Yeah, Red glass globs are not really red, just stained. Red glass requires real gold in the making! So you don't get it cheap except second hand, if you are lucky.
I think using clear on top of red will be good. But I don't know how to prepare shoes to survive in the garden.
Someone here probably does!
Kathy

I think ruby slippers would look gorgeous mosaiced with red stained glass which would hold up to the UV rays. You would have to cut them into little pieces to avoid jagged edges on the shoes. I'm curious about suggestions for preparing shoes to survive outdoors too.

Well, I'm not sure how long they will last, but here is what I did. I filled the red leather shoes with quik-crete and then I gave them several coats of polyurathane. Then I used GEII (heavily coating shoes) to glue the glass globs on. The shoes were fifty cents from the thrift store and it only took a half bag of marbles and some products I already had. It was inexpensive and didn't really take that long, so I will enjoy them while they last. Then I will think of something else. I think mosaicing them would be great, but not sure how that would work on leather either.
Frou

Thanks frou! That's exactly what I figured.

can you post the original photo you are describing?

i made mine with my nieces outgrown black shoes, spray painted them red. i bought a bottle of cheap red glitter...which i still have....LOL,and gotten lots of use out of it,too. i THINK i used spray adhesive and sprinkled on the glitter. they make spray glitter now.
however...when some of the kids were young, they would take the shoes from the garden and wear them! you should have seen me trying to run after them to check the shoes for snakes and spiders! and that made a lot of glitter fall off and cracks in the paint. they did last a long time, they're still out there, but a bow is missing off a shoe, most of the glitter. i'd do it that way again, only because i have all the stuff i need to make them.
and after all it is JUNK...so i'm not trying to put too much work into it. it did leave the kids with some happy memories. there are always more shoes in the garbage somewhere for me to make more:D
happy junking!
kudzu

Here is the original pic of my ruby slippers.
Frou

{{gwi:137248}}