Temporary Makeover Shoes Using Tape

Do you have dress up items sitting in a bag, waiting for the next party, that you don't know what to do with? Or want shoes to match that outfit for a party?

Do you ever look at your shoes and wish it had something extra?

Do you want to make a present for someone that won't cost you a lot AND will impress?

Are you as human as I am and want a project that will allow you to change designs or give you your original shoe back?:P

Then look no further! For Halloween one year, I went as a skeleton and wanted my black shoes to match my outfit so I cut out shapes of bones from white insulation tape, arranged it to look like the anatomy of a skeleton's foot and stuck it on my shoes.

This got me thinking...what else can you do with tape?

In this instructable, I played around with using: A) clear tape and dress up items + "thingamabobs" as well as B) coloured insulation tape to make designs. In each step, I have tried to separate the two.

There are many many many many (did I mention many?) designs you can do as it depends on what your style is or what you need it for.

My hope is that you can use this as inspiration for your own desire and to show you that you can do it:)

There are a few pictures per step as there is a lot to show:P

Tools and Materials

You will need:

Clear tape
Coloured insulation tape (I chose black, red and white)
Scissors (I used normal classroom scissors, for more precision a smaller pair can be used)
Glue (superglue or craft glue)
Shoes (it must have a smooth surface not velvet or glittered)
Party items + "thingamabobs" of your choice such as steampunk items, plastic pearls, sequins, lace gloves or headbands, old buttons, bead bracelets, themed material pieces etc

Begin Your Design

A- The clear tape shoe (I use a steampunk theme for an example): The idea is that you can change your design so any items "glued to the shoe" are actually being glued to the clear tape.

Arrange your items on the shoe so you can get an idea of which part of the shoe needs to have tape on it
Cut and shape any bits as you see fit

B- The coloured insulation tape shoe (I used casino/ cards theme as an example):

Draw out on a piece of paper or by looking at your shoe, plan where you'd like to put the design

Base Tape

A- The clear tape shoe (steampunk theme example):

Place the clear tape onto the designated design area to cover the that whole area
As each piece reaches the bottom of the shoe or the end of the designated area, cut the tape using the scissors
Overlap the tape so that you leave no spaces otherwise you get glue on the shoe

B- The coloured insulated tape shoe (casino/ cards theme example):

Lay down the white tape in the thickness you want to look like cards, I laid it down from the back ace of clubs (based on design in the picture) card to the front, making the cards look as if they are overlapping therefore one piece of tape is half a card
I used 5 strips of white tape to represent 4 cards with the 4th front card having the width of two pieces of tape
As seen from the pictures, each piece is placed slightly higher than the piece before it and diagonally down the side of the shoe
As each piece reaches the bottom of the shoe, use your scissors to cut across the tape
For the whole card that is two strips of tape, try place them as close together as possible
The joker card on the other side of the shoe is 2 pieces of tape placed vertically down as close together as possible to look like 1 card

Finalizing the Design

A- The clear tape shoe (steampunk theme example):

Glue each piece down, firmly holding for approximately 1 minute
For the chain, I cut a square piece of black insulation tape and stuck it to the shoe
For the band of bracelets, I secured a piece of the black insulation tape around it like a loop to make a larger surface area to put glue on then stuck that to the shoe

B- The coloured insulation tape shoe (casino/ cards theme example):

Cut out shapes you want such as an diamond, an ace, a K and Q or half a spade or club
For the joker, I cut out a circle for the head and 3 joker-like hat pieces (see pictures)
When in doubt, cut a square of tape and cut your desired piece from that square