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.
