Tips on aging / distressing vinyl boots?

[E Williams]

So I'm working on some thigh-high vinyl riding/cowboy boots for a friend's Halloween costume... I've managed to get them together well enough despite my lackluster sewing skills, but they still don't have quite the right look- too shiny and new. The boots should be used/broken-in and slightly dirty (but not destroyed/overly worn).

The material is a brown vinyl. Does anyone have any tips and tricks for distressing? Think well-used cowboy boots, somewhere along these lines:

I'm planning to first go over them with some very fine sandpaper to remove the shine, and crumple them up followed by a heatgun to get wrinkles in the appropriate spots, but what's the best way to get some 'dirt' onto it? I have a feeling attempting a brown paint wash/drybrushing will just end up looking like smeared poo given the non-porous surface (even after sanding).

Thanks!

 

[Riceball]

I don't know how well this would work but maybe take them to the beach or a local playground with sand in it and rub them around in the sand a bit. The sand should scuff it a bunch and it should give it a random scuff look similar to if they were really weathered, at least I think it would. The only thing is that you'll probably have to spend a bit of time making sure that you get all of the sand out otherwise you'll probably go nuts as you find little bits of sand all over your house or on your feet whenever you wear them.

 

[E Williams]

That's a good idea. You're right that it would be best to be careful to not have the scuffs look unnatural. There are no sandy playgrounds near me, but I'll pay attention to not be uniform with the directionality of the sandpaper. Thanks!

 

[batastrophe]

Alternatively, you could buy some sand?

 

[Gigatron]

Several different grits of sandpaper and steel wool, with alternating layers of Fullers Earth powder (Indy fanatics use it to dirty up their gear).

Should get you the results you're looking for, in no time.

-Fred