Man, I was just so tired of everything looking the same. You walk down the street, and it’s all the same brands, same styles. Shoes especially. Just… blah. I needed something different, something that was actually me.
It wasn’t like I woke up one day and shouted “Eureka! Poetry shoes!” Nah, it was way more random. I was actually trying to clean out my closet, you know, that once-a-year disaster zone. I found this old pair of plain canvas sneakers, yellowed a bit, but still wearable. I was about to toss ’em. Then, later, I was flipping through an old notebook, and I found some lines I’d jotted down, bits of poems I liked, some random thoughts. And it just clicked. Why not put that on the shoes? Seemed like a wild idea, but I figured, what have I got to lose?
So, that’s how this whole “poetry shoes” thing kicked off. Seemed like a crazy idea at first, but then again, most of my ideas are a bit out there.
First Things First: Getting My Act Together
Okay, so I decided I was actually going to do it. First, I had to gather my supplies. This wasn’t some high-tech operation, mind you. My list was pretty simple:
- Those old canvas shoes, obviously. I gave them a good scrub first. Used some soap, water, and a bit of elbow grease. They weren’t brand new, but they were clean enough to start.
- Fabric markers. I thought about paint, but markers seemed easier, less messy for someone like me trying this for the first time. I went for black, to keep it classic.
- A pencil. For, you know, sketching things out beforehand. I’m not brave enough to go straight in with permanent marker on something like this.
- And then, the words. This was the hardest part, believe it or not. I scrolled through tons of poems, looked at my own scribbles. I wanted something that really resonated with me, but also wasn’t too long to actually fit on a shoe. That took some serious thinking.
The Actual Doing Part: Ink to Canvas
Alright, shoes clean, markers ready, poetry kinda picked out. I started by lightly sketching the words onto the shoes with the pencil. This part took ages. I was trying to get the spacing right, making sure it flowed with the shape of the shoe. My back was definitely aching by the end of it.
Then, the moment of truth: going over it with the permanent marker. Talk about nerve-wracking! One slip and it’s game over, or at least, the game gets significantly uglier. I took it super slow. Line by line. Letter by letter. My hand was cramping up pretty bad. I even smudged one bit on the heel, then I tried to cover it up by making the letter a bit thicker. It kinda worked, kinda didn’t. These shoes were definitely going to have ‘character’, as they say.
I finished one shoe, then I had to take a break. My brain felt fried from concentrating so hard. I came back the next day to tackle the other one. I decided to use a different short verse for the second shoe, just to mix it up a bit. Why not, right? They’re my shoes, my rules.
Finishing Touches and What I Reckon
Once all the ink was dry – and I gave it a good long while, just to be absolutely safe – I thought about sealing them. Some folks online said to use a spray sealant to make them more waterproof-ish and protect the ink. I found some spray I already had for art projects, and I gave them a light coating all over. Hopefully, that does the trick and they last a bit.
So, how did they turn out? Well, they’re not perfect by any means. They’re a bit wobbly in places, the lettering isn’t professional grade, and that smudge is still there if you look closely. But you know what? I actually love them. They’re uniquely mine. Nobody else on the planet has a pair like ‘em. Every time I look down at my feet, I see those words, and it’s a little piece of something I like, right there.
It’s funny, innit? I started out just wanting something different from the usual stuff you see everywhere, and I ended up making something that feels, well, like a bit of wearable art, if that doesn’t sound too pretentious. Maybe everyone should try putting a bit more of themselves onto the things they own. The world would be a lot less boring, that’s for sure. Definitely beats another pair of mass-produced sneakers any day of the week.
