How to Bronze Baby Shoes

Making your own bronze baby shoes will add to the sentimental value of this keepsake. You can purchase kits in your local craft store or online for making one pair of bronze baby shoes, or you may wish to get supplies from a plating supply company to create many bronze baby shoe keepsakes.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Baby shoes
• Denatured alcohol and rag
• Rubber cement
• String or fishing line
• Liquid bronze mix
• Camel hair brush
• Black oil paint
• Plaster of paris

1. Clean the baby shoes with a damp rag to remove any dust or surface dirt from the outside of the shoes. Follow up by wiping down the shoes with denatured alcohol. This will remove polish and residues from the surface and allow the liquid bronze to adhere to the surface.

2. To give the shoes a sturdy feel, you may want to fill them with plaster of paris. Fill the shoes with plaster of paris until it is about 1/2 inch from the top of the shoe. Allow the plaster of paris to set for a day or two until completely hardened. If you want lighter weight baby shoes, you may skip this step.

3. Arrange the shoe laces and tongue to look the way you want them to. You may wish to hold the laces and tongue in place with a drop of rubber cement.

4. Create a small hole in the tip of the shoe sole or at the heel and thread string or fishing line through it.

5. Make your liquid bronze mixture by adding metallic powder of bronze, copper or pewter to a quick-dry spar varnish. Once the mixture is like paint and has no lumps or powder settled at the bottom of the container, you are ready to apply it to the baby shoes

6. Apply the liquid bronze to the baby shoes using a camel hair brush. If you did not weight the shoes with plaster of paris, you will want to paint the inside as well as the outside of the shoes.

7. Hang the shoes to dry by the string you threaded through the soles. If you see dull spots, you will need to apply more liquid bronze after this coat dries completely.

8. Apply additional coats of the liquid bronze until the shoes have the shiny look you are trying to achieve. Clean the brush between uses, and you may wish to make fresh batches of liquid bronze when adding new coats of paint to the shoes.

9. Once the shoes are completely dry and there are no dull spots, you can make the bronze appear aged by adding a few drops of black oil to the liquid bronze and paint this mixture into the crevices of the baby shoes with a small brush.

10. Allow your keepsake to dry and remove the string.