Turn Your Old Shoes Into Wearable Art For Under £20

Like a lot of people, I love shoes and have a fair few in my collection. But I rarely have the money to go out and buy a nice new pair of shoes, especially since a lot of the time I'll only wear them once and put them away at the back of a cupboard. One day I decided to combine my love of crafting with my shoe collection and discovered how to revamp a pair of old shoes for under £20! Painting your shoes is a great hobby and it gives you beautiful, unique shoes that will be the envy of all your friends.

What You Will Need:

• A pair of canvas or leather shoes. You can use an old pair you already have, a pair from a thrift shop or some super cheap new ones, depending on your budget. It doesn't matter if they look boring, as long as you like the shape of them.

• Nail polish remover and cotton wool balls.

• A cheap set of acrylic paints, can be found in craft stores for £10.

• A bottle of clear acrylic varnish or clear spray varnish also found in craft stores. It's easier to use a spray but they can be pricer, if you have a decent budget to put behind this hobby then I highly recommend Mr Superclear.

• Paintbrushes. If like me you are on a budget you can visit a cheap store such as Poundland (Dollartree in the US) or you can use makeup brushes in a pinch. Liquid eyeliner brushes are great for painting small details.

• A fine-tipped permanent marker to outline details (optional) or if you have a little bit of a budget you can purchase paint pens online or in craft stores which will do a better job.

Let's Get Started!

1. Preparation

Make sure you are in a well-ventilated area before you start. Lay down some old newspaper on your work surface before you start and make sure you wear old clothes as acrylic paint does not wash out once it's dried.

2. Cleaning

Soak a cotton wool ball in nail varnish remover and begin to rub it all over the material of your shoe. This will clean off all dirt and also strip away the waxy protective layer. You may want to repeat this step a few times, it is very important that you get all of the top layers off so that the paint will stay. Make sure that you get into all the creases, the shoe should look dull once the wax has been taken off. Leather shoes will have more wax than canvas ones and will need cleaning thoroughly.

3. Lay Down Block Colours

Now it's time to decide what you want the base colour of your shoe to be, you could leave it the original colour, paint it a whole new colour or maybe even get adventurous with stripes or another pattern. It's easier to do this with canvas shoes, as leather will crack over time wherever your shoe bends. If you're painting leather shoes, I recommend keeping the base colour and strategically placing designs so that they avoid the creases and flexible parts of your shoe. Whatever you decide to do, you need to remember to use more than one coat of paint as this will ensure that there are no gaps or lighter areas where the paint has been spread thin. Make sure the paint is fully dried before starting the next step.

4. Add Smaller Details

If you are good at drawing you can paint all sorts of designs and pictures on to your shoes, this is where a clean liquid eyeliner brush can come in handy. It can also be useful to carefully trace your design on to each shoe with a pencil first. It is important to look for where the most creases are on your shoes and avoid painting designs there, these are places where your shoe bends while you walk and designs painted there can easily be ruined. Be sure to let each layer of paint dry before starting a new one, you don't want to smudge your gorgeous new creations! You can use the fine-tipped marker or paint pen to outline any drawings, it's much easier than trying to paint a thin black line. If you choose to use a marker pen, then you need to make sure it is entirely permanent and isn't going to smudge or run once you apply varnish.

5. Sealing

Once your masterpiece is finished and has time to fully dry, you need to coat the shoe in clear varnish to stop any damage being done to the paint. Your new shoes will need two separate coats of varnish, usually leaving 24 hours in between each coat to give the layers a chance to dry. Once the second coat is dry, your new shoes will be ready to show off to the world!

The best part about this whole project is that once you have bought the paints and other items needed, you can use them over and over, enough to spruce up a dozen pairs of shoes. Why not try experimenting? You can use glitter on your shoes before applying the varnish, you could use metallic paints, stick-on jewels or even use a hot glue gun to apply small items such as fake flowers or other decorative pieces. If you have a bigger budget you could even craft your own resin decorations to glue on. If you get really good at it, you could even sell your finished pieces online. Whatever you choose to do, painting your shoes in a fun, addictive hobby with the best reward - new shoes!