Making Avengers shoes for less than $7, using gold leaf, paint and decoupage.

From boring and bland $3 Kmart Canvas shoes........

TO THE AVENGERS ONE OF A KIND CANVAS SHOES WITH GOLD LEAFING!!

All for less than $7!!!!

I bought some decoupage glue, stomped through Spotlights aisles looking for tissue paper, or any similar type of paper with a cool pattern.  Then I saw the party serviettes.  PERFECT!!

I saw these Avengers ones and immediately thought of my daughter, who loves Marvel and all those sorts of things.  I cut out the little bits and pieces of the serviette.  I left none uncut lol.  I cut out hands and patterns and faces.  There were 12 serviettes in the pack and I only used 3.  I have a great idea for the left overs, I will wrap the shoes in them.  Perfect wrap for a perfect gift.



Serviettes are two very flimsy pieces of paper lightly put together, you just pull the two pieces apart and the pattern is now on an even lighter piece of paper.  Perfect for decoupage.  I glued and glued and glued.  I was torn about either making the shoes minimalist or just go for it and cover the whole shoes with no particular pattern.  I decided on the latter, and I am glad!  Once the first layer was dry I put more pattern pieces and words on the blank bits of the shoes and covered them in glue again.  I even covered the lace holes, while the glue was wet I poked the holes back through them.

This is minimalist Avenger shoes.















And this is not......

I was going to glitter the bottom edges, but during a sleepless night I had the awesome idea to put gold leafing on the edges.  My daughter deserves the best hehe.

So I grabbed my Mont Marte leafing size glue and I began gluing it all over the bottom edges of the shoes.  Left if for an hour because the longer you leave it the stickier it gets.  I got my gold leaf and carefully placed it all over the glued areas.














I put the gold leaf on with my finger, pushing it down a little, then I brush with an old paint brush along the gold leaf to smooth it down even more, and to make the lumpy bits fall off.  Let it dry.

While the shoes were drying I started painting the shoe laces.

I used normal acrylic red and blue paint, and added about 50% of Chromacryl Textile Medium, it basically turns it into fabric paint.  Makes it not as stiff. 

I just used cheap craft paint that I bought for my boys to use.  I painted a few layers on both sides of the shoe laces and then hung them out to dry.

Once dry I put the laces in the dryer to heat set the Chromacryl additive.  Then I put the laces in the shoes and proceeded to take the GLAM SHOTS!!

I loved doing this and I love the way they turned out.

What's next I hear you ask????

SO MUCH IT NEVER ENDS!!!

I have uploaded my miniature polymer clay Jack o lanterns that glow video onto YouTube.  Here is the link,  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgFuUdFo0dyREOhcSgXBrw      please like, comment and subscribe, I am determined to make my channel superb.  Next up on my blog and my YouTube is a Medussa Platter, Halloween inspired.  Miniature of course!

I am starting my dollhouse room box refurb tomorrow, and I will be posting that soon, too.

Here is the link for my Youtube Channel.......MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!

Please like, comment and subscribe!

Please follow me on facebook........... KristinaObrienart
I am also on Instagram.......... https://www.instagram.com/kristina_obrien_art/
Aaaand Pinterest....... https://www.pinterest.com.au/krystalrose316/pins/
And now on Etsy.........  https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/KrystalRoseCreations?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
And now Youtube.......https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgFuUdFo0dyREOhcSgXBrw

Until next time.........

The making of a paper mache Dobby, from Harry Potter, and then painting him on to the canvas, AND my mini polymer clay jack o lantern!!

Not the most gorgeous face ever, but definitely one that I fell in love with.  Dobby, the elf from the Harry Potter series.  I actually came up with him because I was applying to be on a design team, whose main focus is adhesives.  An Australian company called Helmar.  I saw their design team call and knew that I wanted to be a part of the team.  It only just closed so at the time of typing this I have no idea if I am.  Maybe, maybe not.  At least I tried, and for that I am really happy.

