1. Cover the canvas area in beeswax.
2. Heat it with a hairdryer until it melts to seal it in.
It really is that simple. I was afraid the entire time I was doing this, that I’d some how mess it up, because it couldn’t be that easy. But it was. Here are the shoes I got pre-waterproofing:
I ordered the bars of beeswax on amazon. A pound of them (5 bars) cost me about $8.
My handy dandy hairdryer. I love this thing. When my hair was long it could dry it in less than 10 minutes. Now that it’s short? It’s like 5.
I found that heating the beeswax bar with the hair dryer before rubbing it on the canvas was a slightly faster way of working it in since it was kind of pre-melted. It does tint your shoes a little bit – as you can see from the mild yellow cast on the right shoe below, but that’s my fault for not thinking of getting the more expensive clearer wax.
That being said, I don’t think it’s very noticeable now that they both look the same. Once your shoe is covered in beeswax, blast it with the hair dryer until the canvas absorbs all of the wax. It will bubble up a little bit and then wick back into the canvas, leaving a dry non-sheeny finish. With mine I did them in sections (the fronts, then the sides, then the backs), to make it a little easier. My biggest recommendation is to WEAR GLOVES. I got beeswax all over my hands and the residue wouldn’t wash off for hours.
To demonstrate effectiveness, here is some water sitting atop of my newly waterproofed shoe, and not being absorbed by it! If I were fancier I would have filmed pouring the water, or made a gif, but at the time the thought didn’t even cross my mind. Next I should waterproof my canvas work tote.
Have you ever waterproofed anything?
♡Em
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