Sharon Raymond
My granddaughter’s series of lines, circles and dots fascinates me, so instead of adding some decor to another pair of shoes for her myself, I handed her a pile of sharpies and the pieces for her size 5 1/2 shoes, rolled up her sleeves, and let her loose!
She was in a somewhat minimalist mood, but if she decides she wants to add more color to her shoes in the future, I’ll stuff them with a few socks so they’re somewhat rigid, and hand her the sharpies again.
I call these shoes painted with permanent markers “shoodles”. If you would like to make a pair of shoodles, order a cream-colored First Footsteps Shoemaking Kit, and gather up your permanent markers. Decide if you’re going to hand them to the intended wearer or an older sibling. Or employ them yourself – think loving thoughts and let the ink flow! The kits come with patterns for making shoes in larger sizes, so when you obtain some white or light-colored leather, your child can continue to beautify his or her footwear for years.
These shoes could also be embellished with rubber stamp designs – let the child doodle away, then help him or her select a certain area of their design that would look good repeated by making a little window from cardboard, and moving it over the design until the child says “stop!” Then he or he will get the sense of accomplishment that comes with having one’s art displayed and admired!
Send a scan of the design to www.simonstamps.com and have a small rubber stamp made. Older children might draw an object from nature, etc to put on a stamp, and will no doubt want to “help” you stamp it all over the shoe pieces. Or make a little potato or artgum eraser stamp – the possibilities of strutting around with art on one’s shoes are endless!
