Discussion on Official Homemade Boots Thread within the Boba Fett Costume forum, part of the Star Wars Original Trilogy Bounty Hunters category; Does anyone have an easy way to make cheap, yet
Does anyone have an easy way to make cheap, yet good looking boots? I don't want them to look like shoes covered with cloth though. Also, has anyone ever tried using converse all-stars to make em? I was looking at one of my pair the other day and noticed how much the back resembles the boots back. I was thinking of taking them apart and using them as a pattern. What do you think?
I found a boot that works really well... cheap too. It looks alot like the base other prop builders are using. I bought them at Wal Mart for $17. They are by a company called George. I havent gotten as far as to sew anything on, I painted mine so I can wear them for Halloween. They look good though. I plan on building off of them for Mardi Gras. Sorry... no pix, hope this helps though.
Made mine out of converse. I got them stiched together and a zipper put in. I squared off the toe with epoxy putty, and used fabric glue to cover them with fabric (the only part that was sewed wad the 3 paneled spat with black piping). I painted on the elastic tear drops and center stripe with fabric paint, made a smooth sole with some spray painted rubber stripping, and used bent polystyrene and some nylon bolts sharpened with a pencil sharpener to make the toe spikes. They look great and cost just over $100 to make ($80 of that was the stiching and zipper). I've had them mistaken for Cheng boots.
The only cost problem was having to shell out $80 to have a shoe repair guy put in a zipper and sew up the tounge of the shoe. Still, they cost less than a pair of Cheng boots. I dremeled off the excess rubber around the soul, and used epoxy putty to square off the toe. My mother helped out by sewing the three part boot spat with some left over vest fabric. You can find a basic pattern for this at http://www.bradleyfett.com/boots.htm I used fabric glue to attach the fabric to the shoe, and some rubber stipping painted off-white to finish off the soul. For the toe spikes, I used some extra ABS plastic and nylon bolts I made pointy with a hand pencil sharpener. I painted on the the "teardrop" on the sides, and used acrylic paint to get the color right. A little work, but they look great!
Here you can see the zipper.
I made my boots a long time before I even knew something like this place existed. You will laugh when I tell you what they are made of. They are made from leather, suade, cloth, aluminum, screws, and a tire! I started with a mold of my foot, then I covered the mold in clay and made the boot shape, then I cast that in plaster. I took scrap leather and covered the boot in the shapes I needed. Then I took the scraps off and made some templates cut out the pieces and stiched the parts together. I reinforced the toe, lined the inside and attached the sole, which is made from some heavy leather layered and stiched to a tire bottom sole. They are a bit tight but I can still get them on. Here is a pic
I've seen his boots in person, and they are pretty impressive, although they account for about ten of the seventy pounds that his suit weighs. Five minutes in those boots is like thirty minutes on a stair-stepper.
They are GRAVITY boots!
Very nice. What size shoe do you wear though? LOL Those look HUGE.
LOL! Thanks, but I just a 10 1/2. That's a small table, and I always get real close when I'm taking a picture. It's ALL about the details, man!
alas, my budget won't allow me to buy the MC boots, so i've been tryin' to find something suitable for conversion. I've found some Skechers boots that seem perfect except for the sole. Boba has the solid white sole and these have the regular sole with a heel on them....aside from this problem they'd be great in my humble opinion...can anyone offer any solutions or should i keep searching
Can you cut the heel of the boot off??? so that the rest of the sole is flush with the heel???
Take the boots to a shoe repair shop. They should be able to install a new sole that's pretty darn close.
btw, nice find! Now, how about some pics?!
Build up off of a pair of Vans sneakers. They aren't high topped but they've got the perfect, flat, white sole. I used them before I got my Cheng boots.
You'll take them and create the high-top area out of that stiff material you can buy at a fabric store. On top of that, you'll glue the alternating dark and light gray cloth strips. Also, you could use an old pair of Converse All Stars.
That's close to what I did for mine. I'll post a picture later. It was very simple to do.
The expansion joint looks good, but if you are going for accuracy, I'd recommend a few things:
<UL>
<LI> try and square off the front toe, at least the tip of the sole
<LI> try and remove the heel
<LI> paint the sole off-white[/list]
Those look more like stormtrooper boots, but if you follow some of the conversion tips listed above, you'll do fine.
kewl...thanks for the pic fix and the tips....i'm not sure what it was that i saw in these, but for some reason they jumped right off the shelf at me....i think with a little elbow grease i might make something of 'em.......
