Youtube Doll Shoe Tutorials and Me

 I rescue 12 inch dolls, and rescue dolls rarely have shoes.Youtube is full of tutorials on making shoes for Barbie and similar dolls, where the shoes look usable and not bad. I think I've seen each one at least once. There are doll shoe tutorials for making shoes from paper, foam sheets, polymer clay, puffy paint, and more. Most begin with tracing around the doll foot.

Foam sheets: A tutorial suggests gluing foam sheets and bits together with hot glue to make shoes.  I cut a foam circle bead into quarters, hot glued it to a foam shoe sole, and hot glued the toecap to the front of the shoe. It looked strange and the arch was too low for Little Miss Revlon, so I kept gluing bits to the foam quarter bead to make it higher. Technically this would work, if neatened. I'm underwhelmed. Foam paper makes an excellent toe cap, but it has to be stuck to the shoe with hot glue. There is a lot of potential for the Loving Hands At Home look when I use hot glue.

The puffy paint shoe technique requires a steady hand and a whole lot of patience. It stuck to the parchment paper wound around the doll's foot and refused to let go when I tried to make shoes for a high heeled doll. For a 3 1/2 inch Mattel doll whose legs are hard plastic, I globbed on the paint in several layers, allowed the shoes to dry, and yes, they did peel off. They are a hideous color and lumpy besides. If it weren't for the lumpiness, I might buy another color and try again. Shiny puffy soft globs on a doll foot don't add up to shoes. The tutorial was aimed at children.

Hot glue doll shoes: After taping up the dolls' feet, I did manage to make form-fitting soles that agreed to let loose of the doll. The tutorial suggested that I cut a wedge of glue  to use as a heel, from the left over dabs that land everywhere. And just to stick them into place with a warm glue gun. To me, the cut glue looks awful, but it does stick. Smoothing it with a warm glue gun is frustrating. I really think I should have cut off a bit of the stick and sawed it down the middle. 

Hot glue soles call for a lot of smoothing with a hot glue gun. If you aren't careful, you can undo all your good work. And of course there are glue strings. Lots of them.

The tutorial suggests I put leftover dabs onto parchment paper and press the lumps into a sheet busing a glue gun.If they are actually lumpy, you need an iron, and make sure you are using parchment paper. Wax paper will not turn loose. Ask me how I know.

Much as I dislike working with it, I can see that glue stick glue can be good. Hot glue makes it easier to stick the heel to the sole at the right angle. If I gather up all the drips and iron them between parchment sheets, I might get a nice even material to make soles with. But putting a pattern under the parchment and adding melted glue might do just as well. Either way, I will still have to shape it to the doll's foot with a hot glue gun. 

Drawing a pattern on parchment paper and drizzling hot glue over it results in a sole that looks a lot like the corded soles for espadrilles. This has potential for me.

My favorite shoe base is layers of cardboard moistened with white glue and tied to a doll's foot for shaping and drying. I can even the edges with a nail file. A bit of shiny wrapping paper makes a nice insole, and elastic makes a tolerable strap.