Shoes from out of this world

THE shoes of 2012.
This obsession with galaxy shoes began from a moment of confusion. Followed by serious moments of experimenting.

With time my tidy-whitey sneakers began to change their color from brilliant white to rusty-ish. And the rusty spots were impossible to remove even with bleaching. 

But, as they say "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".

So to hide that spotty rustiness I decided to cover them with paint. 

The outcome was unexpected, based on mistakes, but reminiscent of what seemed to be a galaxy print. So I full-on went for it. 

The first pair was a pure experimentation. I wet them and used a somewhat watercolor technique. The subtle clouds and stars are from dabbing the rusty spots with white acrylic paint. Something that come from SOS hiding ended up as a brilliant idea as it gave the image another dimension. Instead of actually covering them with a thick layer of paint I blended/melted the thin layers of colors. The finishing step was making small clouds of stars with a toothpick and bling-bling shinier stars with a thin brush. 

That pair was made purely for the purpose of making really colorful interpretation of what a Photoshopped galaxy would look like. When they received some attention that lead to orders from fascinated friends I dug further and used actual images as sources of inspiration. 

Yeah, best pictures ever. Taken on a bed. Yeah.

So I would recommend you looking for pictures for an actual reference. It will make them look more realistic. Also YouTube is full of useful tutorials as well as Google. 

You can experiment with different techniques and different colors: layering colors or blending them in, using a sponge or a brush, painting on white sneakers or black sneakers. Don't forget to tape the sides of the soles if you don't want them to get dirty, because taping is much easier than having to hide your mistakes with white paint afterwards. 

From my experience, if you use acrylic paint your sneakers will withstand a rainfall, even a flood, an unexpected hike in fields of wet clay and dusty trails, without even the paint cracking. 

So...Jane confirms.