Andrea's amazing shoe designs

Andrea tells us about how she makes her incredible shoe designs.

When did you begin creating these designs?

I started creating these designs when my two girls were younger. I began by creating designs based on the girls favourite bands. 

Soon people started asking the girls where they got their shoes from. One of my daughter's sent a photograph of her shoes to a magazine letters page and they asked me to do some more as competition prizes. 

After that interest grew as the girl's friends and people at concerts asked about them. 

Eventually there was so much demand for the shoes that I started selling them on ebay. 

How long does it take to create a design?

The time to paint them depends on the detail of the design. Sometimes, it is literally a case of waiting for paint to dry because they are done in layers to avoid colour runs. 

Simle designs can take as little as 2-3 hours, but designs with a lot of detail ight take a day, or even two days to complete.   

For custom designs, I find out a little about what the customer wants. If the customer wants an image of a band, their favourite lyric, quotes, or a character from a film or TV programme then I find images that fit the shape of the shoe and adjust them so the completed pair gels aesthetically.

What is your favourite design?

There have been so many! I think it was a one off pair for a Norwegian band called Team Me. I just liked the look.

What is your top tip for anyone wanting to create these sorts of designs?

My top tip would be use a white paint to get the shape of the design the colours sit better, rather than painting straight onto canvas. 

If anyone wants to buy some of your shoes how can they do this?

Check out my ebay and etsy sites. I'm always open to suggestion on design, you can email me andr.er.s@hotmail.com  

ebay
Etsy