And here's the final product!
Of course, how many planetoids, and stars you add is completely up to what looks pleasing to you. If you wanted you could just splatter the white with the tooth brush and be done, but I think the bursts add a little bit something extra to them. Now let those babies dry! The paint says dry flat for 4 hours, you can wash them after 72, but depending on the kind of shoe you use I wouldn't recommend washing them. I don't plan on washing mine. Also feel free to embellish in anyway you like, one of my favorite planets is Saturn, so I added one to both shoes in different spots.
Now you have your own pair of Galaxy Shoes! Don't you feel so trendy? Just a fore warning, I let them dry overnight for the black base coat, and to do all the galaxies, blending, and stars it took about 2 hours. So if you aren't the most patient crafter this may not be the best project for you, but as far as some crafts go it really doesn't take that long. One of those instant gratification sort of projects if you will. I was just in a crafty mood this weekend, so I did this, and then some Tie-Dying while I was waiting for the base coat to dry.
Perhaps I'll do a tutorial on tie-dying next, I love it! One of my favorite crafts to do, it's messy, fun, and you never know what you're going to get! For instance in the bottom picture, the shirt on the left I had no idea how it would turn out. I had folded it vertically in pleats, then as it was to long to fit in my dying pan i folded it in half and rubber banded it to hold it in place. Now I have some awesome rainbow ink blot, FLIR, looking shirt! If you want to know how I did the colors to make it look like that leave me a comment!
Till next time, Peace Out and stay Awesome!
~Katie
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