DIY: Gold Leaf Fringe Shoes

I promise, if you bear with all my random ramblings, I WILL actually get to the DIY portion of this blog. But...it might be a while. So sit back, put your gold-leafed feet up and read on, yo.

First of all, lemme just start by congratulating you on your Amazing Art-sy Pick-Up Lines. If you have no idea earthly idea what I'm talking about, don't you fret. I'll set the scene for you:

Imagine you are in your very first painting class full of the usual suspects: The Patchouli-Smellin' Hippie who will paint a sad parade of Grateful Dead dancing bears on each and every canvas *; The Deep Thinker that will spend days painting his canvas a dark depressing dirt color and title it something like Reflections of My Soul #51 **; The Guy Whose Brain Never Developed Beyond Age 15 whose canvas portrays candy colored sports cars *** and demands to know, "When are we gonna paint from live models so I can see some naked chicks?!" ****

When suddenly, in walks The One...

Who DOESN'T AT ALL look like the lady in the above photo. Naw, man. That's the rando crazy chic who spends more time worrying about her outfit than what she's painting on her canvas. I'm talking about the other one. That one perfect, artsy smartsy being that you just know is the one for you. But! What do you say? 

AND this is where my Artist Pick-Up Line contest left off. Ya'll have been coming up with the best lines. I'm still taking submissions (so hop to it!) and I'll be putting them together in a post at the end of next week. Thus far, here's some gems: 

I'm an artist, but... for you, Baby... I'LL GET A JOB!

At first I thought you were a little sketchy but now I'm really drawn to you.

Hey there, come to this EASEL often?

Are you Picasso? You're looking like you're going to pieces or falling apart over me!

I know, right?! Where were the lines when I was in art school? Don't forget to leave your best submissions in the comments, ya'll. You just might be a wiener. I mean a winner. Whatever, on with the DIY!

Okay, is it just me or are these not the ugliest-cute shoes you've ever seen in your life? I kinda feel about them like I did The Deep Thinker: I love/hate them. But at $198.00 (oh, my bad, now the low low price of 69.95, gee, thanks, Anthro!) I just hate/hate them. So  I decided to invest in a gold leafing kit (in craft stores for under $10) and make my own.

Over the Top Tacky Details: tacky Christmas sweater DIY: DIY from last year, featured here; Anthro-copy tulle skirt DIY: full story here

So I decided to gold leaf these fringe shoes that had been sitting unworn in my closet since I found them in a resale shop. They were just a little too Pocahontas for my taste and I never could seem to find the right outfit to pair them with. Being fringe like the Anthro shoes, I thought I could easily transform them into an Anthro copy.

The gold leafing kit I picked up came with a liquid adhesive, a sealer and some antiquing stuff. The directions said to paint on the adhesive, allow to dry and become tacky and then apply gold leaf. Since I was working with absorbent suede, I gave the fringe a couple of coats of adhesive before attempting the gold leaf.

Now, just a word to yo mother, gold leaf is one finicky b*tch. I thought for sure I'd be able to get my gold leaf on there perfectly as you see in the Anthro shoes...um, no. It's like working with paper that's thinner than tissue and with a mind of it's own. With that in mind, I just pressed the gold leafing to the fringe, gently lifted it and if it stuck, fantastic! If not, well, that part would be without. And, after wrestling with that leafy stuff, I was cool with that. 

Because there was a lot of fringe, this was actually a DIY that took much longer than expected. So I took frequent breaks (not "smoke" breaks, mind you. Chocolate breaks work for me) and ended up working on this over the course of several days. Once each fringe was complete, I sealed it with that sealer stuff. Which smelled like Mod-Podge but tasted like glue, baking soda and a dash of paprika. Just kidding. It didn't taste like glue.

I spy with my little eye a big toe that's busted out of hose. Nice.

And there you have it! Sparkly shoes that I actually think are cuter than those Anthro ones. But that may be all the sealer I consumed talking. 

Don't forget to submit you very best Artsy Pick-Up Lines! We'll vote on the best later next week. 

AND I've not forgotten that this is supposed to also be an art teacher blog...more news on art room happenings soon, I pinky-swear, spit-shake promise!

* Yes, all of these characters are based on Real Life Art Students. That hippie? She once invited me outside for a "smoke" during a break in class. I shoulda known we she dove behind a bush at the back of the art building just what kind of "smoke" she meant. I totally froze, made some excuse about not wanting the oil on my canvas to dry and ran back to class. Needless to say, I was forever more labeled the Class Square.

** Ugh, that guy. He was one of those dudes who spent more stirring his coffee, quoting Russian authors and perfecting his Jackson Pollock-esque appearance than actually hitting brush to canvas. I always considered that guy my nemesis. Mostly cuz he was way smarter than me.

*** Oh boy. And to think I dated that dude. Yeah, seriously. To my credit, I did dump him when I found out his favorite thing to paint was NASCAR. I was not about to compete with Earnhardt, ya'll.

**** My first college roommate just so happened to be a nude model for art classes. Her name was Star (surprised?) and she was just the sweetest naked chick you'd ever wanna meet. She did have this habit where she would "forget" my at-the-time boyfriend was in the room and suddenly drop clothes. Yeah. College. I do not miss thee.