I have this one pair of Birks that were my fave. Super shiny gold ones. I hunted for them online and adored wearing them until the day the mosquitoes came to get me.
Normally I use natural deet free bug repellant but these were big nasty Caribbean mosquitoes. The kind that give you fevers and leave softball sized welts on you. Or maybe it’s just me. I busted out the deet, sprayed myself and watched the finish on my beautiful gold Birkenstocks melt away.
My skin, did not melt away but I’m back to using lavender and geranium oils.
It’s been over a year and I could not bear to throw the Birks away. I wanted to fix them, and did a little research on glitterizing shoes, then decided to go for it. The process was surprisingly simple.
Here’s how I transformed the Birks back to gold and shiny.
Step One: Prepwork
Clean the shoes off. I used baby wipes. They worked great. Then I taped off all the areas I did not want to paint. This is tedious but necessary.
Step Two: Glitter!
Mix some ModPodge and glitter together. You don’t want it too gloopy and clumpy but you want it to have enough glitter that it will cover in a few thin coats. Try to paint it on as thinly as possible and be patient. This is a project that will take you a little while, painting on multiple thin coats with dry time in between. Cover the glitter and ModPodge with plastic wrap when you are not using it. I used a very fine grain of glitter. The bigger the glitter pieces the more dimensional your final result. I did not want it to look chunky. It goes on white and cloudy and dries clear. Don’t freak out.
After your glitter is fully dry, do one last coat of ModPodge to seal the deal. Let it dry overnight. Best to let this cure a bit before you wear them out, though I know you will be tempted to wear them right away.
Done!
If glitter’s not your thing, check out this Rose Gold Birkenstocks paint tutorial and stay tuned for other ways to refinish your old Birkenstocks
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