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ursulaI finished my mothtopus boots!
I started with red Doc Martens. Here they are after prep, which involved cleaning with an acetone-based prep solution to remove the factory waterproofing, and taping to protect the soles:
I actually bought both boys' and women's Doc Martens, in the same size. The boys' were significantly cheaper, and I was really hoping that they would turn out to be identical & I could gloat about the vagaries of fashion (and, in all honesty, have a spare pair of red boots), but actually the boys' boots had lower-quality leather and an unnecessary zipper, so I sent them back.
I painted an undercoat in white. I'm not sure I needed to do that, as the Angelus leather paints I was using are quite opaque:
About five coats later, I had a pair of gray Doc Martens:
I painted a mothtopus, and experimented with outlining it in silver:
I decided that I didn't want a complete silver outline, and painted over some of it in black:
The painter's tape was not entirely successful in preventing spillover. I sanded down the worst of the streaks, so at least they wouldn't be quite as bright, and then taped the boots up again and applied a protective finishing coat. If I do something like this again, I might look for some sort of masking fluid (this might also have been nice for the eyelets, though honestly those clean up with a fingernail). I am pleased with the overall effect, though!
I started with red Doc Martens. Here they are after prep, which involved cleaning with an acetone-based prep solution to remove the factory waterproofing, and taping to protect the soles:
I actually bought both boys' and women's Doc Martens, in the same size. The boys' were significantly cheaper, and I was really hoping that they would turn out to be identical & I could gloat about the vagaries of fashion (and, in all honesty, have a spare pair of red boots), but actually the boys' boots had lower-quality leather and an unnecessary zipper, so I sent them back.
I painted an undercoat in white. I'm not sure I needed to do that, as the Angelus leather paints I was using are quite opaque:
About five coats later, I had a pair of gray Doc Martens:
I painted a mothtopus, and experimented with outlining it in silver:
I decided that I didn't want a complete silver outline, and painted over some of it in black:
The painter's tape was not entirely successful in preventing spillover. I sanded down the worst of the streaks, so at least they wouldn't be quite as bright, and then taped the boots up again and applied a protective finishing coat. If I do something like this again, I might look for some sort of masking fluid (this might also have been nice for the eyelets, though honestly those clean up with a fingernail). I am pleased with the overall effect, though!