In our present world of fashion, glow in the dark shoelaces have become very popular all over. Kids love to adorn their sneakers and other shoes with glow in the dark shoelaces because they just love to complete their look. But, many of them cannot afford real glow in the dark shoelaces that are easily available at a very high price. That is why, they like to make their own glow in the dark shoelaces at home.
Having shoelaces that glow in the dark is great for many reasons. They make a normal shoe look cool and fun. They can be used for finding your shoes during a power outage or when you’ve misplaced them. You can even give them to kids and use them for safety at night.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Materials to Use
It’s that time of the year when you need to start planning on how to make your costumes glow in the dark. There are a number of accessories that you can use to make your costume stand out. One of the most popular is glow in the dark shoelaces. It’s easy, inexpensive and fun to do.
What you need:
– A pair of white shoes or sneakers (preferably new)
– A pair of white shoelaces (the longer, the better)
– Glow in the Dark paint (available at craft stores or online)
– A pair of scissors
– A small bowl or container to mix the paint in
– Water (tap water is fine)
Step 2: Tie Your Shoelaces at the End
The next step is to tie your laces at the end. You can use a regular shoelace knot for this process or you can tie it in any other way that you feel comfortable with. The knot will help prevent glowing liquid from leaking out of the ends of your laces.
Step 3: Prepare Your Glow Sticks
Cut the glow sticks in half and pour out the liquid inside into a plastic cup. Be careful not to get too much on your hands or clothes because it will stain.
Pour the liquid from two of the glow sticks into a small bowl. Then dump it out into another small bowl or cup and repeat this process until you have used all four glow sticks.
Step 4: Cracking and Mixing the Glow Sticks
Take a glow stick and find the crack point and gently break. You need to be careful not to spill the contents inside the tube. Now, hold the container horizontally in one hand and squeeze out the contents slowly as you can.
Once all of the contents are out, use your other hand to cover the open end of the container. Now shake it vigorously for about 30 seconds or until you see a uniform color of light blue.
If you have several glow sticks of different colors, then mix them together in a separate container by breaking and squeezing out their contents. After that, mix the contents with another previously prepared glow stick solution.
Now, dump the whole mixture into your shoe laces and stir well so that they are evenly coated with glow powder. The laces will appear greenish-blue while they are in sunlight and emit a light green color when it is dark outside.
Step 5: Dip the Shoelaces in the Glow Liquid
Dip the prepared shoelaces in the glow liquid and make sure that they are completely covered with it. Leave them in the liquid for some time so that they absorb it completely. Remove them from the liquid and allow them to dry completely.
Carefully dip your shoelaces in the glow liquid. You may have to hold them down with a pair of tweezers so that they sink into the solution.
The first thing is used glow liquid, a lot of it got stuck on the shoelace and didn’t drip off. This created some really weird effects, which actually looked pretty cool, but it also meant that some of my shoelaces were going to be too heavy to lace up. If you want to avoid this problem, then as soon as you’ve dipped your laces into the glow liquid, quickly pull them out and wipe them off with a paper towel before they dry.
Step 6: Hang Them up to Dry
Wash the shoelaces with a mixture of detergent and water. Make sure to thoroughly clean them, rinsing well with cold water.
Hang the laces up to dry completely.
- Place them in a well-ventilated area, as they will be drying for at least 12 hours.
- Let them dry for at least 12 hours before moving on to the next step.
Last Words
The shoelaces were made with glow in the dark paint and then were washed with fabric softener so the glow would last longer. Even without natural sunlight to charge it up, a black light is still needed to make them glow.
