I needed some sandals for cooler summer days, I try to avoid putting on shoes until I absolutely must because of my toes turning blue… So these cover most of my feet but still let in some air.
I experimented some more with using the batik technique for dyeing the leather of the uppers. First I dyed the leather ochre than applied hot wax with a paintbrush and dyed it over with red and again with cranberry. I repeated the process several times to get the look you see here.
I used lasts to make these sandals but you don’t absolutely need them, I ‘ve made similar sandals before without lasts and the leather molded itself to my feet after just a short time wearing them.
On the photo above you see some of the tools I use for sandal making like a stitching awl, leather shears, a rotary hole punch and a utility knife.
At the same time, I made the sandals above I made the ones below for a friend. There is less layering of dyes here, the soles are dyed and waxed only once using just two colours, ochre and cranberry.
Only water-based leather dyes will work with batik. I used red, ochre and cranberry from Identity Leather Craft.
For how to make any sandals you can dream of check out my eBook How To Make Unique Leather Sandals.
There is also my new eBook Handcraft Your Own Shoes And Boots. A Guide to Making Artisan All-Leather Shoes And Boots At Home for a bit more of a challenge.
Wonderful sandles is there a pattern for.
Hi, I have not yet uploaded this pattern but you probably saw that I have a sandal making eBook where I explain how you can make patterns like the one I used above using your feet as a guide. A ready-made pattern might not fit you perfectly as feet are all so different. It also includes the patterns I made for the sandals in the book plus soles.