How I built My shoes\

By Oona Carbonie

When the semester started, my Technological Innovations teacher gave us the choice of two different projects. We could do a group project in which we were supposed to build a bridge or an individual project in which we were supposed to make a pair of shoes. I had no idea of what I was going to do but I decided to do the shoe because my friend was going to do it and because I do not really like to do things in a group. I kind of like to do things how I like it and at my own pace.

So I first made an outline of my foot, the bottom and the side. Then, I went on AutoCAD to draw it in the computer. I finish in about three days because I always have to be perfect. I wanted the toes to look exactly the same. I also learned how to print, it was not easy. Next, I had to decide what kind of shoe I wanted to make. I decided to not do slippers just in case there was bad weather the day we were going to test their endurance. So I decided to do like socks on a sole.

I brought in jeans for my materials but I still didn’t know what I was going to bring for the sole. One day, I had notice two tires that Mr.Kaluta had brought in and thought that it would make perfect soles. Soles that would be comfortable and flexible. First, I concentrated on finishing my “big socks”. I cut the leg of children’s pair of jeans and decided to make a boot out of it. I sewed the end part so that it would look like socks. When I was finally finish with my “socks”, I started on the soles. Those took me along time, because it was hard to cut them out of a tire. I first traced the outline of my foot on the tire then cut it with a saw. I accidentally made two soles of the same foot, so I had to turn one the other way and use it like that. When I was finished, I realized that gluing the sole to the sock might not be enough, so I made little holes all around the perimeter of the sole (on the sole, like a perimeter) so that when the glue will be dried, I’d sew the sole to the sock. I also tried to make the shoes look more like a boot so I stapled cardboard like a ring then stapled it inside the neck of the shoe. This made it look more like shoes. I added some sort of stickers of different shapes all around the neck of the boots.

The day we went to test the shoes, I was kind of worried that they might not work, but they worked perfectly. I was able to walk the entire course without any troubles. But my left shoe was kind of loose. I made 770 steps in about 22 minutes.

AutoCAD :

http://www.mbhs.edu/~jkaluta/spring2002/932944.OC.shoe.dwg

Photo 1 :

http://www.mbhs.edu/~jkaluta/spring2002/shoe12.jpg

Photo 2 (with Carin):

http://www.mbhs.edu/~jkaluta/spring2002/932944.OC.shoe.jpg