Fun with Painted Shoes

Today, after our regular Fibervision meeting, several of us stayed to experiment with painting shoes. We were led by the intrepid Linda Cassirer who leapt right into the joy of shoe painting after seeing Margot Silk Forrest and her book Sassy Feet! featured in the Dharma Trading Company newsletter. Linda generously shared her paint, her observations in the first few pairs she had painted, and her goal in apparently wanting to paint everything in her home which is currently in a neutral color. A couple of fellow Fiberettes had seen Margot at the Wearable Arts Connection meeting last year and were inspired by her, so knew we were in for some fun. Too bad Lucilla and Susan I. couldn't be there with us today.

The top photo is the group result of our afternoon (you can double click on the photo for a better view) and the second and third photos are the shoes I painted. Mine started out with plain black leather uppers with a very dull light jute for the wedge covering. In our enthsiasm, we forgot to take "before" photos. These shoes were provided by fellow artist, Anne Braddock, who found a couple of pairs of shoes at a second hand store that just cried out to be transformed and brought them along. I won't be wearing them because they are a smidge too small for me and she won't be wearing them because they do not fit her definition of comfortable.

Anybody interested in a pair of hand-painted, size 9 wedge shoes with a 4" heel?