Okay, so I’ve been seeing these platform sandals everywhere lately, and I finally caved. I wanted to see if I could make a pair myself, you know, save a little money and have something unique. So, I started this little project.
First, I gathered my materials. This was mostly stuff I already had lying around, which was a bonus. I found:
- Some old, flat sandals that fit me well (these were the base).
- A thick sheet of cork (I think it was from an old bulletin board!).
- Some strong adhesive (the kind that works on everything).
- A sharp utility knife.
- Sandpaper (various grits).
- Some fabric scraps for decoration (optional, but I wanted to jazz them up).
The Build
I started by tracing the outline of the sandal soles onto the cork. I actually traced it multiple times, because I wanted a pretty thick platform. I figured I needed about four layers of cork per sandal to get the height I wanted.
Next, the cutting. This was a little tricky, because the cork was pretty dense. I used the utility knife and slowly cut out all the cork pieces, making sure to keep the edges as clean as possible. It took a while, and my hand got a bit tired, but I managed to get all eight pieces cut out.
Then came the gluing. I applied a generous amount of adhesive to each cork layer and pressed them together, one by one, aligning them with the original sandal sole. I made sure to apply even pressure. I actually stacked some heavy books on top of each sandal while the glue dried, to really make sure everything bonded well.
After the glue was completely dry (I waited a full 24 hours, just to be safe), I started sanding. This was important to smooth out the edges of the cork and make the platform look more uniform. I started with a coarse grit sandpaper and then moved to finer grits to get a really smooth finish. It was dusty, but satisfying!
After all,it finally comes out!Looks great,and very comfortable!
Finally, I decided to add some fabric to the straps of the sandals, just to give them a little extra flair.I have to say,I am so happy with it.
