About

During this day-long course, you'll design & create a pair of sandals for your own feet that will age beautifully and last many years!

The class will move through every step of the sandal-making process, starting off by customizing trusted patterns (or inventing new ones) to suit your feet and design preferences. Next we cut and assemble the leather pieces, paying close attention to fit, and finally attach the layers to a VIBRAM rubber sole.

Rachel Corry has a wide selection of leather colors and textures to choose from. Stylistically, almost anything is possible as long as its a sandal (open toe, open heel). Generally people choose to choose to make either a buckling sandal, a tying sandal, or a slide. Take a look at her website and Instagram to get a sense of popular styles but feel free to gather inspiration from wherever and bring it along.

This class is hard work: participants use hammers, utility knives, anvils, and get barefoot! 

Sandal-making is easy to continue at home with a few simple tools once you have the basics down.

Materials: All materials will be provided.

Skill Level: Universal.  All skill levels welcome.

Ages: Ages 14+ Welcome.

Bring a bag lunch. We have a refrigerator for people to store their lunches and drinks!

Instructor Bio:  Rachel Corry makes sandals and shoes in Portland, Oregon. She teaches sandal-making classes regularly in Oregon, California, and Washington. She believes that learning to make sandals is a great first step if you're interested in making your own shoes.

Rachel Sees Snail Shoes began in 2010. After meeting a clogmaker in the UK, Rachel became enamored with shoemaking and set out to learn all she could. She reports that she drew upon the wisdom of various shoemakers and cobblers to help her along the way.