The Craftiest Workshop

I am enjoying making some seasonal decor items to sit on my display ledge located on the landing of our stairs going down to the basement.

One of these summer projects was a flip flop.

Growing up in Saskatchewan, in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s, the choice of summer footwear for most was something called thongs; the flip flops of today. It would not have been strange for me to ask my mom,

“Have you seen my other thong? I remember wearing it last to bike to the swimming pool. They are the tie-dyed rainbow ones. They are a little tight but I can still wiggle into them.”

Now imagine one of my four brothers asking the same question. Considering today’s current meaning of “thong”, it puts an interesting picture into your mind doesn’t it?

This was another project made with recycled piano parts. When I had cut the white and black part of the piano keys off for another project, I was left with the long piece of wood that would have been attached to the key frame of the piano. There is about six inches of wood that does not have any holes or metal embedded into it. I sliced all the usable wood pieces and lined them up parallel to each other. There are stains on the wood from things being spilled on the piano. I traced one of my work boots and then numbered each piece so I would know where it went when I cut it out.

Cut out each piece individually using a bandsaw.

Place them back in order and sand or snip to make sure they all fit again.

Starting at the top or bottom, glue each piece using wood glue to a thin piece of plywood or backing board.

I used a wooden shingle because it was in our scrap bin and, because of the angled thickness, it gave the perfect impression of a slight heel that a sandal might have.

Leave it for an hour or so to dry.

Cut the wooden backing all the way around the sandal shape again with the bandsaw.

Sand the face of the wood to remove any dirt or liquid stains.

Choose a fun summer saying in a font and size that fits.
Either print it out or trace onto tracing paper from your device.

From the paper or tracing paper, use carbon paper to transfer it to wood.

I always burn the edges of the letters first with my med knife burning pen then fill in with my ball tip burning pen.

Choosing burning over painting means having to paint around the already burned letters.
It is a lot more work.
If painting the letters, you would paint each piece of wood first then paint on the letters.

I continued the coloured paint down the sides of the piano key pieces but chose to paint the sides of the the backing shingle white.

The last step is to hot glue on the strap.

I chose a thicker rope that I had bought at Dollarama years ago.

Just glue down the tips and push any fraying edges into the glue.
Glue the middle of the rope together about 1/2 inch and then glue it down onto the wood.

The colours remind me of the warm ocean, white frothing waves and teal coloured water.

This colour pattern also matches my kitchen so I could choose to display it there as well.

Though I no longer wear flip flops as my go to summer footwear, I wish I could.
This flip flop piece is a reminder of those carefree days of my childhood summers.My youngest son tells me the current fad is slides; slip on sandals without the toe post. I had no idea they were called that. I feel so old.