What Do You Do When You Love Your Boots...

...but they are falling apart?

Simple - make them into art!

Have you ever found the perfect pair of shoes or boots? I have. They were my Roxy Storm ankle boots. I found them in a little shop whilst on holiday in the USA  a few years back and I loved those boots.

Roxy 'Storm' Boots

Mr Crafty Hands referred to them as my 'Star Wars' boots. They were the best. I wore them day in, day out until eventually they fell apart. I was heart broken and couldn't bring myself to throw them away so they stayed in the bottom of my wardrobe until one day I had an idea.

It came to me when I decided to try out Finnabair's Rust Pastes for the first time. I wanted to upcycle an old chocolate box into a rusty looking old storage box (you know how I love to upcyle - remember the frying pan?). I like to add something personal or that has meaning to all my projects and what better to add than parts of my old Roxy boots?

So out came the good old black Pebeo Gesso and I gave the box a quick once over with that then started adding embellishments using Finnabair's Soft Gel Medium

Adding embellishments from my scavenger jar. 

To find embellishments I raided my scavenger jar. Everyone needs a scavenger jar! It's a jar or pot you keep handy and pop in anything you think you could use in a mixed-media project - bottle tops, buttons, broken jewellery, keys... 

Amongst my treasures (or as Mr Crafty Hands calls it - 'junk') I found one of those plaster, fragrance infused pomander things you hang in the wardrobe, beads from a broken necklace, crocodile clips, scraps of lace and much, much more. As you can see I stuck it all onto my box.

Lace, beads, photo frame...stick it on!

Can you spot the bits of my Roxy boots?

I decided, as the box was side opening with a hinged lid, I wanted it to look like an old book so I used the straps & buckles off my beloved boots to create this effect. I also added the 'Roxy' logo and zipper from the boots Can you spot them?

Once everything was glued down and dried off I grabbed the black Pebeo Gesso again and painted over everything.

I painted everything with black gesso

The next step was to add a little Pebeo Gilding Wax to highlight a few areas. I didn't want too much of this as I wanted the finished project to look very old and rusted but I thought it would be good if the tiniest bits of gold peaked through in places to give the illusion that beneath the rust was an elaborate, valuable treasure.

Highlights added with Pebeo Gilding Wax

I actually almost stopped at this point as I loved how the project looked but I carried on nonetheless and got out the rust pastes.

These are a set of 3 pastes in brown, red and yellow. Each has a slightly different texture and when used together create an amazingly realistic rust effect.

I started by stippling on the brown paste (this is the thickest of the 3).

Beginning the 'rust' process with brown rust paste

Then I repeated the process with the red paste.

Red rust paste stippled onto of brown

Building up the layers of rust

Next I stippled on the yellow paste. It was then a case of adding more red and finally more brown until I achieved the desired effect.

So here it is, my Roxy Storm Boot inspired, rusty old treasure book box!

Altered box using Finnabair Rust Pastes

Front of altered box

Side view of mixed media altered box

What do you think?

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If I have inspired you to try a bit of mixed media you can find the supplies I used in our online shop (just click the links) or pop in and see us at Craftsite in Cramlington, Northumberland if you are passing!

I would love to see your mixed-media art. Please share it on Instagram and tag me @craftsiteshop.