Making Free or Nearly Free Shoes Out of Recycled Leather Found around the house!

I'm an artist and crafter. My family of three live on one income plus whatever I can manage to bring in with my custom jewelry design, leather work, and pottery sales.

One thing I've found some fun in, is finding ways to save my family money while crafting. One of my favorite YouTube Subscribers mailed me stuff he wasn't using anymore. Basically a fortune in leather working tools. And a bunch of scrap leather. It was the score of a lifetime. He got to see (literally) his old stuff go to good use... and he gets to watch videos of me using the tools he sent me to create cool useful things. But what I didn't know was that I had a lot of the equipment already and my own bunch old leather coats purses and things that needed to find a new life as something transformed.

So these comfy slipper like shoes are made of waxed cotton string, scrap leather, leather soles I cut from one nice new piece of leather, and these metal knobs that screw in as a closure at the ankle and a yoga mat for support. They even have a bit of arch support.

If you're a YouTuber subscriber of mine you've probably already seen this video.

In the above video, I show how I made some Post Apocalyptic Doomsday Mad Max Sandals... You know, this is how you make sandals if the Stuff Hits the Fan and it's TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it.) Or you're super fashionable and are into Dystopian Fashion. ( Dystopian is the opposite of Utopian. You probably already knew that but, my friends asked so... It's a world where society has collapsed and we're rebuilding the world out of the rubble. Like in Wall-e when humans end up back on earth... though they show that part only for a moment.)

One thing I fail to mention was that I added linoleum to the bottoms to the TEOTWAWKI sandals, which makes them durable but slick... so I'm thinking of getting rubber spray to make them more functional. Last thing I want to do is save a buck on shoes and then fall and break my @$$.

The only pieces I actually paid for were the rivets. I thought they looked cool...

And my most recent pair has some foam stuff they use for floor mats as soles, scrap leather foot beds, recycled scrap leather straps... all I used that cost money was some leather glue and those screw in metal posts. I think they are between $1 and $3 each from Tandy Leather.

Since this photo was taken I sanded the foam edge so it looks like these are store bought quality, pretty much. No one ever guesses I made them myself.

Hope you enjoy! Give me a heads up if you make a pair. I'd love to see what creative shoes you come up with!

Julie

Okay one more view... What do you think?!