Upcycling
Customise your shoes with Sugru
Sugru Mouldable Glue is soft and malleable, but it’s also durable and waterproof enough to last outdoors. Since it turns into rubber after it sets, it’s perfect for fixing and protecting your shoes.
To personalise your shoes, all you need is some Sugru, a piece of tracing paper, some tape, a rolling pin, and, (most importantly), your imagination.
Plan your design
There’s a range of options available to you at this stage, and they require a little pause for thought. Do you want your design to blend in or stand out? Do you want it to match or contrast? Do you want one colour or several?
We’ll stop now. But have a think. What do you imagine?
Prepare your design
Once you’ve picked your colours, roll the Sugru into little balls to prepare them for application.
If you’ve chosen to go for multicolour, at this stage, you may want to think about how you’d like this to appear on the shoe. If you’d like a design such as a flower, place the balls in that shape. If you’re going for a coloured patchwork, keep them scrambled. If you prefer a pattern of colours, line them in an order such as ‘orange ball, yellow ball, red ball, orange ball…’ You get the picture.
Trace the Sugru
Now it’s time to grab your tracing paper. Put one layer underneath, and one layer over the Sugru balls.
Roll the Sugru
As shown in the video, roll the Sugru balls flat with your pin over the top of the tracing paper and then peel the top layer of the tracing paper off carefully.
Tape the shoe
Before you apply the Sugru onto the shoe, tape it first to prevent the Sugru sticking too far along or onto the fabric areas.
Apply the Sugru
Bring the tracing paper over the rubber section of your shoe and firmly press down again with a flat hand. After a good patting down, slowly and carefully peel back the tracing paper. For extra awesomeness, you may want to dip your finger into some warm soapy water at this stage and rub it over the Sugru to give it a firm, shiny, flat finish.
Wait 12-24 hours
We know you’ll be excited to put on your new dancing shoes, but you can’t just yet. Once you’ve taken away the masking taped areas to reveal a neat and compact design, 12-24 hours of waiting is required for the Sugru to set into a flexible rubber. Perfect for happy feet.
