Last week I had a holiday party to attend that required a slightly less woodsy attire than I normally wear. We don't get out much so my selection of dress clothes is pretty slim. I put out my clothes and looked for my black dress boots and came up with only one boot out of the pair. After much fruitless searching and grumbling about my kids getting into everything I decided to wear my black heels instead. I found...one. What could they have possibly done with the others? Who knows. I'll probably find them in the bottom of the duck pond or something. I had neither the time, inclination, nor the budget to drive 25 miles to the store to get new boots. You know what I did have? Paint.
During my search I had found a pair of tan leather boots in the back of the closet that I never wear. I've painted shoes before so I thought, what the heck I'll give it a shot. I wiped the boots down with rubbing alcohol and let them dry then applied thin layers of black acrylic paint to them (tho' they look blue in the photos, they're really black).
I had intended to leave the soles tan as they are plastic and wouldn't hold the acrylic well, but my daughter decided to help me paint (while I was outside) and I needed to fix those up too. I had a tiny jar of army green enamel in my paintbox, so that's what they got.
The acrylic finish looked kind of unconvincing as it was, and I was concerned about it scraping off so I applied a beeswax sealer and that made a huge difference. (I used Sno-Seal) Looking at them in my hand, I couldn't tell that they weren't black to begin with. I probably could have used an acrylic sealer too, but the wax was faster.
After a full night of walking around and eating appetizers, they still look pretty good. If you look closely you can see some paint loss where my foot bends but overall, they served my needs just fine.
Sometimes you have to make do.
I know we've all been there... safety pins holding shirts closed, staples on the pant cuffs... what are your "make do" stories?
3 comments:
Nice work! My go-to fix is permanent black marker for scuffed shoes, and my toenails too, if they're dark enough. = )
Hah, love what you did with the tan heels! They look amazing :D
Concerning make-do I rememeber a pleated skirt which I've been meaning to add a hook to for closure for quiet some time... and now always wear with a safety pin ;D
Holy McGuyver, Batman! Or is it Wonder Woman!?
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