Sparkly Desert Boots (Chukka)

My boyfriend loves a good amount of sparkle, and he also has a great pair of desert style boots. For New Years Eve this year, we decided to go a little bit different and made him a special event shoe--a pair of desert boots covered in the herpes of the craft world---Glitter. 

These are the step by step directions for how you can get your own pair of super sparkle boots. 

What You'll Need: 
1 Pair of Desert Boots* (I purchased mine from Target)
1 pot of primer (I use Martha Stewart brand, but only because I had it left over from a previous project)
1 pot of sparkle paint, silver (again, Martha Stewart left over from a previous project) 
1 large container of red glitter (or whatever color you use)
1 can of clear coat lacquer 

What I also used: 
1 small container of iridescent glitter
1 can of  Krylon Glitter Blast Ruby Red Spray Paint

These last two things are simply useful--I liked being able to fill in the more flexible areas with a sparkly layer of spray paint, or to get those areas where the glitter simply wouldn't stay. I did have issues with my first can, but Krylon sent me a replacement can as soon as I asked, and I didn't have a problem the second time around. The iridescent sparkles was to make the glitter a little more dynamic--I considered originally going for an ombre effect but instead just mixed the two types of glitter for a more varied sparkle. 



*Theoretically this instructable should work on any pair of shoes that is a bit stiff--I think the amount of glitter might not work as well for cloth like materials. 

Step 1: Base Coat

These are the boots I purchased to work with. I was hoping for a grey, but they only had brown in his size. 

First step is putting down a coat of the primer. I wasn't sure the suede could hold onto the sparkles, but the primer really helped create a good texture for the following coats. 

Comments

[flyingpuppy]

Love the Oz shoes!

As for the paint falling off at the crease, I've used porcelain paint on shoes and it stays on very well, with barely a crease where the foot bends.

[reasonwasoutforlunch]

That's a really cool idea. I'm thinking the rigidity of the glitter is a lot of the problem for what I did (it doesn't have much give) and was considering something almost gel like?

I hadn't really ever heard of porcelain paint, so I guess I'll have to get more familiar and test it out. Thanks!

[GarthBock]

Nice Instructable.......what happens when your boyfriend clicks his heels together 3 times and says "There's no place like a bar, there's no place like a bar...." JK

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Oh, this is great! I love them and I agree about the laces, I like the way they look too :)