Any UK fetts looking for a good Sole to start with could do worse than check out Clark's shoe shops. They do a line of shoes called "San Diego". They're in the sale at the moment and you can pick up a pair for £15. They also do a line called Wallabee, but they're not in the sale. The sole is exactly the same though (see link below).
The shoes will need a whole new upper, but the sole looks to be spot on to me.
Here's a link to the Clarks website showing the shoes.- http://www.clarks.co.uk
OK so I got me some Clarks' "san diego" shoes with the good soles.
I spent about 4 hours taking them to pieces yesterday with a seam ripper and an Exacto knife. I've done it carefully so I still have the insole to use and I have made up a template from the leather.
My fingers hurt!
I'm left with a sole all on it's own (a sole sole, if you will ). Will post pics as soon as I can, along with further info.
These had better look good, or I'm gonna scream!
Si
I will be working on these boots soon, they are new and cost me $19.00 Canadian.
I will be using D peg for my boot darts.....will sharpen end
a little
Here is the latest on my boots.
I covered the leather boots with material using goop!!
Nice looking boots!I'll suggest to paint the sole and add the boot spikes and metal part on front, and you'll be good to go.
Robert
wow, hell of a nice job! I saw the black boots and thought, "you've got to be kidding me..." but wow, very impressive. They'd look great as they are and just adding the spikes.
If you want to put a little more into it you might use a quikplastic or something similar to bulk up the toe, making it more squared. You might also (you may be doing it anyway) put another piece of canvas over the black ankle part.
Otherwise they're still very impressive and certainly do the job as they are
Gotta weather them though hehe...
Phil
UPDATE 11/24:
Just finished another pair - updated the info below with a few more specifics than before....
I made my boots from leather zip-up ankle boots. I know they aren't exactly screen accurate (they're leather) But they ran me only about $25 each. I made two pair so you'll see two slightly different boots in the photos. I Started with a pair of black leather boots:
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/9.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/10.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/1.jpg
Painted them with gray latex house paint:
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/2.jpg
Then I weathered them with tempera paints (olive, black, and gray from a craft store). I used some very small black piping (fabric store) and trimmed off the extra fabric. I drew lines on my boots where I wanted the piping to go and added it to the boots using regular superglue:
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/11.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/3.jpg
I primered the soles with KILZ Latex sealer/primer house paint. Then I added two coats of white latex (not gloss) ceiling paint. For the spike mount, I used 1/2" wide X 1/8" thick aluminum flat bar (hardware store). I bent it in a vise (it's aluminum so it bends easily) Drilled holes for the screws, (first in the aluminum, then the sole) then I screwed the mount directly into the rubber sole of the boot:
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/4.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/5.jpg
For spikes, I used common pencil tips and glued them to the mount (used superglue gel). I also trimmed off the extra piping at the toe and sealed it with super glue to keep it from fraying:
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/6.jpg
Then I weathered the soles with the tempera paints:
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/11.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/12.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/13.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/14.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/7.jpg
http://www.TK409.com/images/fett/boots/8.jpg
The boots like nice enough to me. The colors are nice and close, the shape is right. I especially like the squared toe.
Very well done, and done at, what? 12.5% the going price for these?
Good job
Phil
those look pretty cool! I actually like the soles being a bit different - looks tough.
Those are sweet. You do an amazing job with items. I've been cruising your web site the last week or so. Doing a trooper with the tax return. As a mater of fact I just bought a cheap plastic gun to do your storm trooper rifle you just completed and posted over at the RPF. Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent!! :-)
The sole design actually made the boots look "meaner" - very well done!
Mardon
Thanks guys. The boots are GBX and I got them in a thrift store for $10. The pair with the squarer toe are Kenneth Coles - found on ebay for about $15.
Here they are. Unashamedly, I'll start by saying the soles were from a pair of women's sandals I picked up at WalMart. I completely removed everything but the sole.
On these soles, I sewed a one-piece upper, to create a high-topped shoe. To this, I sewed a piece like this _/ with velcro attached to the sides to create an "openable" tapered tube. So, to this kneee-high boot of canvas, I sewed strips of split leather in shingle fashion. I like the effect, and also use these with my Tusken outfit. The velcro opening runs nearly the entire length of the boot at the rear.
