Newspaper Sandals

This "upcycled" craft and step-by-step photos are brought to you by our resident nine year old!

Just before spring break, the third grade was learning about the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Released at last from the rigors of long days at school, our super awesome marvelous supercool girl (Can you tell who wrote that?) went to work on a fabulous recycled project, inspired by FamilyFun Boredom Busters.

Here's how to make Newspaper Sandals!

First, assemble your materials: tape, Elmer's glue (LOTS of glue), and newspaper.  Cover your work surface with cardboard or extra newspaper, and get out your smock.  All this gluing is going to get messy.

Take a sheet of newspaper and roll it the long way into a tube about one inch wide.   Tape the roll shut and flatten it into a strip.

Next, make a small fold at the end of the strip and tape it shut.  You're going to start your first coil at this taped end.  

Paint the strip with glue..

And roll the strip into a tight coil.  Tape the coil shut.

Tape another strip to the first coil, paint it with glue, and continue coiling.  Tape the coil shut before you add another strip.

Repeat, making your coil larger until it is about the size of your heel.  Make another, larger coil to match the size of the front half of your foot.  The two coils together should be about the length of your whole foot.

Tape and glue the two coils together.  Wrap another glued strip around the outside of the two coils, to make the outer edge of the sandal.

Trace the sandal onto a sheet of colored newspaper twice.  You'll need to cut out shapes to cover the bottom and footbed of the sandal.

Glue the shapes to the top and bottom of the sandal like so...

Now take another colorful strip of newspaper to be the strap.  Make sure to test the fit of the strap around your foot before you tape and glue it into place.  Then, wrap one last strip of glued newspaper all the way around the outside edge of the sandal to finish it off.  Tape as needed.

Unless you're a peg-leg pirate, you'll need to repeat the whole process again for sandal number two!

Let your sandals dry overnight before wearing.

And there you have it!  Your very own custom made sandals.  It's the next wave in eco-fashion!