PAINTING DANSKO

I took on a new project this week. I was asked by a dear friend  to paint her dansko shoes. Apparently, she is up on the latest and greatest with these wonderful shoes, and that consist of painting the shoes to give them even more personality! I have always love these shoes, they are comfortable and last for ever, so I was a bit stressed about painting them for the first time because I didn't want to be the one who ruined them - they haven't even been warn yet! The pressure was on.

I had two pairs to paint. One was suppose to have horses and was meant to be bright in color and the other was nature theme based with moose and the colors were meant to be more neutral based. 

I had never used acrylic leather water based paint before so this too made me extra cautious when painting because I didn't know what the paint was going to do. In the beginning I wanted to pull my hair out and thought how did I get myself into this! The paint was very transparent and watery. It took may layers to build up to the consistency of color that I was looking for.

The acrylic finish gave me a scare too. When I first applied it, it made the red look discolored and streaky- again I though I had ruined the shoes! I was extremely happy to see the finish dry clear and the red paint went back to the way I originally intended it. I will warn you when using this finish DO NOT rub too much because you can very easily smudge and rub the color right off.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into with these shoes, but in the end I was happy with the results. Now it's up to my friend to try them out and see how the paint holds up!

The best part of painting these shoes is that you can personalize them any way you want! I love that kind of creativity!  If you are interested in seeing more painted Dansko shoes you can always find a whole section of them for sale on Ebay. I've also been told stores from all over sell them too. Maybe you have even seen them!

If you are a fan of these shoes and like to paint I recommend trying it, be creative, and have fun! If you would like to hear more about my experience painting these shoes before you try it, just ask! I would be happy to help.