Making Doll Shoes With Super Sculpey

I hope you were able to take a few minutes to read the recent article on this website by Little Reb in which she told how to make Leather Look Victorian
Boots right on her doll’s feet. That article got me thinking about all the other ways to make doll shoes that I’m familiar with, and which are fun to try.

One thing that’s fun is to make them from Super Sculpey, which is a Polymer clay. There is a Sculpey III on the market that is supposed to be the easiest to use and stays fairly soft until baked which causes it to harden permanently and take on a matte, bisque-like finish. Again, these are made right on the doll’s feet and then baked in the oven, so be sure to make these shoes before the legs are attached to the body.

I start by deciding what I want the shoes to look like and draw a rough sketch to be sure my idea looks okay.

Using a pencil, lightly mark center front and back of the foot, and where the top will end and where any seams will be.

You may be able to find just the color that you want for your shoes, but you can always paint them to achieve the desired results by adding shadows, stitching or trim, etc. It comes in forty four beautiful colors, so there should be something to match any outfit.

Soften the piece of Super Sculpey by working it in your hands, being sure to wash your hands first to keep it clean. A good trick learned in a sculpting class is to keep the softened ball of Sculpey in your left hand while you’re working. This keeps it warm and pliable until you need to use another piece.

A Noodle Maker will roll your piece of Sculpey to an even thickness. The more times you run it through the machine, the thinner it gets. This method keeps it more even in thickness than a rolling pin might, but rolling pins are doable. If you put each piece of Sculpey through the Noodle Maker the same number of times, it should be about the same thickness as the previous piece.

Once it is rolled, you can add texture if you like by pressing something textured lightly on the surface. Try laying a piece of lace on it, cover with cardboard and roll lightly with a rolling pin. Or press a piece of leather against it. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a number of interesting textures around your house.

The general size and shape of shoe soles should be determined before any of the upper is added to the foot. Set the foot on a flat piece that is the thickness appropriate for the style of shoe you have decided to make and trim around the foot leaving a bit of extra room so the uppers will rest on the sole when finished.
You can always trim them a bit more when the shoe is done if needed. If the foot has an arch, the finished sole should fit the conture of the bottom of the foot.

Cut a piece of the rolled Sculpey about the shape needed for a piece of the shoes, put it in place on the foot, and trim edges to fit that section with a scalpel or clay tool. Handle carefully if you have textured the surface.

If the shoe will have a tongue, cut and place it on the foot before adding the front pieces to give it the layered look of real shoes. It doesn’t matter if the pieces have small hollow places under them, like around the ankle bone, over the toes, etc. Our shoes don’t conform exactly and tightly to our feet, so a little extra room will just make them look more realistic. Just be careful not to smash them down accidently while working on another area.

When the upper looks like you want it to, set the foot on the sole you cut out earlier. It the soul sticks out too much, trim it carefully. Look at your shoes first to get an idea of how much sole should show around the bottom edge. If the sole is too small, you might try rolling it out just a tiny bit to make it a touch bigger. Once the soul looks right, press the foot into it a slight bit. If it doesn’t stick to the foot, work around the foot pressing a tiny bit of the upper unto the sole. Be direful not to leave an indentation in the upper that can ruin its appearance. Add a heel if appropriate.

You can trim the shoes with more sculpey cut into fine ribbons, or fine ribbons made into bows. You can put in regular metal eyelets to hold laces, or press a metal button or one with rhinestones into the area above the toe for an elegant look. If you want to see stitching, use a tracing wheel from your sewing box to get evenly spaced “stitches”. A perforated design can be made with the tip of one of your doll cleaning tools.

Follow instructions on the Super Sculpey package. Remember, if the Sculpey is very soft, you might get flat spots on the shoes if you lay them down, so you might want to brace them up so they don’t touch anything while baking.

The Polymer Clay Superstore online at http://www.polymerclaysuperstore.com
has all the colors of Sculpey and scads of tools for working with it. Check it out. And don’t forget to send us pictures of your finished shoes.