February 2013

As some of you may already know, Commando-M sneakers are about to re-launch! Commando-M were one of the leading New Zealand shoe companies in the 80’s (I’m pretty sure nearly every ‘child of the 80’s’ had a pair of these super cute sneakers) and I’m happy to report – they’re making a comeback!

Commando-M has already collaborated with leading shoe designer Kathryn Wilson and now Commando-M is collaborating with a selection of New Zealand Fashion Bloggers. Gurlinterrupted was lucky enough to be one of those bloggers invited to design a pair of Commando-M’s and you can now see my design and many others, on Commando-M’s Facebook page: COMMANDO-M’s FACEBOOK PAGE

Here’s a simple step by step guide to re-creating my sneaker design – A modern twist on the Oxford.

You will need:
A Pair of Sneakers
A Silver Metallic Pen
2 Paintbrushes – A fine and a medium tipped brush
Silver Acrylic Paint
Iridescent Mixing Medium (paint) this will create a true metallic silver paint
A small dish to mix your paints in
Masking Tape
Silver Ribbon
Super Glue

Guide:
Take a pair of white Commando-M’s (or whatever sneakers you are re-designing) and remove the laces.  Here’s a ‘before’ picture of my Commando M’s:

Draw on the design using the Silver Metallic Pen. This will enable you to map out your concept using the same hues as the paint you will be using.

Your design should now be drawn out evenly across both shoes – something like this:

It’s time to start with the Masking Tape.  Basically you want to tape around all the parts of the shoe you DON’T want to get paint on.  I taped up the eyelets, the edges of the sole and around the edging close to where I was painting.

Now mix together your silver acrylic paint and iridescent mixing medium and start painting very carefully around the dotted design using a fine paintbrush (when painting the areas further away from the dotted design you can move to a larger paintbrush).

Allow paint to fully dry before removing the masking tape.  Add your finishing touches…. Take your silver ribbon, measure out the ribbon to the same size as the shoelaces you removed earlier and cut to size (I also lightly burnt the edge of the ribbon with a lighter to prevent fraying) and insert in place of the original shoelaces.  Create a small bow using the same silver ribbon and attach a bow onto the back heel of each shoe using quick drying Super Glue.

VOILA!  Oxford style sneakers.

Ange x
A Girl Interrupted By Fashion, Beauty & Anything Pretty That Catches My Eye

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