Tutorial #2: Casting Your Hot Glue Shoes... aka the REALLY exciting part!

Are you pumped!? I am! Today we're going to use our pretty oogoo molds from video #1 to make
ACTUAL.

DOLL.

SHOES...

Let's let that sink in for a moment. Breathe deeply and imagine a world free of eBay auctions, silicone tubes, cornstarch snowstorms, and expensive craft specialty products....

Can you feel it? It's electric.

But before I begin, a few questions about the last video:

#1: What are the proportions of cornstarch/cornflour to silicone that you use?
I use approximately a 1:1 ratio. The less cornstarch you can use, the better, as we'll see in this video. Too little, however, and you just have an icky, sticky mess. I don't like to goof around with silicone very often because of the fumes, so I always mix up huge batches and work quickly. I prefer to eyeball around 1/4 cup of each. Sorry metric folks... I live in the back woods and we still use the English system. I thiiiiink that works out to be around 60 mL of silicone and the corresponding volume of cornstarch.

#2: Do you use any special brands of silicone/cornstarch/hot glue/petroleum jelly?
Nope. I'm on a budget, folks. Like a hey! Let's just skip lunch at work today, k? kind of budget. So I just use the cheapest stuff I can find. So far, it's working well for me.

#3: Is hot glue toxic? 
Everything I've seen says that it's not, including the package it comes in. I assume, however, that if ingested you should probably call a medical professional and ask for their opinion. I can assure you that it is for SURE better for you than oogoo, but beyond that, I'm no scientist.

#4: Ack! Burns! I can't use hot glue without frying myself. Can I use a low temp glue gun to reduce the damage?
I've never found one large enough to handle the volume of glue you need to make shoes successfully. My mini one cools off too quickly to pour an entire foot at once, and I end up with lots of lumps and bumps. If you can find a mega glue gun that works at a low temp setting, PLEEEEAAAASSSSE let me know where you found it, and if they have a sales coupon. I would love to experiment.

Now that I've addressed the most common questions I've been asked, let's get cracking. These shoes ain't going to make themselves.

Cooling times for shoes:

Thick shoes (Sketchers style sneakers, etc) & boots: 11-13 minutes

Converse, thinner shoes (loafers, Mary Janes, etc.): 9-11 minutes

Very thin shoes, flip flops, bare feet: 8 minutes

So there you go! It's as simple as that. I don't currently have any pre-cast feet for sale because I have sold out the little bit of surplus I did have, but if you would rather skip the frying your fingers part and just grab a pair of shoes from me, just hop on over to my Etsy shop and put in a custom order.

Please tune in tomorrow for Part 3: Painting and sealing your hot glue feet! And as always, if you like what you see, don't forget to pin and share!