Sunday, March 30, 2014

Mirror Mirror on the wall, now who's shoes are the fairest of them all?

Every ghoul needs a scarecation, and I decided to take mine through a magic mirror to the land of Ever After High, where I must say they have some rather fableous shoes!  I decided to explore each side of the student body (to see where I'd fit best) starting off with fairy tale royalty, Apple White.  Her hexcellent pumps look good enough to eat, though I'm sure they would pack a rather poisonous punch.


What I used:
Pumps
Nu-life shoe spray (scarlet)
Worbla
Heat gun
Gesso
Sand paper (medium grit)
Paint brush.. or three
Craft foam (thin)
White glue
Scissors
X-acto knife
Acrylic (red, gold)
Sticky back Velcro (tan)
Gold pleather trim (2.5 yds.)
Thread (gold)
Hand sewing needle
E-6000
Blue tape
Newspaper
Pen
Model magic
Rhinestones (16, though Apple has 18)

Let's not get off on the wrong slipper, start with a simple pair of platform pumps.  It would be helpful to find red ones, but I vacation on a budget and these were on clearance at The Glass Slipper for $4.99, hex yeah!
The detailing on Apple's shoes is fairy simple, consisting of a twirl up the heel, leaf, stem, and a raised portion with jewels.  Being easily distracted by shiny bits, I started with the raised bump with the jewels on top. I would suggest you start there too, you'll see why in a little bit.

I was hexperimenting with different materials on this pair as prep for another pair I'm working on, so you might not want to use all the different mediums I did.  I decided to make the bump out of Worbla, but changed to craft foam for the leaf.
On the Worbla, simply draw out four thin curves (use the first one as a template for the rest), cut with scissors, lightly heat with the heat gun (careful of your work surface and hands around heat) and let cool on the shoe.  You don't want them to get too hot and stick to to the shoe, just conform to the shape.


After the strips cool, remove them from the shoe, add a coat of gesso, let dry, sand, and repeat till  smooth.  Use E-6000 to glue into place.  I had a couple of dwarfs help me hold them down tight until they dried.

With that you've blocked out how big the apple part of shoe is going to be (see there was method to this madness), and can now start on the leaf.  Usually I would pick one medium or the other, but like I mentioned before, I'm flipping the script and trying out new things (oo maybe I'm a bit more of a rebel) so I switched to craft foam sheeting.  Draw out the leaf shape on the craft foam, if you aren't too sure of your drawing ability you might want to sketch it out on some paper first.  Cut out two leaves (remember to make a magic mirror image for the other shoe), heat lightly with the heat gun, and let cool on the shoe.
Once dry, remove from the shoe, and coat with either white glue or acrylic paint till smooth. I find that glue holds up better when the foam is placed under high stress, so I coated it with watered down glue.  (If you are unfamiliar with this process look up "craft foam armor tutorial" on the mirror net).

Once dry, E-6000 those leaves straight to the shoe.  Again you might want to enlist the help of some forest friends to hold down all the little edges

Next use model magic to create the heel spirals, and the apple stems.  I chose this clay because it has great puff and it's lightweight, but use whatever material fits your story best.  Pull off a large piece of clay, and carefully roll out a thin strip.  Wrap the strip around the heel of the shoe and let dry.  If you get any lumps or bumps dip your finger in a little bit of water and smooth the clay.  Model magic is a very fussy medium and doesn't like to be bumped, smoothed, or played with too much.  Be a dainty damsel about this part.  Repeat on the other shoe.  Once that's done, sculpt out two little apple stems and place them on the shoe to ensure a snug fit.  Let these pieces dry for a couple of days.  They may seen cured in a few hours, but if you were to tear a piece open (which I don't suggest you do to your hard work) the inside will still be moist.  Since these are going to be painted, it's best to make sure that they are completely dry before sealed.

Once the clay is dry, it needs to be glued to the shoe. Add some E-6000 to the backs of the pieces, stick them in place, again allowing to dry.  If any glue gets on the shoe don't wipe it off.  Once the glue is dry it's pretty easy to peel, and usually comes off cleanly with tweezers and a little work.

As spellbinding as these shoes look they still need a bit more detail.  Using an X-acto knife, carefully carve the little wood grain into the spiral of the shoe.


Coat all the details in red acrylic paint, and allow to dry.  Nu-life paint sticks really nicely to plastics, the last time I checked acrylic paint was plastic, and it seems to help the spray hold better than the clay/foam alone.  Plus, with all the whimsical curves and angles, the acrylic can help hide any places you might miss with the spray.

To prep for the paint, cover the bottom of the shoes in blue tape, and fill the insides with newspaper for protection.  Try to clean off any stray paint or glue, and wipe down the shoes with a moist cloth. Once they are dry, you are ready to spray paint.  Give the shoes a couple of coats following the manufacturer's instructions.  I ended up using a whole can!
Once my shoes were dry, I felt they needed a bit more fairy dust.  I brushed gold acrylic to brighten them up and bring out the detailing on the stems and leaf. Then added the jewels to the sides of the shoe, with my trusty E-6000 glue.  If you use inexpensive plastic gems, don't use the E-6000, it will melt the finish and cause bubbles.
The shoe on the left is before the details, the shoe on the right has it's fairy tale sparkle~

Phew! That was lot of work, but we still haven't reached the final chapter of this story.
Next up are the six golden straps with bows. 
I started with folded pleather trim; no sewing required!  It was purchased at Joann's, and it costs a princessly sum, but I think its worth it~  (If your material comes with raw edges that fray, you'll have to finish them by sewing the strips into tubes.)  When measuring how long the straps need to be make sure that your foot is in the shoe, you want to make sure they come out not too big, not too small, but just right~

Once you have figured out the length of the strips, you'll need to make the bows.  I showed fake bows in a previous shoetorial (see Draculaura's fab wedges), but since I've gotten quite a few questions about making them.  Here is a more in depth version with shiny golden pictures!
Start by cutting six strips (one for each bow), mine are 1.5" x 5". For simplicity's sake I'm only showing one strip.
Then fold the ends of the strips to the center, overlapping slightly, and sew into place.  Don't worry about messy stitches, they will be covered.  Leave your needle and thread attached.
Next carefully pinch the top and bottom of the bow together.  Wrap the thread around the middle and take one stitch into the fabric to lock into place.  Continue to leave the needle and thread attached.
The final step is to wrap a thinner strip of material (mine is .5" wide) around the center, overlap it slightly, stitch together in the back, and take one stitch into the body of the bow to hold in place.  All done.  It takes a bit of practice, but you'll be a pro in no time~
Sew the bows onto the center of the gold straps, and attach them to the inside of the shoes with Velcro.  Make sure the rough side of the Velcro is facing away from your skin, and your stockings.  Place it on the gold straps not the insides of the shoes.  Sores on your feet and holes in your hosiery would be a total fairy fail!

With that you are officially ready to embrace your destiny~  Who said being fairest of them all wasn't hard work!

3 comments:

  1. Did worbla or craft foam work better?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi wish mark for the silicon you recommend? I have to buy it online

    ReplyDelete