Fashion Fix: Project Rhinestone!

A Couple of weeks ago,
I discovered, whilst surfing the fashion sites,
The above trainers.

I thought, 'hey they're pretty cool, not to everyone's taste, but I love a bit of tacky sparkle myself!'

Then I saw the price......
are you sitting down
( the answer is probably yes as you are on a computer!)
This particular pink pair
are a snap at just £250!!!
NOT

apparently

These trainers from StarSparkles by Pauline Clifford are all the rage in Hollywood
and worn by the likes of Paris Hilton...
who probably got them for free

Luckily their lowtops are a much more reasonably priced £130

OK so I know they are real Converse with real swarovski crystals,
but at that inflated price tag I'm surprised anyone has bought a pair

So I thought to myself, I could probably make a pair of my own,
and make them better!

So that is just what I did!

I started off by purchasing some Hi-top trainers on eBay
This particular pair are Kurt Geiger,
But I did go a bit crazy and buy two pairs by Converse as well, which I shall be transforming at a later date!

I read up on crystals and glue
I purchased some mid range crystals from eBay in bulk,
I thought about real swarovski, but they were pretty expensive, plus I wasn't sure how well this would work so didn't want to waste money

TBH I'm pretty impressed with the crystals I got, I didn't go the cheapest there were,
I made sure I got glass instead of plastic, as they shine better and stand up to the elements more

I also bought some super strong glue (E6000 Glue)
as recommended by one of the crystal sellers on eBay
Its industrial strength

Then I got Started
As these were sequined all over already
I decided to just do the toe-cap rather than a design up the side

I put the glue onto the toe cap, rather than onto the crystal
I then used a cocktail stick with double sided tape on the end to pick up the rhinestone and place it onto the glue

It took me a while to get into the rhythm, but after a bit i got me a little production line going

the glue dries super fast, so it took me a few times to learn to only put enough glue on for say 10 crystals at once, any more than that the glue has a film over it before you can get to it!

So here is the first shoe done!
I liked the way it turned out, I used 3 different sizes of crystals, so i could get better coverage and less gaps,
it also made it look less uniform so it wasn't in rows which I liked.

This is the finished Product!
I LOVE them soo tacky and bad that they are GOOD!

I'm now leaving them to dry for at least 72 hours,
as recommended by someone on eBay

and if they stay on well,
I shall be making many more pairs,
maybe even customise trainers for friends for Christmas

I'm also thinking of selling some on eBay!

Overall I spend about 3 hours on them
and spent £25 including the shoes and crystals
and I have stacks of crystals spare

so that's what I've been up to recently!
I shall show you if I do some more!

xXx

p.s, new picture!