Today, I spent the day working on shoes for the Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn costumes I’ve designed for an upcoming comic con in my area. I want to share how I transformed two old pairs of shoes into villainous footwear with a little spray paint. Here’s the paint I used:
I started by taping off the shoes anywhere I didn’t want paint to reach. I used small pieces of tape, mostly, and spent a lot of time and care doing this. Putting in the time during this step really pays off in the end. For the Poison Ivy heels, I taped off the entire bottom of each shoe (I taped off another section later.) The Harley Quinn boots posed a slight challenge when I was deciding exactly how I wanted to spray them. I decided to only spray the tops of the boots with her signature diamond pattern bringing the red into the black lower half. (This way I wouldn’t have to spray over the zipper or buckles.)
I used newspaper to section off the bottom of the boots and protect the inside of the heels.
I used a pool noodle, cut in half, and more newspaper to steady the boots for spraying. I sprayed each pair of shoes with two thin coats of their respective base color allowing about 40 minutes of dry time between coats.
Next, I sprayed each shoe with two thin coats of glitter spray paint. Again, I allowed about 40 minutes between coats. (Before praying with glitter, I taped off the platform and heel on the Poison Ivy pair to achieve a two toned finish.)
Once completely dry, I sprayed each shoe with the glitter spray clear sealer and let dry. Finally, I carefully removed all the tape and admired my work. I also glued some of the ivy leaves from the rest of the Poison Ivy costume to the front of each green heel.
There you have it! Completely transformed a couple of old shoes into brilliant costume pieces. The techniques used here don’t have to be applied strictly to cosplay projects; you can jazz up any old pair of shoes however you’d like!
Thanks for reading! I can’t wait to post pictures of each costume once they’re completed!
Love, GK
Ginger Kate 