Glitter Doc Martens

UPDATE!!!!!  DO NOT DO THIS!  My hard work was undone the VERY first time I wore these.  My students had a great time peeling the silver glitter off.  I've been working on getting it off the seams and everywhere else it won't easily come off.  I was quite upset about this since it took me FOREVER to get them done.  Currently, I'm trying to figure out how much silver glitter Angelus paint it'll take to redo them.  I loved the silver and will definitely be making them silver again, just no short cuts.  When I redo them, I'll share them here with my process and all.

I love Doc Martens.  I have multiple pairs.  This is my very first pair of 1540 8 eye boots in SUPER soft black leather.  I can't remember when I bought them but they're probably at least 15 years old.  They've been used to hike in, build houses in, lay tile in, walk thru mud in.  Suffice to say, they've been thru Hell and back.  I think they've held up pretty well actually.  Anyway, I've always wanted a pair of silver sparkly shoes.  I've looked all over the internet for years trying to get up the guts to just do it.  I found the occassion, Spirit Week.  I'm a teacher and I dress up for Spirit Week with me kids.  There, I said it.  It's out there.  :)  Anyway, I needed some super hero boots to go with my Mad Chemist cape and skirt I made.  So.... I made my boots sparkly.  I don't think they'll be limited to the costume tho.  With a pair of jeans, perfect for school!  I LOVE silver sparkle!

Anyway, this is how I glittered my black 1540 Doc Martens.  First, remove the laces and clean them well.  I've read that acetone should be used to get EVERYTHING off and down to bare leather.  I couldn't be bothered to get acetone.  So, I scrubbed mine down with water and a green sponge scrubby and let them dry.  This is what they looked like after drying.

 

Then I taped off my soles.  I wanted to keep them black.  I used little pieces of tape to get all the curves.  Take the time to put the tape on well, it's worth it!

 All taped up and ready.  I flipped the Doc Marten tag to the inside and taped it down so it didn't get glitter all over it.  I'm thinking I might just take the tag off and sew a silver ribbon there instead.

I grabbed a baby food jar that was kicking around and filled it most of the way with glossy Mod Podge.  Then I added in LOTS of the Martha Stewart ultra fine silver glitter.  I stirred it with a popsicle stick.  I added pretty much a 50/50 mix of glitter and Mod Podge.  I painted it on with a sponge brush.  A note on glitter- my shoes are REALLY flexible still and the glitter doesn't seem to want to flake off.  I think it's because it's ultra fine.  The larger the pieces, the more likely it is to fall off.

This is after 1 coat.  There was still quite a bit of black showing thru.  I chose not to glitter the tongue, once they're laced up, you don't see it much anyway.

This is after 3 coats.  I ended up doing 4.  3 probably would have been fine.

I pulled off the tape using an exacto to carefully cut the Mod Podge loose from the tape at the edges so it didn't pull the glitter off.  I topped it with 2 coats of just clear glossy Mod Podge and added my laces back in.  Done.  :)

Outside in the sun these shoes REALLY sparkle!  Can't wait for Spirit Week!