Zentangles Mardi Gras shoes

Recently I had the opportunity to tangle some shoes for a friend who is part of the ‘Muses’ Mardi Gras crew.  They hand out (not throw) decorated shoes rather than beads.  I finished doing 6 shoes for her.

The first shoe I did was a black heel using a gold metallic paint pen for the tangle design I planned following the contours of the shoe.  I also tangled on the heel itself.  Then I used gold paint on the inside and black with gold specks alphabet letters to adhere the word “Muses”.

Then I did a light pink canvas shoe whereupon I followed the stitching to plot out my design.  A black Sharpie marker worked well on the outside.  I also painted the inside with black paint and used various colored Sharpies for decorating the patterned bottom of the shoe.  I later added black paint to the area of the bottom which is still gray in picture.  Again the word “Muses” is on the shoe.

I followed much the same process for the tan heel and the blue canvas shoe.

Finally, I was fortunate to tangle one of my partner’s baby shoes which she had just found.  A black Sharpie worked beautifully on both the shoe and the shoelace after being washed.

  

Making these shoes for the Mardi Gras Parade was a new and intriguing project for me.  I enjoyed the creativity and imagination needed to decide the pattern for each shoe so it flowed in a natural way with the actual physical design of the shoe.

I have used these pictures in both my Project Life album and for The Documented Life Project.  In addition, they are now a part of my partner’s memoirs.