Making pantomime shoes

Here's a quick and dirty way to knock out a pair of comedy shoes. In this case for a pantomime giant.  This is part of a performance puppet/costume. More on that in a later post...

The shoe fits over existing shoes, and can be secured if required with black tape.



The basic structure is based on a corrugated cardboard base-board that is folded at the shoe end to make a strong structure. This is fairly roughly stapled. Strength is added later with gaffer tape.



To make the shape more rounded, bubble wrap is added. The bigger the bubble size, the lighter the structure, but the more noticeably bumby the texture.



The outside later is black gaffer (duct) tape. This is strong and bonds it all together as well as providing a smooth coloured skin.



The combination of internal stiffness from the card and outer toughness from the tape gives toughness and durability needed for a costume prop, which will take a hammering.



And here you have it... Took about 30 minutes to knock these out.



Feet go in here...



like this...



Not shown here, but added durability and protection was added later using dyed latex. This is standard natural latext which is dyed with craft paint (PVA based), but any water-based paint or ink will do it.
Shown here is a household sponge, used to apply the latex. It needs at least two coats. It can be strengthened by adding other materials. For example, if you have access to fibres from woodworking machines this makes latex extremely strong once set..