Shoes Modifications
From Mod Mania
Shoe Modifications by Ling 3135570
Modifying shoes isn’t uncommon anymore, and it is becoming more and more popular. As simple as it could be adding graphic to the shoes’ external surface, or in a complex way changing the structure of the shoes, therefore alter the appearance and the functionalities of the shoes.
Following are some examples of shoe modification that I like.
The most common shoe modification is adding graphic to the external appearance of the shoes. Canvas shoes are suitable for this purpose. Painting, spray painting, permanent marker, sewing etc; you can choose whatever the way you like to do it.
Here is shoe modification competition held in Taiwan, following are some examples where the modification is no as simple as applying graphic on shoes’ surface.
The appearance of the shoes has been changed, but the purpose is to create a scene, and then use additional items complete it. The modified surface of the shoe became a location for particular occasion. It is like a game, you can play around with little figurines in this scene to tell what is happening there. There is choice to play around with figurines on the floor, as well as on the shoe.
It is common to put graphics on to the shoe, but rarely someone would want to build a scene on a shoe. The surface of the shoes becomes a potential space for you to create. It creates a three dimensional space instead of just two dimensional graphics. There is more interaction between the figurines and the shoes.
It is creative to come up with the idea to have speakers in shoes or to make the shoes able to play music. It can really help you to “dance with the music”. If you find it hard to follow the beat, then this could solve the problem. When the music comes out from where it is so close to your feet, off course it would be easier to interact with it and never lose it.
Here is a great example of shoe modification where the shoes became the charger for the mobile phone. This modification made the shoes able to charge the mobile when you walk around with it. You don’t need to worry if the mobile phone is running out the battery. Take a walk around or do short running, the mobile phone can be charged up so is your energy.
Combining phone and shoe is a fantastic idea. From many years back, it is already seen in the television series Get Smart, althought it wasn’t real.
As a shoe, you wear it on the feet, the lowest part of the body. Then isn’t it funny and weird to hold it up, and then place it close to you ear and “talk” to it? As a shoe, it holds you foot; as a phone, your hand hold it.
This is a very simple and different demonstration on how to use a shoe.
Instead to think about how to modify a shoe, well it didn’t take a shoe as a shoe, but as a container. It is getting away from an item’s original context and simply thinks about what it can be. It is like a coin, if you don’t see it as a currency then what it could be? It could be pieces of metal come in various sizes, shapes and graphics. It could become a button, or be part of an earring, a necklace etc.
In this example the shoe is a food container. Generally shoes are dirty and smell, would you use them to store the food? But from another aspect, shoes do share some similarities with food containers. They both come in different sizes, materials and style. For example bottles are good to store water; boots can do the same job.
These modifications changed the appearance and the structure of the shoes. It has not only added weight to the shoes, but makes it carries more weight in functionality. Besides fitting them on the feets, shoes could have more usages with creative ideas.
There are some additional examples and information on shoe modification on this page.
http://modmania.openobjectproject.org/wiki/Get_your_hands_on_the_shoes
Above are only a few of many examples of shoes modification. Why people so like to play around shoes? I think in many cases, it is a way to show one’s personality and interest. Nowadays people are more free and desirable to express themselves. From a person’s outfit we can get some basic understanding of this person without verbal communication. We arrange different clothes together to create different looks and styles, but with shoes there is no much to play around with beside shoe laces. Adding context to the shoes really make them unique and stand out. It is your shoes and reflects you. We all have done art or drawing class in the past. Every piece of work is your own creation. It is different comparing to solving a maths question, where everyone can come up the same correct answer. Now just move your creation from paper to the shoes. The surfaces of shoes are not big, so you don’t need to put in a great amount of work but it can really give it a new look.
You can put image of you favourite cartoon character, animal, flower etc on you shoes. If you like graffiti so much, then why no put some on you shoes? The result doesn’t have to be perfect, because it is about you. It is you own work, as long as you know what it means to you, appreciation of the effort and the experience is far more important than the look of it.
In our Mod Mania class, Kevin, Simone and I all tried to modify shoes. Simone painted a shoe and put some stickers on; Kevin tried to put speakers into a shoe and glued acrylic diamond on the shoes. I just want to do a simple one to have fun, so I used permanent maker to put my name in Chinese on the shoes. When you see there are Chinese characters on my shoe, without asking you could assume I have some Chinese background. But to me it is not just Chinese characters; it is my name in Chinese in a particular font of Chinese calligraphy and it common colour black. Usually people put drawing or pattern on the shoes, why did I use my own name? My parents and brothers also asked me that question. To me it is my name, to others it is not always be. Whether if you do or don’t understand that Chinese character, you wouldn’t know it is my name. It is not like English name, where a name usually only have the context as a name. When you see the term Michael, you directly know it is a person’s name. In Chinese it is different, each character has its own meaning, and one’s name is a combination of different meaning of words. Beside from that, the main reason I used my name is that, it is my shoes. If someone asks me how can I show that a pair shoe is mine? I can say they have my name on it!
It could just simply be a Chinese character to others, but it means more to me. As long as I know the context in it, it is enough. It is my shoes, it is about me!
With current technology, communications become so much easy and convenient. If you want to modify you shoes, but don’t know where to start and the material it needs, there are always information online for you to reference. Internet is a great way to share and communicate ideas and experiences. There are online forums, video clips, web pages etc about how to modify shoes. You can see how people from different interests and backgrounds express their ideas and the techniques been used. It is a great way to learn and get aspiration, also sharing you own thoughts and experiences.
Here, I would like to talk about Chinese grass shoes.
Nowadays people pay more attention to sustainability and natural resources. When we were discussing shoe modification in class, I thought of those Chinese grass shoes. The history of it goes back thousand of years but I was aware of it because of the Long March of Chinese Red Army. Chinese Soldiers during that time couldn’t always afford better shoes and grass shoes were much easy to get and more appropriate for travelling. The term “grass shoes” often appear in songs about Chinese soldiers during that particular time.
Nowadays grass shoes are still available, but they have changed to suite people’s aesthetic sense Literally grass shoes are shoes made of natural grass plants. There are many advantages of grass shoes, let me point out some. Firstly it is using natural common materials, during making process, there is not chemical involved and can be purely hand made. They are very light and soft, which makes it comfortable to wear during summer. They are not slippery and absorb swear; and more they could message your feet to some extend. You can wash grass shoes, but just don’t leave them too long in the water. Many people buy grass shoes, not only to wear but also take it as a handicraft and display in the house
References
http://www.natureshoe.cn/web/style/default.asp?cmpid=330
http://shoes.skyim.com/7/034842.html
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/Files/shoes.htm
http://www.myairshoes.com/nike/nike-graffiti-court-force-hi.html
http://silver-surfer1.stumbleupon.com/tag/painting/
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/23834612/c/94714.html
http://www.techtickerblog.com/2006/09/09/charge-cell-phone-with-your-legs/
