Studio Ghibli Custom Boots (Totoro)

So I have some boots, a branding iron and need to make some custom studio ghibli boots.

I love Studio Ghibli and one of my favourites is ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. The inspiration came after seeing @OnceUponaWorkbench do his Marauder's Map Tattooed Shoes (such a great project - https://www.instructables.com/Tattooing-Marauders-Map-on-Leather-Shoes/). This project can be done with any of your favourite characters from any franchise.

I wanted quite a subtle look and I am really pleased with the results.

Tools

Branding iron

Pencil or tailor's chalk pencil

Material

Boots

Practice leather patched (optional)

This was the first time I had used a branding iron so I wanted to get to grips with how it worked. There are numerous nibs I can use but I started with a plain fine nib. 

I used the leather patches to practice on and did some typical drawing exercises to see how this branding iron performs.

The line exercises are used by many artists to warm up and they are great for all skill levels. I used these exercises to understand the difference between drawing on paper and leather.

What I starting to notice is that each of the practice leather patches were reacting in one of two ways, it either charred the surface slightly or took the top layer off. I used a few different temperatures and the only difference I saw was how quick it either charred or removed the surface. Around 350°C was about right for what I was doing but I also set the temperature a bit lower for some of the outlines and then turned it up to char the surface more.

Before I started on the boots, I wanted to work out the best way of either drawing or transferring the images onto the leather.

1. Place masking tape over the image
2. Draw over the image with a ballpoint pen
3. Trace around the markings on the leather with a pencil or tailors chalk pencil
4. Use the branding iron to go around the pencil outline.

The design was probably the most exciting part of the project. Studio Ghibli logo down the back of the boot, one boot in Japanese and the other in English. A larger Totoro image on the outside of the boot and the smaller Totoro’s chu and Chibi, next to him and on the inside. I also included the cat bus on the tongue.

1. Find and print the characters/images you want to brand (I recommend using an 'outline' version).
2. Place on the boots to build up the design you want.

After you have decided on the design you want, it is just a case of working around the boots image by image.

1. Place the image you want in the position you want.
2. Place masking tape over the image.
3. Draw over the image with a ballpoint pen.
4. Trace around the markings on the leather with a pencil or tailors chalk pencil
5. Use the branding iron to go around the pencil outline.
6. move onto the next image and repeat.

I really enjoyed this project and really want to try this on some other items, possibly trying to shade the charring to achieve different effects.