You can turn any leather boot into a color shifting, glittery chameleon masterpiece! This post is heavily inspired by SophieSophss “How To: Chameleon Chrome Color Shifting Shoes.”
You will need…
- 1 gram Super Chameleon Pigment (I used Blue/Purple/RedGold Super Chameleon from SolorColorDust)
- Angelus Leather Preparer & Deglazer or Acetone
- Angelus 2-Thin
- Angelus Neutral
- Angelus Finisher (I used high gloss)
- Preval Spray Gun
- Painter’s Tape
- Paper towels
- Hair dryer or heat gun
- Rag
- Cotton balls
- Paint brush
- Respirator
- Safety goggles
- Rubber/latex Gloves
- If your boots aren’t black: Angelus Black Leather Dye and/or Angelus Black Leather Paint
Step 1: Prepare your skates
Deglazing black skates Deglazing white skates
Left: Factory finish. Right: Deglazed.
- Cover up all hardware, boot soles, and non-leather surfaces with with paper towels and painters tape.
- Rub Angelus Leather Preparer&Deglazer (or acetone) generously over the boot leather with cotton balls or a rag. Let it dry for 15 minutes. Perform this step in a well-ventilated area and wear gloves.
Step 1.5: Dye and/or Paint Your Skates Black (Optional if skates are already black)
If your skates are a light color, consider dying and/or painting them black before spraying them for best results. Glitters and chameleon pigments show up best on a black base.
Dying Your Skates
I recommend dying light leather skates black first before painting them because it’s inevitable that the boots will scuff and a scuff to black will be less noticeable than a scuff to white. If your boots are leather, you can use Angelus Leather dye.
Dye applied on an angle 
“Skin” from too much dye 😦 
After buffing
- Safety first — wear a respirator, goggles, and gloves when handling leather dye. It is dangerous to inhale or make contact with your skin. It is also extremely flammable.
- Apply the leather dye to your deglazed boots using the provided applicator. A little dye goes a long way and less is more. Squeeze out dye from the applicator before applying. Apply one layer horizontally (and allow time for it to dry). Apply one layer left-to-right diagonally (and allow time for it to dry). And finally, apply one layer right-to-left diagonally. This will prevent streaking.
- Let them sit for 24 hours.
- If you put on too much dye, a skin might form. You can buff off this skin with a rag. (Canvas leather shining cloth works best, but I just used an old towel.)
- Make sure there is little to no color transference coming off your boots before moving to the next step. If there is still a lot of color coming off, buff them as much as you can, let them air dry for another day, and repeat as needed. Leather dye is extremely flammable so you need to make sure the dye is dry before moving onto later steps which require a heat gun/hair dryer.
- Follow the next step and paint them black post-dying to seal in the dye better and even out the color.
Painting Your Skates
Paint on a thin layer of Angelus Black paint. Let it dry. Then paint on another thin layer. You always want to apply leather paint in thin layers and allow them to dry fully to prevent cracking.
Step 2: Prepare your paint
- Pour Angelus Neutral in the Preval Sprayer’s glass base, filling up until the line just below the 2 ounce mark.
- Pour in Angelus 2-thin filling up until the 2 ounce mark.
- Safety first! Wear a respirator, safety goggles, and gloves because so you don’t breath in glitter pigment or get it in your eyes.
- Pour 1 gram of Chameleon Pigment/glitter into the the glass base.
- Screw spray nozzle onto glass container and shake shake shake! It’s crucial that the paint is well mixed.
- Try spraying the mixture onto a scrap. If nothing is coming out, try shaking it more or try adding a little more 2-thin. If the mixture is spraying on a little too liquidly or is splattering, try adding a little more Neutral paint.
Step 3: Spray spray spray!
After 2 layers of spray
- Make sure you’re in a well ventilated area. I continued to use a respirator, safety goggles, and gloves.
- Spray a thin coat of the glitter paint on the boot. Make sure you’re holding the Preval sprayer at an angle between 45°-90°. Spray it on in small bursts (as opposed to holding down the spray button). Do not cover the exhaust vent on the spray can.
- If you spray on too much by accident, blot it away with a paper towel before it dries.
- Dry the paint with hair dyer/heat gun.
- Repeat this 5-6 times.
Step 4: Seal the paint
- Coat the skates in Angelus Finisher with a paint brush. I choose high gloss to make the glitter pop even more. Finisher may look white as it goes on but will dry clear.
