Wearing a Map

I took some old canvas toms and mod podge them with pieces of a map. It wasn’t that difficult and took me about a day or two to complete.

If you already have pod podge then you can skip this step but for people who don’t this works like the real thing. Depending on how big or small the shoes are you may need more or less mod podge. No matter how much you need it is always a 3 to 1 ratio. Three parts glue for every one part water. Always keep the leftover mod podge in an airtight container, it dries very quickly.

For the shoes you need to do a little bit at a time or the mod podge will dry in between and not stick well. After each piece you must put another coat on the top to hold it in place. Overlap each piece a little bit and keep going a small piece at a time until both shoes are completely covered except for the bottom.

Overall this project took me about 2 days, a few hours of making and the rest drying time. Leave the shoes at least 12 hours or overnight to ensure it is dry. You can speed up the process by using a hair dryer set on the coolest setting.

I did another 2 coats of mod podge before using a waterproof sealer. If you use outdoor mod podge it is water resistant so you can choose to leave it like that but homemade mod podge and other types of mod podge need a waterproof sealer. You can use any acrylic and clear sealer. I also used a seam sealer because the paper for me wouldn’t fully attach at the seams. You could also attach a ribbon at the bottom to keep the seams hidden. Use hot glue or crazy glue to do that. This tutorial would work with any thin or glossy paper not just a map. Leave the shoes to dry for at least 24 hours before wearing.