How to Decorate Wellington Boots

Wellington boots, or gumboots, are quite popular footwear in the United Kingdom. Made of a green waterproof material, these boots come to the mid-calf and are often lined with a thick, warm material. While very useful and utilitarian, the Wellington boots are very plain looking and certainly make no fashion statement. You can change all that by decorating your "Wellies" with paint to create a fashionable look for any rainy day.

Use the sandpaper to roughen up the surface of your boots where you are going to paint. This will help the paint to adhere to the surface without sliding off as easily.

Decide on your design ahead of time before marking on your boots. This design method is permanent, so plan ahead before doing anything.

Mark off places not to be painted with masking tape, much like you would tape off edges of a room to be painted. Negative designs can be achieved by sticking shapes of masking tape on the surface of the boot, then painting over them. When the paint has dried and the tape is removed, the place underneath the tape remains the original boot color.

Use only oil-based paint pens that are fast-drying types. Watercolor pens will wash off as soon as your boot gets wet and acrylic paint will crack and flake off.

Begin painting at the toe of the boot and work your way upward. These pens are fast-drying, but if something should drip, it is better to drip onto a place where you already have painted than to drip onto bare boot surface.

Complete your Wellington boot design and allow the boots to dry completely for 24 hours before wearing them.