Heelychat, the forum for heelys, the shoes with wheels - View topic

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

Want custom colors on your kicks?? Well folks, I'm gonna give you a little step by step on throwing some color on your shoes. You can do this on anything... not just your Heelys, but pretty much ANY leather shoe (or belt, wallet, whip, mom's furniture....). Now I have to appologize in advance because I know you guys wanted a vid, but for the 2nd time in a row > my cam decided to reformat my card midway through filming. So a step by step DIY is all I can do for now. I'll try to get AT LEAST a pic by pic tutorial up by the summer. OK... on to the kicks!!!

1st you'll need to pick up a few key items.

* 100% pure Acetone (available at hardware stores > DON'T USE NAILPOLISH REMOVER!!! It's diluted)
* an old plastic bowl (not styrofoam)
* rags and some cotton swabs
* Q-tips
* rubber gloves
* newspaper
* Angelus leather paint >> NOT DYE!!
* white nylon brushes (nice assortment) make sure to get a fine and a chiseled
* a few days of patience
* a pair leather kicks or part leather kicks

The layout
Take a look at your kicks. Find the spots you want color and imagine the look you are going for. Remember that you will only be painting the leather portions of the shoes. Youcan use Angelus on other surfaces but it will not stick for long so I advise sticking to the leather only > and don't even think about painting the midsoles!!! Once you have a scheme in your head, hit up the turtle feathers website and buy your desired colors of Angelus leather paint. Remember that you can always mix to achieve custom colors BUT future touchups will be hard to do if you lose your custom colors. 1 small bottle will do 1 shoe if you are covering the entire thing in 1 color. If you're doing parts or multi colors, 1 bottle per job should be fine. If you plan on doing a design on the same panel of leather, plan ahead and do the light colors 1st. Ready to paint?? Haha... not yet. Check the next step.

The prep
This step is VERY IMPORTANT!! If you mess this up, the paint will not stick to the leather and will crack and your kicks will look like poop.
PUT ON YOUR RUBBER GLOVES FIRST!! Then, in a well ventilated area, pour a little 100% pure acetone into the small plastic bowl. Use a rag to wipe down the leather to get the waxy coating off. The original leather was protected from the factory with a coating to waterproof anf protect. That has to be removed. Make sure you get into all the nooks and crannys > that's where the Qtips come in. You'll know when the leather is ready > it will feel rubbery. Make sure the entire area to be painted feels like that. Now go over all surfaces once more and DON'T TOUCH THE LEATHER ANY MORE!! You don't want oils on it and yes... your fingers will ruin a finish!! I use newspaper to stuff in to the toe of the shoe to stretch out the leather a tad if toe painting is going to take place. It also helps to keep the shape when you get in the front areas.

The paint!
Time to get out the paint. Do your lighter colors first. If you run over into the area where the dark is to be painted, it will cover more easily. Before you open your bottle, give it a good 30 seconds of shaking. This will help mix the pigment up and make it even. When you crack open the bottle, you'll see a brush attached to the cap >> DON'T USE IT!! They suck. Use a good quality white nylon brush. Use a wide chiselled for broad coverage and a detail brusj to get in those tight areas. Use LIGHT COATS!! It will look like crap the 1st few coats > don't worry... it'll get better. If you apply too thick of coats, it will crack!! WARNING: Black leather will take MANY coats. I'm talkin about 6-8 coats of color. For brighter colors, do about 4 coats of white 1st THEN apply about 4 coats of color. Take your time painting and allow AT LEAST 45 mins of drying time between coats. Once you get the desired coverage, let them sit in a dry warm area for 24 hours before applying laces.

Get funky!
You've just put all that work into making your kicks look spiffy so why would you just use normal laces now?? Go get yourself some cool laces or do a custom lace job. Keep that extra paint sealed tight in case you bust and need to touch up some spots. Your newly painted kicks are waterproof and completely wearable. Don't worry about messing em up... you can always fix em again. If you want to try custom designs, hit up hobby shops and look for R/C car masks. Maybe throw some flames on em or cool lettering. To do this, lat down a base coat of color and let dry 24 hours. Then apply your mask and paint your design. Lift the mask and BAM!! Sick customs. Also, if you're REALLY crafty, you can use Angelus to paint the stitching a different color. It takes a VERY steady hand, but the results can be nice if you take your time.

Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 162

Joined: 10 Mar 2007 Posts: 164 Location: Austin TX

Woah that looks like fun.

Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 221 Location: Austin, TX

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

I should add a word of caution. Some colors are very transparent. I will try to find the list of how many coats it takes for general coverage on white but I can tell you from experience that RED will take MANY coats to cover a dark color. I'm on my 4th over black right now and they look.... well, reddish black!! I should've done a white base coat but I wanted to try doing it straight to black to see how much coverage it actually takes. White is a pretty opaque color so that's no prob.

Another cool tip is to mix glow compounds with the paint. You'll end up with shoes that will really POP under black light and will have a luminessence to them in low/no light. Glow compounds should be available at turtle feathers as well > or I'll find the other source for it and post it later.

Joined: 04 Jan 2007 Posts: 164 Location: stl

Thats awsome!!! I spraypaint mine. I sometimes use stencils that I cut out.But your idea rocks!!!

Guest

cool but........ TOOOOOOOO MAAAAANNNNYYYY WWWOOOORRRDDDSSS!!!!!!!!

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

Lol... kids nowadays. Should I make it into a 'books on tape' version?? OH!! Sorry > I meant 'books on CD' Laughing

Spraypaint will get you color for sure, but it will crack. Angelus is permanant leather paint. It's as close to the real thing as you'll come as a 'consumer'. It's waterproof, flexible, and looks awesome. Sure, you can paint em with anything > but if you're looking for a professional looking finish... follow those steps and you'll be an instant celeb!!! Cool

im making the books on tape versoin....lol.

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

Just finished Logan's up. We ended up changing color to black base/blue leather. He wanted blue anyway so it worked out. He want's those as his 'official' colors (the LoMac Sig model!! Lol).

That reminds me... maybe Heelys should REALLY have a few PRO models. The Merlyn sig model, the Coop sig model, the H2.... so on and so forth. Hell... you could just take their fav model and recolor em or use different materials. Then just get a signature on the tounge or heel panel... maybe a custom logo or something... Cool

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

Took a pic this morn > pics don't do justice. The flash brought out paint imperfections, but to look in person... they look perfect! (minus a few threads that need to be trimmed). The blue has more of a shine to it than the white and red did > I'll use a dulling agent on the next blue shoes I do BUT they look great for the most part. Threw in some white laces... BAM!! The 'Blue Torch' AKA the Logan McKeel signature model (although he hasn't perfected his sig yet so we didn't actually 'sign' them)

beutiful

i wish i had blue torch

those are soo awesome deez..u need to make some black and yellow ones

@ DEEZ MAKE THAT YOUR AVATAR, YOU HAVE TO so people can see it more.

IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL Crying or Very sad