Okay, so today I tried to make some “wavy Vans.” It’s a thing, you know? People are, like, melting the soles of their Vans to make them all squiggly and weird. I saw it on the internet, and it looked, uh, interesting. Figured I’d give it a shot.
Getting Started
First, I needed some Vans. Duh. I grabbed an old pair of classic black and white ones that I don’t wear much anymore. I mean, if I messed this up completely, I didn’t want to ruin a good pair, right?
Then came the scary part: figuring out how to actually do the melting. I watched a couple of videos, and it seemed like most people were using a heat gun. I don’t have one of those. So, I went with the next best thing – my wife’s hairdryer. It’s, like, super powerful, so I figured it might work.
The Melting Process (aka Near-Disaster)
- Step 1: Prep the Shoes I took out the laces and insoles. Seemed like a good idea. Didn’t want those melting or anything.
- Step 2: Blast ‘Em with Heat I started blasting the soles with the hairdryer, focusing on the sides. The rubber started to get a little shiny, but nothing major was happening. I kept going, moving the hairdryer around to try and heat it evenly.
- Step 3: Uh Oh, Too Much Heat? Okay, this is where things got a little dicey. One part of the sole started to, like, bubble. Not cool. I panicked a bit and turned off the hairdryer.
- Step 4: Shaping the Waves I quickly grabbed a butter knife (don’t tell my wife) and tried to, like, push and mold the softened rubber into waves. It was… tricky. The rubber cooled down super fast, so I had to keep reheating it.
- Step 5: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat I did this whole heating and shaping thing over and over again, working my way around the shoe. It was slow, and honestly, kind of frustrating.
The end?
I did one shoe. and it is wavy. but it doesn’t look very good.
I am thinking maybe this needs more practice.
