DIY: Customs by Cora

CustomsByCoraWebCustoms By Cora – D.I.Y. Sewing and Crafting

Anyone who knows me knows I have a costuming compulsion…sickness…ok, possibly a serious problem. Thanks to Pin Curl Magazine, I now have an opportunity to share some of my madness with you. I hope that I can give you some ideas and information that will help you find new and fun ways to express yourself and make the world a more beautiful (or crazy) place…Enjoy!

Here’s Looking At You…The Googly Eye Series.

We all know that shoes covered in rhinestones are amazing. But, what about another material? In the middle of creating some new costumes for our yearly Zombielesqe show, one of my dancers sent me a picture of shoes that had goggly eyes on them. WHAT??? Googly eyes? This must happen!

I should say at this point that you can apply this whole column to rhinestones as well, but for this project, I was using goggly eyes.

Step 1– Grab a pair of shoes. Anyone who knows me, knows I have an entire room filled with costumes I have made and an embarrassing stock of materials I think I “might” use someday. Patent leather shoes are always my shoe of choice for these kinds of projects. With patent leather, I have had the best luck with glue adhering to both the shoe and the rhinestone. Plus, they are really affordable.

Step 2 – Make sure the surface of the shoe is really clean. I use Clorox Wipes, but then I use them for just about everything including taking makeup off my face (Insert horrified look here).

WebSuppliesStep 3 – Once your surface is clean and dry, grab your supplies. In this case, eyeballs, a wax stick and glue. I used goggly eyes from Joann but I am sure you can get them just about anywhere and they are surprisingly cheap. My glue of choice for ANYTHING on a shoe or flexible surface is E-6000. E-6000 can be found in most craft stores. Warning: use E-6000 in a well ventilated room. The vapors can be pretty toxic, but, I have found nothing that works better. I use a wax ended stick from www.hotfixqueen.com to place the rhinestones/googly eyes. I understand that beeswax, museum wax and crayons also work. I’ll have to try that someday. But for now, I am sticking with what I have.

Step 4 – Pour out your goggly eyes into a small tray with sides. Anything will work, but I like a flat lid or something that will allow me to shake out the eyes/stones when they are not right side up. This flips them over rather than having to do it one at a time. I find this step saves me a lot of time.

WebApplicationStep 5 – Apply small dots of E-6000 wherever you want to put your embellishments. I do multiple dots at a time. Just make sure that you do it fast enough that the glue doesn’t dry before you get to it. Touch the top of the eyeball (yuck) with the waxy end of the stick and it will pick it up. Then gently press the bottom of the eyeball down into the glue. Try to get just the right amount of glue so it just barely comes out the sides. This will make the strongest bond.

Step 6 – Pour yourself a glass of wine and settle in. This is going to take a while…

Step 7 – Make sure when you are finished you give the glue at least 24 hours to cure and you will have an amazingly crazy pair of shoes!

But, I had leftovers….so…

WebGoogly Shoes and Bra

An eyeball bra!! I took a bra (again from that room of craziness) and got to work. Note: a hard cup bra works best for gluing on any embellishments. I used the same application process and a few hours (and glasses of wine) later, I had eyes down where we always say they aren’t. Get it?

Another warning: the early feedback I have gotten is that men are freaked out by boobs staring back at them. So proceed with caution…and awesomeness.

Until next time…xoxo Cora Vette www.coravette.com

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