I use adhesives in absolutely everything that I do, but they aren't the main focus, just an important element.  So I set myself a challenge to make glue the hero.  I think I did quite well.

I had a completely ruined Harry Potter book, so I ripped 😮 out some good pages that I could find, and I covered the whole canvas in glue.

I then added all the pages to the canvas, in a variety of directions.  Ensuring that the edges of the canvas were covered too.

Now came the hard bit.  Once it was dry I had to get the outline of Dobby onto the pages.  I used an 8b pencil and it did a great job.  To get the outline I found a picture online of Dobby that I liked, then I printed it out at the appropriate size for the canvas, and I traced it onto the canvas.

I then went over the edges in a raw umber outline, just to ensure that I didn't lose the lines while I was making the paper mache part.

Using glue I slowly layered up Dobby's nose and forehead, as they are the most prominent on him.  I ripped paper into small bits, glued them onto Dobby, making sure they didn't go over the outline.  I thoroughly covered each piece of paper in glue, before and after putting it onto the canvas.  I was honestly flying by the seat of my pants here.  I had no idea where I was going with this, and I was scared of how it was looking.  I persevered.  I am glad I did.

I kept building up his nose and his forehead, and then began to build up the tip of his ear and his lips.  I didn't want them too big, just enough to make the canvas seem lifelike.  I kept ripping and gluing until I was happy with the height.  The tip of the nose has to be higher and more rounded than the rest of the nose and forehead.

Kind of looking a little worrying at this stage, hehe.  I covered his face in unbleached titanium, and I wanted to make his lips and the end of his nose a little pink, so I added a speck of Alizarin Crimson to the unbleached titanium.

Ahhhh, beginning to look a little better, thank gosh.  I just kept building up the layers of unbleached titanium and the crimson at this point.  I wasn't worrying about the details of his wrinkles or lips.  I just wanted to get some paint on him to see how he was going to turn out.

I just kept my eye on the picture of Dobby that I printed and I worked from that.  His eyes are a mixture of sap green, light green and cadmium yellow.  His eyes seem to radiate in his pictures so I tried to capture that glow.  His whole face was differing mixtures of unbleached titanium, alizarin crimson and raw umber.  I then used Titanium White for the high lights and reflections.







I am really proud of how he turned out.  I loved the opportunity to dabble in mixed media.  Hopefully I continue to do more of these types of projects.

 The glue I used was Dina Wakley ultra thick gel medium.  I purchased this product a while ago from my favourite art shop here in Hervey Bay, Art & Soul Studio.  It was less than $12 and went a long way.
https://artandsoulstudio.com.au/

I am yet to varnish it, but when I do it will be Liquitex Gloss Varnish in a super large bottle that I love oh so much.  I am going to try the Super Glossy Varnish from Liquitex next.  I just love the finish it gives.

That is my glue inspired project I did on a whim.  Take a chance I say.  Follow your instincts, try it.  There's no real failures, just lessons learnt.



















On to my next piece, a miniature polymer clay Jack o lantern that I put on top of a battery tea candle light.  I love it.  It took me a few attempts, as usual, to get it the way I like it and to figure out the best way to do it.

This is the next YouTube Tutorial, it will be up in a day or two.  The month of September is dedicated to Halloween!!  So bring on all the spooky and scary things.

So happy with the way the jack o lantern turned out.  I saw the battery tea lights and I thought yep, I need to do it.

Here is the link for my Youtube Channel.......MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!

Please like, comment and subscribe!

Please follow me on facebook........... KristinaObrienart
I am also on Instagram.......... https://www.instagram.com/kristina_obrien_art/
Aaaand Pinterest....... https://www.pinterest.com.au/krystalrose316/pins/
And now on Etsy.........  https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/KrystalRoseCreations?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
And now Youtube.......https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgFuUdFo0dyREOhcSgXBrw

Until next time.........