Swarovski Stilettos - By Verity Vale

Start off with a plain pair of firm shoes, leather based best but a firm pair of fabric shoes can work too or strappy sandals work well if your only doing the heel.

It can take around 300 x4.5mm stones to do two heels and 100x3mm +100x 2.8mm flat stones to finish it off.
Time wise can take anything from 2-6hour for heels,depending on the pair of heels and size of stones, too small a stone and you will be there all night.

You will need -for Stoning a high heel- roughly for a size 4:
Flat back Rhinestones*: 1500 x 4.5mm + 100 x 3mm + 100 x 2.8mm for one shoe

*Swarovski Crystals can be found on line and I tend to use these as the quality is better and they give a better sparkle.

Glue : need a glue that dries clear and wont melt the stones if your using plastic, I use applie glue that the bead shop sells, but I might use a stronger glue UHU on the stones that get the most wear, eg toe and inside shoe faces that can rub against each other but its far more tricksy to use.

Cocktail sticks : Can chop the ends off for a blunt tool.

White tack : For the ends of the cocktail sticks...or you can use a cotton bud dipped in melted candle wax and left to harden.

Pins : Thin long dress making pins will do nicely.

Cotton thread : To help as a guide line.

For Spraying a pair of shoes first: Hobby can of spray paint/Duct or Gaffa tape / Box to spray in or newspaper / Tinfoil (bakerfoil) / Face Mask

Step 1 Masking Off:

If the shoe is not already the colour of the rhinestones you want to use, you may have to spray them with a hobby spray paint as a base colour (I tend to use a Plastic-Kote project paint from the paint isle in B&Q) that will work on the fabric of the shoe.

If they need soleing for grip whilst wear, best to take them to the cobbler first if they are new before stoning them as its hard for them to do it after and might ruin all your hard work. If you wear insoles to cushion your feet and the shoes are new?
Best to put them in now and walk around all evening in them as there is nothing worse than finding out later that they hurt like hell and all your work is to waste.

*Oooh top tip form my gran, you might want to cut out where your toes go in your insoles, especially in heels, so they don't cram your toes and will give them a bit of space over the insole lip to wriggle in the end, so you don't get the dreaded toe cramp at the end of the evening.

I want to use these gold shoes I am doing here for photo work, as well as wear, so I am spraying the base to match, other wise I would mask off the base as well as the heel for normal use.

You need to mask off the areas you don't want painted with tape before you start and give it a few coats so the colour is even. You can use masking tape, but it can tend to let the paint run if your a bit heavy handed with the paint, the tape gets too damp and curls up at the edges letting in any further coats added and a furry smudged paint edge.

A plastic coated sticky tape (I tend to use duct tape rather than electrical tape as it tends to work better) can mask off the inside of the shoe up to the inside seam to stop paint being on the inside of the shoe and then flaking off on your stockings when wearing them later.

Comments

[mommaTX]

How beautiful! Where do your get the stones from?

[linds808]

thank you for this tutorial! I have been looking for help with stoning my own shoes for my wedding and this has helped alot.

[winterfairies]

have u worked on more shoes? i would love to see more. beautiful work!

[carrienead]

Hello!!!

I am in Awwwwwww seeing what talent that you have and how gorgeous your heels are..Absolutely amazing.

I am so excited to have found your site! Thank you thank you thank you! So, I found a pair of heels that I LOVED, I did not buy them thinking that I will get them another time as I wanted to wear them on my wedding day. Now, I can NOT find them. I have attached a photo of what the crystals look like, they are Austria Swarovski crystals with a purpleish,matalic tone. The heels that I can no longer find I now want to make.

I was wondering if you knew where I could find these particular crystals. I was also wondering if you knew if the crystals would go on vinyle. My IDEAL heels for my wedding are clear heals with a vinnyl strap across the top of the top. Width wise, from the toes to the middle of the top of the foot.

Im attaching the crystals im looking for and am hoping you can give me some ideas as where to locate them. This will be the 1st for me when it comes to being crafty so Im a bit nervous but since its now winter time, I think this is going to be amazing....plus itll be most memorable since I actually made my ideal wedding heels.

The 1st attachment is the crystals Im looking for and the 2nd attachment with the clear heal is the kind of heel that I would like with the vinyl strapping where I would like to place those crystals.

I really look forward to hearing back from you!!!!!
My email is [e-mail]

Carrie Nead

[zomb13cat]

Preciosa stones can work too. they're identical to swarovsky and at around half the price depending on location.

[Verity Vale]

Yes you can use other brands, but under lights they don’t have quite the shine. As a brand stone they have different types,an Acrylic rhinestone, a  glass mould polished rhinestone and a lead crystal machine cut. The  Acrylic and glass ones are cheaper but they don’t catch the light as well. The difference is slight between Preciosa and Swarovski crystal stones, but I have seen shoes next to each other under spot lights of each type and the Swarovski do get more attention. If your just making them for fun and wearing to parties I would go for the 12 cut cheaper Preciosa, but if your using them on stage its worth the little extra for the 14 cut Swarovski.

[hollyxann]

I am sooo doing this!!
Where did you get the heels from?
I normally wear a size 4-5, so trying to find cute heels that fit is always a challenge.

[Verity Vale]

Weirdly enough I find cheaper shoes are normally more sturdily built and less likely to bend or crease with the foot, so the stones are less likely to pop off. These are a size 5 shoe from Premark and I normally wear them with a comfy gel insole taped in place high up the sole, so it doesn’t slip and with the toe area half moon cut out, so my toes don’t get squished. If you want to get the same affect but use less stones(cost cheaper) buy quite a few big 5mm stones with at least three other sizes and speckle them over the shoe with small gaps in-between (if you have sprayed the shoe the same colour as the stones then it doesn’t really show) and then don’t have to be so neat and it take quite so long.

[canida]

These are awesome! I'd totally break my ankle wearing heels, but the paint job and crystals look incredible.

[Verity Vale]

Why thank you!
But you could always do it on a flat pair of sturdy shoes.

~No ankles were harmed in the wearing of these shoes~
~Well not yet. that is;) ~

[yesican]

How perfect for ruby slippers. :)

[Verity Vale]

Yes Ruby Rhinestone Slippers what a fab idea! They are now next on my list to do after an Emerald green pair ;)

[Skyfinity]

What I was thinking! Never realized how tricky it would be to arrange the rhinestones that way. I can imagine someone starting and then being like "Wait..."

[Verity Vale]

Yep fairly tricksy..before you know it they are half way up your leg..Oooh err ;)

[mikeasaurus]

.. and no pictures of those shiny zapatos in action?

[Verity Vale]

Non señor ,I havent been able to finish them yet as the store ran out of stones and has to reorder for me..so they havent been taken out for a walk yet as they are still half naked! They will do though next week when done and I am in Las Vegas. Will post a pic then x