This year I decided I'd throw together a Back To The Future Marty McFly costume. Come to find out Nike Bruins are tough to come by with all this new BTTF popularity thanks to the MAGS. I decided heck I'll just paint up a pair of similar Nikes. There is more to painting these shoes if you want to wear them more than once without paint cracking and falling off.
First thing is finding a similar shoe to the Bruins. I found a pair of Nike Court shoes at a Nike outlet store for 19.97! So if you have an outlet store close, I suggest looking there first.
Here is a list of materials you will need
Nike Court shoes
Angelus paint
Soft acrylic paint brushes
Acetone
Painters tape
Cotton balls
Q-Tips
Gloves
This paint is a must! Do not try to use anything else, trust me!
Prepping the shoe is the most important part to painting a shoe that will be able to handle daily wear.
Your first step is to mask of the areas of the shoe not getting painted.
Next is to apply the acetone to the parts of the shoe being painted. Wear gloves and apply with cotton balls or Q-Tips. What you are trying to do is remove the wax and paint put on by the manufacturer. If you just painted over this wax, the paint would simply crack and fall off because its not actually in the leather. You want to see the raw gray leather when you are applying the acetone. I find using a coin to scrape off the wax/paint saves a lot of time.
Once the wax/paint is removed you are ready for a base coat. More likely than not you will need a base coat of white to make your top coat look decent. Kinda like a primer.
Once the white base coat is dry, you are ready for the top coat of red. I used several layers of red making sure I waited for the previous coat to dry before adding more.
After the top coats of red have dried, you are now ready for your semi gloss finisher. Its a little milky but will dry clear. Paint of the finisher and let it set for about 24 hours before sporting your new kicks.
So there you have it! A cheap alternative to the Nike Bruin. I'm sure there are a variety of different methods to painting shoes but this one works for me. I hope this helps some folks! Good luck!
First thing is finding a similar shoe to the Bruins. I found a pair of Nike Court shoes at a Nike outlet store for 19.97! So if you have an outlet store close, I suggest looking there first.
Here is a list of materials you will need
Nike Court shoes
Angelus paint
Soft acrylic paint brushes
Acetone
Painters tape
Cotton balls
Q-Tips
Gloves
This paint is a must! Do not try to use anything else, trust me!
Prepping the shoe is the most important part to painting a shoe that will be able to handle daily wear.
Your first step is to mask of the areas of the shoe not getting painted.
Next is to apply the acetone to the parts of the shoe being painted. Wear gloves and apply with cotton balls or Q-Tips. What you are trying to do is remove the wax and paint put on by the manufacturer. If you just painted over this wax, the paint would simply crack and fall off because its not actually in the leather. You want to see the raw gray leather when you are applying the acetone. I find using a coin to scrape off the wax/paint saves a lot of time.
Once the wax/paint is removed you are ready for a base coat. More likely than not you will need a base coat of white to make your top coat look decent. Kinda like a primer.
Once the white base coat is dry, you are ready for the top coat of red. I used several layers of red making sure I waited for the previous coat to dry before adding more.
After the top coats of red have dried, you are now ready for your semi gloss finisher. Its a little milky but will dry clear. Paint of the finisher and let it set for about 24 hours before sporting your new kicks.
So there you have it! A cheap alternative to the Nike Bruin. I'm sure there are a variety of different methods to painting shoes but this one works for me. I hope this helps some folks! Good luck!
