For the Love of Shoes -- Sanita and Bead Inspiration

You may remember me saying that due to nasty surgery on one foot (thank you over-training for an athletic event), I can now only wear Birkenstocks or Danskos.  My favorite line of Birkenstocks is the Papillio line, because I can rock out wearing sandals like these:

(Photo via Tobias Mayer, my favorite Birkenstock store)

I went to the mall today and wandered past a store and these shoes stopped me in my tracks.  At first, I thought they were Danskos, but the folks told me that Sanita originally made shoes for Dansko, but that partnership ended in 2007.  ANYWAY.  I was stopped in my tracks by these shoes:

(All Sanita shoe photos from Zappos.com)

I bought them as fast as I could yank out my wallet.  They're the perfect artist shoes, don't you think?  The pattern is actually fabric, like tapestry, and there are several colors.  I thought about these....

and these....

but had to settle on just one.

For now.

So how does this translate to beads?

Well, look at those colors!  Don't you see a bunch of color palettes there?

The Papillio shoes could inspire this...

(Lampwork beads and bracelet made by me)

The first pair of Sanitas remind me of this set of beads by Endangered Creations....

 

The second pair of Sanitas remind me of these beads by JC Herrell:

And the last pair of shoes reminds me of these beads by Crazy Lady Glass...

So next time you're out shopping, look at patterns in an entirely new way.  You never know what will spark your imagination!

Lori Anderson makes jewelry for Lori Anderson Designs and also writes the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She has a huge shoe collection.