Over a 3 day period of the summer of 2009, 6 girls constructed a pair of giant Converse High Top Sneakers. They all wear High Tops and felt it would reflect their style. The project started by taking a photo of one of the girls’ High Tops followed by scaling it to 6 ft. From there, armatures were made with metal fabric attached using zip ties. As stated by the girls, this part was quite hard and produced a lot of small cuts. It took lots of effort to contour the fabric to the shape they wanted.

Next was the concrete. I visited Alpha Stone in downtown Turners. Bob and Dan are experts at producing Concrete Tops. People should visit them to see the array of amazing colors. They gave me all the information needed to make a great concrete mix that can be applied in a thin coat. They also donated the expensive Latex liquid that is necessary for the mix. The fibers needed for the mix were donated by Dawn of Graves Concrete.

Applying the concrete and painting was messy and tiring, but snacks along the way made the job a bit easier. The girls wanted the sneakers put up in a tree at the park so I got a friend, Kirk Richardson, to climb the tree and help with the installation.