Customize And Design Your Shoes With Sharpie Markers

Customize And Design Your Shoes With Sharpie Markers

Customize And Design Your Shoes With Sharpie Markers

Every individual is born original and has his/her own style and personality. This unique style of yours is what gives you an edge over other people. Just like our clothes and personality define us, our shoes play a vital role in making us stand out from the crowd. So, customize and create an innovative pair of shoes that make you stand out from the rest or simply order plain shoes and start designing on your own.

Freaky Shoes provides stylish shoes and gives you the chance to stylize your own pair of shoes or sneakers. You have an opportunity to design premium quality footwear that symbolizes your own self. Choose from a variety of colors, patterns, sizes, and designs, and let your imagination run wild. Freaky Shoes provides unparalleled service in terms of customer satisfaction, uniqueness, quality standards, creativity, and fast delivery.

Surely, you would love to include a pair of funky sneakers in your closet. Sharpie colored markers are an exciting way of adding that oomph factor to your footwear. If you also wish to express yourself through fashion, here is how you can color your shoes with sharpie markers. Your bold, fashionable, and trendy shoes will surely win you a few stares here and there.

Customize your Canvas Shoes with Sharpie

Instead of sporting the natural look like everybody else, you can try to create your own personalized and statement look that is unquestionably, uniquely, and truly yours. Of course, you do not have to be skilled artists or experienced designers to make it happen. A customized, statement look can be pulled off as quickly as from home.

Use your fashion sense and pour it all into your footwear like it is your very own canvas. You only need basic stuff, an imagination, and a set of vivid and bright Sharpie markers. With these easy and quick steps, you can design and color your sneakers and give them a whole new look.

Treat Your Canvas Sneakers like a Canvas

Canvas sneakers are a kind of shoe wear that will be outdated or fall out of style. Whether it's Keds, Chuck Taylor, or Vans, canvas shoes will always be the most comfortable and casual pair of shoes that pair perfectly with any apparel.

In fact, canvas sneakers offer a go-to-look for any kind of outing, and with sharpie markers, you can make them even more appealing. There is certainly no better place to design your personalized designs and creations than stark white canvas tie-ups or slip-on.

Things You Will Need

  • A fresh and preferably new pair of plain white canvas material sneakers.

  • A set of "Stained by Sharpie" Markers.

  • An eyedropper.

  • Rubbing Alcohol

  • White acrylic paint (discretionary)

After gathering all the necessary things, you can start mapping your mind with the design you want to create.

Step 1: Practice sketching on paper

Whichever design or pattern you wish to create, try practicing it on a piece of paper first. This enables you to create your personalized design ideally before applying it to your new sneakers.

Step 2: Choose a design that best defines you

Since this will be your own personal pair of sneakers, you should go for a pattern or design that speaks and reveals everything about you. Pick a style that matches your personal flair and that you would simply want to wear over and over again. Go for a design that you can carry off well. For instance, here are some fun ideas that you can experiment with:

  • Small and Intricate Designs

These include minuscule and elaborate designs and patterns like swirls, interlocking patterns, or floral designs.

  • Boast Your Fandom

You can include your most beloved band, celebrity, fashion, or sports logos. You can incorporate the lyrics of your favorite song, cartoon character, school crest, or characters and themes from trending tv shows and serials too.

  • Go Galactic

Another option is to think big and go wild with your imagination. Design out of this world universe themes paired with planets, stars, meteors, the sun and moon, and distant galaxies.

  • Original tie-dye looks

The classic tie and dye look is among the safest yet most sought-after looks one can hope to create. Regardless of whatever you do, tie-dye prints always turn out to be pretty. Try this far-out look and create amazing tie-dye designs that can be created instantly with Sharpie markers. Note this method requires no messy dyes and does not even require any cleanup.

Step 3: Outline your design

Now it is time to transform your pencil sketches on your canvas material sneakers. Use a pencil to sketch your desired and chosen design or pattern. Pencil lines can be erased neatly from canvas material, so even if you make a mistake, you do not need to worry. If there are a few smudged lines here and there, they can be easily covered with your Sharpie markers.

Step 4: Fill in the design with colors

After the pencil sketch is complete, you can now add life into your shoes with a pop of vivid, bold, and brilliant colors. Use the Stained by Sharpie set of markers and get fantastic results. If you want to make your borders, shapes, and words stand out, retrace over your pencil sketch using a fine tip or medium tip black Sharpie marker.

Outline the design two or three times for more weight/depth and extra boldness/thickness. Next, use a plethora of eye-catching colors from the Stained by Sharpie marker set and add life to your design. Go colorful with rainbow colors or go bold with dark colors – it is entirely up to you.

Step 5: Blend it all together

If you want to add a blended in effect in your pattern or design, you can use rubbing alcohol. The rubbing alcohol creates a magical effect as it subtly mixes all the distinct colors with each other. Use an eyedropper to add some droplets of rubbing alcohol to the spots where you desire a blended effect.

Let it soak and marvel as the colors start to spread slowly and intermingle with each other. The more droplets of alcohol you add, the better the blurring effect will be. Once done, let your canvas sneakers dry completely before showing off your art to the world.

