Pointe Shoes

I am (was) a classically trained ballerina in the Vaganova (Russian) style and danced “en pointe” for 6+ years before and after college (when I took a ballet break). My ballet days are somewhat behind me – I still dance, but my focus is a little more on jazz now – but, ballet will always be a part of me, and I haven’t given it up entirely (see my Zombie Ballerina blog).

My first Pointe shoes were Capezio Aerial II’s (the old style – I don’t like the new style) and eventually I moved on to Grishkos or Russian Class. I kept my first pair for a long time and displayed them proudly, but eventually they died and I had to throw them out. When I moved home after college and had lots of free time to craft I decided to decorate a new pair to replace my first pair.

For one of our performances in high school three of us choreographed a dance to “The Phantom of the Opera.” We had pretty black costumes and wanted to have pretty black Pointe shoes to match. We bought some Rit and stirred up a pot of black Pointe shoe stew in my friend’s yard with her cat nearby to complete our witchy scene.

And after all the “Double double toil and trouble” we learned that you cannot dye Pointe shoes like that. The box of a Pointe shoe (the hard part that supports the toes) is made from rosin (tree sap) and melts in hot water (and the dryer). So we ended up with beautiful black Pointe shoes that were too small and way too mushy to dance on.

So, I had learned my lesson about dying and decided to try another approach when decorating my new shoes (from eBay). I bought some Rit and this time, made a watery paint and painted the dye on with a brush like watercolors. This allowed me to dye the fabric without ruining the shoes as long as I didn’t apply too much at one time to the box (it also came in handy when making my aforementioned zombie ballerina costume). It also let me do some neat things.

I was able to do shading and color variation – I used a bluish/purplish dye and I think I mixed it with some watercolors. Also, I added some glitter to give it a bit of sparkle. I also glued on some sequins, added a bit of pizzazz with some glittery puffy paint, painted the insole and added pretty lavender ribbons. This is how they came out:

I had all kinds of plans for different shoes, but never really kept up with it. The shoes now gracefully adorn the doorknob on my bedroom door.