Dying my Shoes Green

It’s like painting the rose’s red, but dying. And shoes.

I bought a pair of white chucks a few years ago when Martin + Osa went out of business (they were the big sister brand of American Eagle) – they were my size and super cheap. So, why not? They didn’t really get much wear though, because I’m just not a white shoes kinda girl.

I wore them when I did the Color Run in the hopes that some color might make them more interesting… but they hardly got powdered at all in the 3ish miles that we walked.

Basically they just looked sad. And dirty.

The leftover fabric paint from my Brit tote bag was calling my name, but then I remembered that I had a couple containers of RIT dye leftover from my flannel sheets project.

So on a random weeknight when I got home from work I filled up a bucket with hot water, added in an entire container of RIT teal dye, some salt, and threw in my shoes to see what would happen.

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Here are the shoes after The Color Run… a little dirty and the laces are way too short.
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I filled the bucket with hot water, added an entire bottle of teal RIT dye, stirred it and then threw in my shoes. I left them there for about 45 minutes. (I wore gloves so I didn’t end up with smurfy fingers. Again.)
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Here’s what they looked like after I washed them out with lots of cold water (until it finally ran clear) and let them dry for a couple days. The dye turned the plastic on the toes and sides kind of greenish too, so I used some soft scrub on a paper towel to clean it off.
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Here they are with their final color and brand-new shoelaces!

What do you think – I think it’s a huge improvement but maybe you preferred them white? Have you tried to dye anything random lately?

 

PS. Yes, I know I owe you guys posts on my trip to Vancouver and I promise they’ll go up this week. I’m thinking about doing one on my packing strategy with pics of my trip outfits (and yes, I took pictures of myself in every single outfit… so obviously my poses were very, very stupid) and one with my Vancouver exploring/food thoughts. Anything else I’m missing?

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2 thoughts on “Dying my Shoes Green”

  1. I think the green looks really good. I have to admit, I am considerably less ambitious than you are! I don’t think that I’d ever think to dye anything! When I am bored I clean. Nothing like boredom fixing by running the vacuum!

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