You are officially done with your sneakers and can join all the other people with your new and enhanced, one-of-a-kind kicks that are bound to get you heaps of stares and compliments.

Permanency of Sharpie Markers on Canvas Sneakers

Inevitably the question of whether sharpie markers are permanent or not must be hovering over your head. The answer is yes! Once the dye has dried, it becomes permanent. You are quite unlikely to experience the stain from these markers to bleed into your socks.

If you worry about the color fading or spreading, you should try soaking your canvas shoes in a saltwater and vinegar solution to set the ink.

Other Ways of Customizing Your Shoes

Coloring your shoes with sharpie markers is an exciting and easy way of customizing your canvas sneakers. Still, there are different ways to change your plain old boring shoes. Why settle for a pair of typical shoes that you can spot five other people wearing in a crowd when you can customize your shoes in your own style and be more creative?

How to Spray Paint Shoes

One way of redesigning your plain shoes is to use spray paint on them. When you use spray paint on your shoes, add an additional coating of colors on the existing paint. This means by spray painting, you can transform your shoe in any color you want. Go for light to dark or vice versa.

  • Best for Leather Shoes

Spray paint is the best way to modify the color of leather-based and synthetic shoes. Choose spray paint based on the type of shoe material. Many spray paint brands create specialized paint that is workable on vinyl, leather, plastic, etc. Another option is floral spray paint, which works like wonder because of its flexibility and inability to form wrinkles or cracks.

Begin by securing your work area with a plastic sheet or a drop cloth. When working with spray paint, always select a well-ventilated room because spray paint contains strong fumes. Once your working spot is ready, you need to follow these steps.

  1. Prepare your shoes using cotton balls or a ragged cloth to apply a leather preparer, deglazer, or acetone. The utmost objective is to clean your shoes. Leave your shoes to dry.

  2. Use tape on all the areas that you do not want to spray paint. For instance, you would not prefer to paint the heels or the corners of the sole. Note that the spray paint is likely to seep under the edges of the loose tape. Apply the tape firmly to get sharp lines and a better-finished look.

  3. Place newspapers within the inside of your shoe to secure its shape and stop the paint from spreading inside.

  4. Shake the spray paint can thoroughly before using it. Hold it several inches away from your shoe. Spray them gently and evenly using long and swooping gestures. A thin coat is likely to provide excellent coverage and keeps the paint from dripping.

  5. Allow each paint coat to completely dry off. Apply an extra layer if required for full coverage and added color vibrancy.

  6. Let the spray paint dry completely for one hour after applying the finishing coat and before removing the painter's tape. Next, let the paint set for 24 hours.

  7. Once thoroughly dried, spray on a material-specific sealant. You can select between a glossy or a matte sealant, based on the look you desire. Let the sealant also rest for a day before wearing your spray-painted shoes.

How to Dye Your Shoes

Dyeing is another exciting option of giving your shoes a new and improved look. Dye transforms the color of your shoe fabric entirely instead of covering it. In simple words, a dye is a transparent color layer. This means that if your shoe contains any spots or blemishes, they will start showing after dyeing.

  • Use Dark Colors for Dyeing

Dyeing should only be an option when you want to go for a darker color. Note that since a dye comprises transparent coloring, the already existing color might still show. The results might often not be what you were expecting, and since it is permanent, it cannot be taken off. In a simplified way, here is how you can dye your canvas shoes.

  1. A white canvas shoe is a perfect option for dyeing. Any colored dye can work amazingly on a white base.

  2. You need to make sure to cover your working area adequately because dye spills are frequent and lasting. Use a plastic sheet or tablecloth to cover the area before starting the process. Use metal pots, large measuring containers, or utensils to prevent them from catching unwanted colors.

  3. Before readying your color dye, cover the areas you do not want to dye with a waterproof tape. Secure the tape properly along with the rubber corners at the bottom of your shoe.

  4. Next, get rid of the shoelaces. If you intend to keep the laces, you can keep the original color or dye them to match it with the new color.

Your canvas shoes can be dyed by one of the two techniques: dye paint your shoes using a sponge brush or submerge your shoes in a dye bath. The dye bath technique is quicker because all you need to do is submerge it in a dye pool. On the other hand, the dye-painting method allows you to have more control over how you want to apply the dye.

In Conclusion

You can create wonders out of a pair of white canvas sneakers. We have provided a basic guideline on how you can customize your sneakers in other ways besides using Sharpie markers. For a detailed and step-by-step guide for customizing your shoes using the dye or spray paint method, visit Xpandlaces

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Pete Oliveri

CEO / AUTHOR of Freaky Shoes®

Meet Pete Oliveri, the creative force and driving visionary behind Freaky Shoes. A New Jersey native, Pete is an accomplished American artist dedicated over 20 years to the consumer products industry, leaving an indelible mark in various domains such as graphic and packaging design, illustration, and product development. His extraordinary talent has earned him accolades, including the prestigious Bio Comics Award for his exceptional comic book content development work. However, Pete's ultimate achievement lies in his role as the Founder, CEO and creative genius of Freaky Shoes.

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