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Nancy
Curry of Bowling Green, Kentucky, knocked our socks off when she sent
us her stunning hand-painted and rubber stamped pumps. She says the
Oscars event last Spring inspired her to create these “Hollywood
Legends” shoes—and we think she should get her own Oscar for
creativity!
Starting with a pair of plain white pumps purchased at Payless, Nancy
masked off the soles and then painted the uppers with bronze Lumiere
paint from Jacquard, covering small areas at a time.
She then used dry rubber stamps (collage elements from Imagine Rubber
Works and an alphabet stamp set from Ma Vinci’s Reliquary) to stamp
into the paint, removing it in the process and leaving ghost images.
The alphabet set was used to stamp the names of Hollywood actresses.
Nancy used her fingertip to rub a light application of plum glaze over
the white impressions.
Mixing burgundy and brown glaze, she stamped a precise pattern of diamonds
(Rubber Tree) on the uppers. Spirals were stamped in bronze glaze between
the diamonds. She then mixed plum and black glaze for repeat stamping
of the word “Legendary” over the uppers, and then used the
same glaze to stamp a crackle image (Stamper’s Anonymous) and the
collage elements image all over the shoe, including the heel. She repeated
this with bronze glaze. Once the paint had dried, Nancy affixed bronze
seed beads with Diamond Glaze (Judi-Kins) and coated the entire surface
with Perfect Paper Adhesive (USArtQuest).
To reduce the shine on the beads, Nancy dabbed on a tiny bit of plum
glaze. After removing the masking tape and touching up the crevices
in the leather with bronze Lumiere paint, she sealed the surfaces with
two coats of matte varnish.
We think our readers will get a kick out of transforming their own shoes
into creative high-steppers, so we chose this project for our next Reader
Challenge. Take a peek into your closet: Is there a pair of shoes just
begging to be updated? Try painting a pair of pumps, stamping a pair
of sandals, or collaging a pair of clogs! Send us your most creative
(yet realistically wearable) efforts and we’ll publish the best
submissions on the Salon pages in an upcoming issue.
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