The top one is with flash, the bottom is without. These have been weathered heavily in darkish brown.
Quite... custom. Look more like tusken boots than Mandalorian boots, though.
Perhaps I haven't been to the parts of Planet Mandalore that you have to see what a typical pair of shoes looks like.
Anyway, custom means custom. This is what I wanted, this is what I made. Didn't know there were any rules to the whole "custom" thing. How are yours coming along?:p
Besides, this is what Mandalorian cowboys wear. You just need to get out of the city. :p
lol... You just have been doing custom paint (and gun) until now, you didn't change your armor, did you? Anyway, just can't imagine such footwear going with Mandalorian armor, but I'll have to see some pics of you wearing them. All of the boots I've seen have been on Concord Dawn, I haven't been to Mandalore itself before.
You guys truly rock! I'll say it again; I'm just doing this because I'm such a cheap skate. If not, I'd be buying-up the good stuff from our board artists. When I'm done, I'll be lucky if I look like the Jed Clampett of Fetts.
Here are the latest pics, painted sole then added metal hardware....
Those look great Fpoato, but how did you fill in the sole to make it even? Did you cut off the heel?
Thanks for the compliments!
I used a belt sander and took off heel, sanded sole till shoe looked like it was flat, and the sides of the rubber sole were rounded and i sanded that flat aswell. These boots
i bought at a Canadian Walmart for $19.00 canadian new!
I've seen jet-ski, water sports and wind-surfing boots that are very similar too. Kinda makes ya wonder doesn't it?
It does indeed.
I've tried many searches on the words "canvas ankle boots" looking for what the original boot might have been. The searches led mostly to boots used for boating and hiking.
Turns out the ones pictures above are described as "dinghy boots".
If they have a square-ish toe it's looks like it might be a suitable boot with a little modifying. They're not canvas. But since MC boots don't seem to grow on trees, the rest of us have to find something to wear.
Keep us posted Neil!
Cheers!
TJ
Here are some links to those boots:
http://www.sailgb.com/sshop/prod_info.asp?PID=390
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/argus/905zipboots.html
For about $50 (US) per pair, those aren't that bad of an option for those of you who don't have a pair of Boba boots. Although they aren't screen accurate, they arent't that bad (the first pair anyway). All you'd have to do is add the toe plate and spikes.
Interesting find!
Here's a couple more:
The soles and main shape seems very simillar except for the square toes.on many of these..
The dinghy boots dont look bad at all, specially for a custom mandalore and the price is great too.
I had heard that Walmart used to sell a decent base boot that could be converted. I need some names to help me in my Ebay searches for base boots. Any help would be great!
"Wallabee" style boots, look for that. There are alot of this style of shoe out there, and they usually have a sharp side sole, and some even have a real square toe to 'em. Good luck!
This may sound daft, but try using a slipper as a base boot..very cheap, flat sole, usually elasticated. I'm building a pair at the moment and they are looking good.
I saw some "Boot Rubbers" that slip on over shoes/boots at wal-mart that could be painted to be accurate. They were located near the "Water-proofing" sprays.
Bryan
Look at these. The soles are off, but just start cutting...
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/ecc...UTF-8%26sa%3DN
oops...
visit here...
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/xq/...st_display.htm
I am buying these...
$14 Dollars! Hey Chris, will paint stick to these? Rubber. LMK. John Link below to site...
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/xq/...qx/product.htm
Only size 5 though you must have small fett.
get it?
Umm, yeah. Oh well, I am trying. You know what they say about small feet...small....shoes! <-- I bet you thought I was going to be dirty. I am going to Wal-Mart now and buy some nighty slippers! May the Fetts be with us...Always!
That is a shame though. The best I could come up with to fit my feet was this
http://www.leatherup.com/product.asp...6-Harley-Chino
But I thought if I'm gonna pay 50 I might as well just get the ones from caboot, which i havent even ordered yet, i hope they dont run out anytime soon.
Here's my boots (I know, I know only 1 is finished- but I couldn't wait)
Keep in mind that they cost under 5 bucks total to do.
$2 thrift store boots
$1.24 for piping
spikes are pen tips,toe plate is leftover vinyl "for sale" sign, had the paint already.
Oh yeah, your eyes do not deceive you,the boots were purple.
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