A while ago, Jane posted a thread asking about using Sharpies on the canvas part of Converse Hi-tops. Well, this is the result of the project, and boy are we happy with it.
For more pictures (you should be able to see them even if you aren’t on Facebook)…
For those of you who are interested in the full story:
Mid-August 2009, Jane and I both took a Facebook quiz entitle d “What color Converse are you?”, and we both got the result of white. Somehow (the conversation is too buried for me to find easily) we came to the conclusion that we should both get a pair of white converse shoes, color them, and exchange them. A few months of discussion and designing later, the process began. The shoes were purchased, shipped, colored, and re-shipped. Jane designed and colored the left shoe of each pair, and I did the right ones. Excessive shipping fees later, we both have a pair of wonderfully customized shoes that we will wear and cherish forever [:
I’m thinking these are going to make for some great Converse-ations at different events.
One thing I would like to say about this was that it started out as a fun idea and was implemented. I’m very proud of that. We were somewhat competitive (if you can believe that ), but it was all in good fun. The other thing I would like to comment on is Kara’s attention to design decisions. In her FB album, she has posted photos of different design ideas she had, and she commented on how the decisions were made. She also put a lot of thought into the design process and preparation before she picked up a single marker. I had no idea how much advanced planning she did until she posted those photos last night. I, on the other hand, kept a lot of thoughts and ideas in my head and only put one part of a design down on paper - to decide how I wanted to do it and see if it looked as good on paper as it did in my thoughts. My planning was more along the lines of getting the materials organized and reserving time to focus on the project. If I were to do something like this again, I would borrow from Kara’s design process, I think. It is a good one.
I remember when Kara was talking to me a long time ago asking my opinion on the designs. I can’t believe they turned out so well (not that I ever doubted your creative abilities :P) ! You guys both did an amazing job!
And thank you very much for the kind words, Jane. I normally do what you do, just scribbling down ideas to see if they work (or I just randomly scribble, and see what comes out of it), but I figured that I should probably put a little more effort into this project. That, and I was pretty bored and pumped to get started. Those were drawn out and have been sitting in my desk since about a week after the concept originated, actually There might have been another design in there, but I can’t remember.
(however, the back of the shoes - the part with the names - was completely spontaneous, when I realized that I had nothing to go there)
Oh there I go, being modest again. I should probably stop doing that.
I’m going to blame you if our entire team, including the old fart mentors wear red converse this year!
I’ll ask them, but cant predict what they’ll say.
Maybe they’ll boot me off the team.
There might have been another design in there, but I can’t remember.