Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Sandals for Miss Piggy

The straps on these shoes are made of narrow card woven band. I used cotton yarn for that, so it is a bit thick, but as Piggy isn't as realistic as fashion dolls, deviation from the correct scale doesn't matter.

I used modeling clay for the outer soles, because the straps were so thick that this was the best way to deal with them. This clay is the sort that dries on its own and doesn't need to be baked. The reason for using that kind of clay is that the other parts of the shoes probably wouldn't like the heat and the soles need to be in place while drying to keep the correct shape.

The clay soles won't stick to the inner soles as you can see. Still, it is important to have them in place while shaping and drying them, so you get the indentations for the straps in correct places.

When the clay soles are entirely dry, you just glue them in place (PVA glue works well) and maybe sand them a little, if the surface isn't smooth enough. In this picture, you can also see the purpose of those flowers in the back straps. They cover the ends of the straps which have been glued together.

Finally, I painted the clay parts and the sides of the inner soles and applied a coat of sealer. The heels are made of polymer clay and I mixed the color myself. It's a bit lighter than the soles, but close enough.


2 comments:

tinyseams said...

You are so clever and thoughtful in making these beautiful doll shoes! I love the idea of indentations for the straps! It makes a prefect fit! Air dry clay is a very good idea too! I am so happy to see another of your posts! I love your OOAK doll shoe blog so much and I'm feeling very inspired now! Thank you!

Tarja said...

Thank you. I'm trying to get back to posting stuff here, although the work situation might keep me busy for the next two months.