- Let them sit and cure for 48 hours.
- Take your skates to your local roller disco and wow everyone with your shiny new look!
Bonus: Matching Color Shifting Trucks and Plates
You can spray paint your trucks and plates to match. Check out Rust-Oleum Colorshift Spray Paint! Just like the color shifting glitter, this glitter spray paint is best used over a black base.
The Wheel Nicole 
These turned out beautifully!! I’m on the fence about painting my skates, and this makes me want to go for it :).
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I’m so sorry I missed this earlier! But I’m so glad to hear that 🙂 Did you end up painting your skates?
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Merci, i will try it on my Rookie’s. 1 preval spray is sufficient for 2 boots?
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More than sufficient for 2 boots! Good luck 🙂
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Ok! JUST DID IT and it’s AWESOME.
I used more than 1 preval because I didn’t know how to use it and wasted some gas.
I used another pigment that I found in my country (France).
I dyed my Toe caps to match with the boots.
And I would like to add reflective pigment (like the moonlight safety dance boot) but not sure of the result.
Thank you again. I will send you the result on Instagram.
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So happy to hear that 🙂 I’ve been so curious about how to make skates reflective as well! I know you can buy reflective heat transfer vinyl but I’m unsure of how best to adhere it to a skate boot and assume it wouldn’t have good longevity… Not as permanent, but an alternative option is making skate boot covers out of reflective materials!
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Did you every try spraying the plate? Looking for a clever way to protect threads, etc. Also, what did you paint/dye the sole with?
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Hi there! The most durable option for colored plates is powder coating, but you’d need someone to do that for you. (Sk8 Fantatics can hook you up!)
However, spray painting is cheaper, more accessible, and holds up decently well. I have not personally sprayed my plates but a few friends have, and they look pretty good even after significant skatepark usage. You can protect the threads by covering them with painter’s tape before spraying.
Unfortunately, I do not know of a great solution for changing the color of rubber boot soles permanently. I’ve seen rubber sole dyes out on the market, but they are intended for use with translucent, icey soles and I am not sure what would happened if used on an opaque sole.
I know many people who have painted rubber soles with with acrylic paint with decent results. But acrylic paint will inevitably crack and scuff with use. I saw that @rollerskatelethbridge on Instagram used leather dye on rubber soles and it looked pretty good! Maybe reach out to her for more info.
I believe leather soles can be dyed with leather dye, but those are less common and I can’t speak to the process.
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This is perfect!! Thank you for sharing. I am doing this! Which particle size do you recommend? I’m not sure which size to order
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Hey! I used SolarColorDusts Super Chameleon pigment, which only comes in one particle size option “Particle Size: 8-40 um.” I’ve played around with some of their other pigments in different sizes and pretty much any size smaller than glitter/flakes should work. The size differences will just result in different aesthetics.
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They came out wonderfully!!! Thank you for post l. The directions were spot on!!!!
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can this be done on plastic roller skates?
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Hey there! When you say plastic do you mean vinyl boots? Absolutely will work with vinyl boots! You’ll just want to prepare them slightly differently — lightly sand them and use an adhesion promoter first before applying the paint.
More info here: https://thewheelnicole.com/2020/08/23/how-to-prepare-roller-skates-for-painting/
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Hi I simply want to paint my white boots black? How do you recommend I do this process? Would I still need the spray paint for a nice finish?
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Hey! It will depend on if you have a leather boot vs a vinyl boot. Check out my other post on preparing skates for painting: https://thewheelnicole.com/2020/08/23/how-to-prepare-roller-skates-for-painting/
Nope, definitely don’t need to spray for a nice finish. You can get a smooth finish with a brush for sure. 🙂 The spray is only a requirement when using a chameleon pigment.
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Curious how the paint has held up over time ?
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Will definitely depend on what kind of skating you do. Unfortunately, I can’t answer as well as I’d like, as I sold the first pair I painted and haven’t skated in the pair I did for myself yet. The person who has the first pair uses them at the rink and the paint, inevitably, did scuff in the toes from doing splits, etc. but hasn’t had issues with paint cracking, at least!
I skate very hard in my Jacks with the holo backs from my other post, and it’s honestly held up better than I ever expected. The painted base color shows through in a few spots, but it looks fine IMO.
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