Just look at these beauties.

The amusingly-monikered AngryRedhead put up a wonderful tutorial on Instructables, describing how to “hack” a pair of inexpensive pumps using spray paint and a substance called Sugru. I’d never heard of the latter, but a quick search tells me that Sugru is a type of silicone that can be used like modeling clay. It’s waterproof, self-adhesive to lots of materials (including metal, glass, ceramic, and plastic), self-curing, and dishwasher-safe. Suddenly I can think of a lot of uses for this stuff beyond adding horns to shoes.

Regardless, I just adore the shoes, particularly given the relative simplicity of the technique. I’d never considered using spray paint to decorate shoes, and I love the idea of customizing a boring pair of pumps so easily.

The Sugru appears to be fairly lightweight and won’t crack like polymer clay, so you could probably use it all over the shoe to create something like trailing vines (or tentacles).

I like the idea of pumps decorated with stenciled spiderwebs and a couple of Sugru spiders. You could also use primary colors and trick your shoes out to look like Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls.

Incidentally, the end of the tutorial also includes a brief look at adding horns to a pair of men’s sneakers, so guys can have fun with the concept as well. (Some matching his-and-hers shoes would be fun to wear out clubbing.)

(via CRAFT)