new old shoes.

I have not blogged in a long time. It has been a while. I didn't forget, I just didn't want to really. But now I do, so I will.

I have a pair of shoes that I love to wear. I bought them at GAP last summer for $20. They are simple slip ons. They featured a plaid pattern on them. Mine had brown, white, blue and pink. In the past few months the plaid cloth has begun to rip and tear. Also the rubber sole has cracked. It seemed that it was time to get new shoes. I travelled to The Mall (WEM) to look for a new pair of shoes that were similar to the ones I had or just a pair that I liked. Alas, I could not find a pair that I liked that was anywhere near $20. Maybe If I would allow myself to about $100 (or more) I would find something. But I am not willing to pay that much for this type of shoe.

So I came up with a new solution, repair them. Really, the only part that was damaged was the cloth plaid pattern. I removed the entire cloth sections of the shoes and replaced them with white athletic tape. I used rubber cement as adhesive between the tape and the underlying surface to give it a better hold. I also put tape around the base of the shoe. The result at this point is a pair of shoes that look fairly "homemade" I just need to decide what colour to paint/dye them, Any suggestions? I am thinking of dying them the same colour as the blue on the inside of the shoe. I can do them multiple colours if I want to as well, but that will cost more to accomplish.

The dying process (that sounds bad...) involves painting it with the desired dye and then heating it. I need to find a hair dryer or a shoe rack thingy for the laundry dryer. I wonder if the oven would work...