whipped
A new column – titled whipped – for readers comments, ideas, questions and fab links.
first up I have a question about these shoes – Andrea asks:
“I recently was given some wonderful shoes as a gift, sadly they are a nauseating shade of lime green…well, for shoes anyway. I’d love having some crockery this color. These are lovely shoes and very comfortable. Do your readers or the experts who post on the site have any advice for me on how to make these great shoes more wearable? Is dying leather shoes possible?”
Also an amazing link to Helen Amy Murray, a very unique textile artist. Her website is a flash movie and therefore I am unable to post any pics here but I urge everyone to go and check it out – wonderful (also a NYtimes blurb too). Thank you Stephanie from Sum things.
Joelle from Purl Soho, a knit shop in NYC, is opening up a new quilt shop in NYC as well, just up the street from their other store. They would love a review of their store – if anyone lives nearby go and check it out, talk to Joelle and let us know what you think.
Do you have a question? email whipup[at]gmail.com
March 10th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
For Andrea’s question: You can DIY with the shoes in many, many ways, but yes, leather can be dyed, and the easiest thing is to take it to a cobbler/shoe-repair and tell them what color you’d like them to be. Other than that… paint designs on them with high-quality acrylics and make sure you use sealant afterwards (actually, your best bet here is to do some web searches on “painting leather” or “how to paint leather” or “how to paint on leather” – etc). That will not keep them from being screamingly green, and you can’t really expect to paint the entire surface without your paint job cracking. So, a cobbler’s dye-job is your best bet, to start with, before you paint on them or glue things to them or etc.
March 10th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
It’s definitely possible. My father-in-law has a horse tack shop; he showed me once how to strip leather (with a solution of some kind — I can get you more info if you need it), and then re-dye it with leather dyes. Make sure they’re specifically for leather, though — they last longer.
Also, you’re probably going to have to go darker — green’s a little hard to get around with the slightly-translucent dyes. And don’t skip the stripping step! Most leathers are protected with a topcoat over the dye, and if you don’t strip it first, your dye will show up for a while….until it rains. :)
March 10th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Eliza’s advice is probably best, since she knows someone who does that stuff professionally. But a couple of years ago, I got a pair of Creepers (pretty similar to your shoes) for $10. One was red, and one was orange from sitting in the shop window. So I just searched ebay for “leather dye,” got a nice candy apple red, and dabbed it on with the little cotton applicator thing. After it dried, it was perfect. That was years ago, and the shoes are still fine. I really didn’t think that the dye would work, since the shoes were shiny patent leather, but it worked great, and none of the dye ever came off.
March 10th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
I have spray painted leather shoes with great success (to my eye, at least) Just regular old Krylon. I was especially happy with the silver.
March 10th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
I would be happy to do a review of Joelle’s new quilt shop. I am a big fan of the yarn shop and would love to see what her next project is!
March 10th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
It may not be what you’re looking for, but I just saw an episode of Knitty Gritty that used a pair of shoes as a base for knitted boots. Here is the link: http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows_dkng/episode/0,2046,DIY_18180_40470,00.html
March 11th, 2006 at 1:06 am
I’ve also seen shoes that have been painted – think polka dots or other designs just drawn or painted on the shoes with paint markers. I think there was a thread on Craftster about this.
March 11th, 2006 at 1:08 am
Thanks! Now the raging debate…take them to the cobbler or try to strip and dye them myself.
March 11th, 2006 at 6:56 am
Mary,
Please stop by soon! We’re opening “Purl Patchwork” on Wednesday March 15. Our hours will be the same as Purl, Monday through Friday 12-7 & Saturday & Sunday 12-6. The address is 147 Sullivan Street. Our phone will be 212 420-8798. Hope to see you there!
Joelle
March 12th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Take them to the cobbler – it probably won’t cost you more than you’ll have to pay for materials anyway. They’ll do a perfect, professional job on what is essentially a skilled process (this will not be exactly the same as dyeing a pair of white satin shoes). I’m all for DIY, ordinarily, but this is the kind of thing that just doesn’t seem worth it.
The Krylon thing someone else recommended – I wouldn’t go there. The paint is not flexible, and it flakes wherever the shoes bend. The newer for-plastic stuff might be more flexible. I was really poor as a kid and I’ve done many of those things, including coloring a pair of navy pleather shoes with black magic marker (not really recommended either).
The reason painting polka dots and such works is that the surface between them is still flexible. Even so, it’s still helpful to use a sealant on designs you’ve painted, which is why I recommended looking up leather painting processes. Don’t rely on Craftster either – there’s plenty of talent there, but I see too many poorly-constructed projects that are basically going to look good for as long as it takes to take the photo, but not have staying power because ppl didn’t pay attention to stuff like using the right glue or paint or wirework method for the job. :(
March 15th, 2006 at 6:38 am
wow, those are fab green shoes! i want a pair! (i would *never* dye them!, but agree it’s not too difficult) could you possibly send info as to where to get them? many thanks – libby
March 17th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
An easy fix to tone-down colored leather shoes is to polish with black shoe polish. It won’t cover up the color, but it does tone it down a lot and you end up with a marbled finish.
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:11 am
My husband had a similar problem: a pair of kelly green Doc Martens, in his case. We stripped the leather with nail polish remover (!), if I remember correctly, and dyed them black with leather dye. He did have to use shoe polish from time to time to keep them totally black. We were students at the time and didn’t have much to spend on shoes. Oh, by the way, remember to protect the soles with vaseline or something before you start.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
“Dylon” (UK based) has a wonderful range of colours, and that includes the ones for leather shoes and suede shoes; have a look at http://www.dylon.co.uk. Good luck.