shoe forms


seriously? shoe forms? yes, i have a suitcase full of old wooden shoe forms, all shapes and sizes.

many years ago in san francisco, i had lovely roommates named kim and nathalie who decided to move to france. we had a garage sale to help them lighten their transatlantic load, and i couldn't resist buying kim's collection of shoe forms. i don't recall exactly how or when she started to collect them, but she kept them in this round suitcase. i have been schlepping this suitcase of shoe forms around with me to my many different domains in the 15-20 years since.


so fast forward to last month, when my a-muse-ing friend candace posted a creative prompt about shoes. i went out to the garage and dug out the suitcase to see what i might do with one of the shoe forms. i really like them in their natural state, and some are probably considered antiques...but i found one that was super plain and a bit marred, so i decided to paint it with black gesso (click the pic to zoom in). i had this cool egyptian pharoah patch (i've always been inspired by ancient masks and other cultural icons) which fit the curve of the toe perfectly, so i used a gold leafing pen to doodle some lines on it....makes me think of the bangles song, walk like an egyptian.

i have always thought it would be so cool to hang the shoe forms all together on a wall, displayed in a big grid.  hmmmm...