The theme for the monthly First Friday art show at Stoneworks Studios and Gallery on May 6, 2016 was Head Over Heels, art in any media relating to hats and/or shoes. I recalled the art shoes created by mixed media artist Gaza Bowen in the ’90s…in fact, I once saw a few pair at an exhibit, including the shoes that inspired me, Shoes For The Little Woman. I knew what I was going to do.

I found the size 7 Charlotte Russe high heeled platform shoes at my local Goodwill on 50% off day, paying $2.00. I went to a dollar store and found the cleaning supplies, and I had the platinum acrylic paint.

One coat of platinum paint was a good undercoat, but it wasn’t the right color, so I got out some silver textile paint for another coat, and then topped it off with a clear sparkle coat. I made a paper pattern for covering the heels with the tinsel-like scrubby pads. I traced the pattern on the back of the pads with a fine line Sharpie, and cut them out with my dollar store paper scissors. (Don’t use your good sewing scissors on stuff like this because it will dull them.) I created labels for the inside of the shoes on my computer, printed them out on office paper, and glued them inside with spray adhesive so they would lay flat and smooth.

I used a hot glue gun to glue the cut out cleaning pads to the heels and the metallic scrubbers to the toes of the shoes. As a way to cover up the rough edges of the cut cleaning pads, I used aluminum foil on the inside and outer heels, also attached with hot glue. You have to work quickly and confidently with hot glue and aluminum foil!

These art shoes (21st Century Cinderella) were a lot of fun to make, as they were an experiment all the way. I hope you enjoyed my “show and tell”.