So I really like cherry blossoms. I also have multiple days a week I need to be in closed-toed shoes for proper lab protocol. So I mixed the two.
I've had this idea for a while, but have never really had the opportunity to get around to doing it until now. It also helped that I was recently at Target and saw these white canvas shoes by Mossimo for $17.
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| Blank Canvas |
The label in the shoes said that they were made entirely of man-made materials, but didn't go much into detail about exactly what materials they were. I decided to use my Rit DyeMore dye instead of just the regular dye since the regular dye is better for natural materials. If I do another pair, I might try using the regular dye and see how it turns out.
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| Removed the laces |
I used about 3 tablespoons of dye in about a gallon of hot water. After I wet the shoes in the sink, I submerged them top-down in the dye for about 5 minutes. I was a little nervous that the boiling water would affect the rubber, but so far, so good.
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| Submerged in the dye |
The color was darker when wet, but the change wasn't as drastic as it usually is when I work with the regular dye. After I rinsed out the excess dye and let the shoes dry overnight, they dried down to a nice pale blue color.
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| Immediately after rinsing |
In the meantime, I dyed the laces pink to match the pink fabric paint I would be using to paint the blossoms. I used a tablespoon of Rit Petal Pink dye and a teaspoon of Rit Fuschia in a little under a half gallon of water. I took a gamble using this since I had no idea which dye the laces would take, but it worked out in the end.
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| Tea kettles are so convenient for dye. Also note the red towel on top of the red rug. I'm well prepared for this one. |
I attempted to ombre the shoelaces so they would be light in the center and darker on the ends, but it didn't really work out well. I guess I didn't have enough dye to really make a difference in the saturation, but I'm not heartbroken over it.
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| Attempting to ombre |
I rinsed the shoelaces out as well, and left them to dry overnight.
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| Everything fully dry |
Now came the fun part. I pulled up a picture of the cherry blossom bow tie I painted for Casey for reference, then basically did the same thing. I made everything a little bigger since I had a bigger space to cover. I used Tulip Soft Matte fabric paint in Chocolate, Crimson Red, and Petal Pink.
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| Branches and red blossoms down. Also enjoy the Hansen's Sno Bliz cup cameo. |
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| Sorry I forgot to rotate all my pictures before I uploaded them. |
Once the fabric paint dried, I laced the pink laces back in. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out, and I can't decide if I can't wait to wear them, or if I don't want to wear them because they look so nice and I don't want to get them dirty. Until I figure it out, I'm sure I'll be crafting again.
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| Getting pictures of these was a struggle. And of course this is the only good one. |
