You can see more angles and the wiring on IG @jilanico

I used electroluminescent wire, but the battery life is bad. If I were to do it again, I’d try using LED filament.

How to Make Cyberpunk Chucks

Materials:

• 2x coin cell inverters
• 2x CR2032 batteries
• 2x electroluminescent wire in whatever color you want (I used red to match my chucks)
• 1x extension for EL connection
• Shoe Goo (clear color)
• Shoe Goo (black color, optional)
• X-acto knife with many, many extra blades
• Soldering iron and solder
• Shrink tubing of various diameters or electric tape (black)
• Wire cutter
• Wire stripper
• Masking tape
• Velcro squares
• Needle and thread matching the color of the shoe tongue
• Sand paper
• Chucks

Plan:

The EL wire will run around the outside of the sole in place of the black stripe originally embedded in the rubber, therefore the toe cap will not be included. The EL wire will run under the heel patch (aka license plate). The EL wire will connect with its power source via a black wire that will start at one end of the EL strip, bent 90 degrees upwards towards the canvas upper, then bent again 90 degrees to run along the black strip where the canvas meets the sole as it makes its way towards a vent hole near the arch. It will run through the hole to the top of the inner side of the tongue where we will Velcro the inverter power source. If the black wires aren’t long enough, we’ll use an extension. See reference pics on my insta.

Steps:

• Test out your EL wire: Make sure it lights up. Never turn on your inverter if it’s not connected to any EL wire or it could be damaged. One of mine didn’t light up, but I could hear the inverter whining (this is normal). Upon trimming the EL wire it started lighting up. The tiny inverter couldn’t light such a long EL wire until it was shortened.
• Cut out black stripe: Put a fresh blade on your xacto and start cutting out the black stripe around the sole (not adjacent to the canvas, but the stripe in the rubber of the sole). I cut in at an angle on each side of the stripe so the cross section of the “trench” or groove I was cutting would be v-shaped. Use at least 2 blades on each side of the shoe.
• Cut heel patch: Put a fresh blade on the knife. Starting at the bottom of the heel patch slice underneath to separate the patch from the sole. Go slow. Don’t remove the entire patch. Just go a little above the place where the black stripe runs under the patch. It’s now a flap. Cut a groove where the black stripe runs under the flap so the EL wire has room to run underneath. You will go through at least 3 blades on this step.
• Mask off arch side of shoe in preparation for gluing: Use masking tape to outline the groove you cut on the arch side of the shoe. Don’t mask all the way to the heel patch since you’ll want a say half an inch of wiggle room once the EL wire is glued so you can bend it under the heel patch “flap”.
• Apply glue: Squeeze some clear colored Shoe Goo onto a paper plate or something disposable. This stuff gives off fumes so be in a well ventilated area. Scoop up a small glob with your finger (wear disposable gloves if you’re worried about chemicals) and rub it into the groove. Scoop up some more if you need it. You should have a flat even coating of glue in the groove. Carefully remove the masking tape. You should now only have glue inside the groove.
• Glue half of EL wire: Quickly start playing an audiobook or Netflix because this part is boring. One end of the EL wire has a connector. That end should be closest to the toecap. Bend the connection wire 90 degrees so it points upwards. The point of that right angle should be placed at the toecap side of the groove and the rest of the EL wire run in the groove towards the heel. Use all 10 of your fingers to hold the EL wire in the groove so that it remains flush with the contours of the sole. Sit there like a statue. Enjoy your audiobook as your fingers begin to ache. When you begin to question your life choices, the glue should be dry enough to let go, I’d give it 20 min or so. Let the glue dry for a day before proceeding.
• Run EL wire under heel patch: Lift the flap and run the EL wire under the patch. No need to glue, the flap should keep it in place.
• Trim EL wire: using all of your fingers, run the EL wire through the groove on the outer side of the sole and hold in place so that it conforms to the contours of the sole. Note the point at which it meets the toecap and using scissors or wire cutters, trim off the excess EL wire. Don’t worry, you can cut it as long as it’s not powered on. Turn it on and make sure it still lights up.
• More masking and gluing: repeat the masking, gluing, and sitting like a statue for the other side of the shoe. Let the glue dry for a day.
• Glue Heel Patch: lift the flap and slather some Shoe Goo under there. Hold down the flap as the glue dries for 20 min or so.
• Soldering prep: First connect the inverter to the EL wire and make sure it’s still working. Note which wire from the inverter joins with which wire coming from the EL wire. You can even mark the wires with a dot of paint for reference. If you end up cross-wiring them, I don’t know if it’ll work, so just make sure the correct wires get soldered together. Measure and see if there’s enough wire to make the connection. If not, measure the deficit and cut out the needed length from the extension wire.
• Solder EL wire with extension wire: use wire cutter to cut off the plugs from the extension and the EL wire and use wire strippers to remove insulation off the ends of wires. Run the extension out through the vent hole. Pull the wires apart so you can run some shrink tubing over each side of the wire. If you want you can also run a larger diameter shrink tubing over the entire wire to cover both connections and keep everything neat. Just make sure it’s black. Push all tubing away from the ends of the wires so you can solder without them getting in the way or getting hot. Once soldered, slide the tubing over the connections and heat with lighter or heat gun. Pull the larger diameter tubing over the smaller tubing and heat to shrink. If you don’t have shrink tubing you can use electric tape.
• Solder inverter with extension: Repeat the above step to connect the other end of the extension with the inverter. Make sure not to cross-wire and ensure there’s enough length to let you place the inverter towards to top of the tongue. After tubing is in place, test to make sure it’s lighting up.
• Glue Velcro to inverter: use corse sandpaper to rough up the side of the inverter where the battery is inserted. Don’t rough up the battery cover but the housing adjacent to it. Apply a small amount of shoe goo to it and stick on a square of loop Velcro to it.
• Sew Velcro to tongue: determine where you want to hide the inverter on the inner side of the tongue. I placed mine long ways horizontal with the wire pointing to the side with the vent holes. Sew on hook Velcro where it lines up with the loop Velcro of the inverter. I just did a small stitch in each corner to keep it low-key.
• Glue the EL connection wire near arch: the connection coming off the EL wire and running into the vent hole is not currently secured. We will glue it down. I used black Shoe Goo for this, but clear is fine too. Use masking tape to outline the path where the wire will run from the EL to the vent hole. Slather on a layer of glue. Remove the masking tape. Realize you forgot to play your audiobook and scramble for that before the glue starts to dry. Use all your figures to keep the wire pressed into the glue and sit there for 20 min. Let it dry for a day.
• That was just one shoe. Now repeat everything for the 2nd shoe 💀
• Muffle sound: The inverter makes a high pitched whine. This is normal. If you don’t like it, remove the battery, unscrew and open up the housing, and cover the internals with hot glue and reassemble. That should muffle the sound. I haven’t bothered.
• Camo: I could have camouflaged the connection better with the sole by using white tubing or electric tape and maybe red tubing/tape where the connection comes off the red EL wire, but it was too late by the time the thought came to me. I might use paint to hide the wire more. You might not want to disguise it at all and embrace the diy cyberpunk look. Up to you.

fin