How to Make Beaded Sandals

Add glitzy beads to plain sandals for a dressy night on the town.

Beaded sandals can be expensive accessories. You can save money and make your own beaded sandals, even if you are not an experienced craft artist. Buy a pair of plain sandals and decorate them with beads to suit your style and wardrobe. You can make beaded floppy sandals for a casual day at the beach, or add beads to the straps on a pair of dressy sandals for a sparkling night out.

Things You'll Need

• Sandals
• Measuring tape
• Flat-backed beads
• Marker
• Jeweler's glue or hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Painter's tape

Instructions

1. Measure the width of the straps on the sandals you wish to bead. Purchase flat backed-beads or rhinestones that are no wider than the straps. Craft stores, discount stores, specialty bead suppliers and online bead suppliers offer flat-backed beads in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes.

2. Mark a dot on the sandal straps wherever you plan to place a bead. Marking the sandal straps will give you an idea of the overall design arrangement before you actually attach the beads to the sandals.

3. Dry fit the beads onto the sandal straps to double check the design. Rearrange the beads as needed until you are pleased with the design.

4. Glue the beads to the sandal straps using jeweler's glue. Jeweler's glue dries clear and will work with glass, wood, crystal, clay or rhinestone beads. Hold the beads in place on the strap with painter's tape. Leave the beaded sandals to dry overnight. Remove the tape strips after the glue is completely dry.

5. Alternatively, attach the beads to the sandal straps with a hot glue gun and glue sticks. Jeweler's glue will hold better, but you can wear sandals beaded with hot glue within minutes of attaching the beads.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a stencil to lay out the beaded design on the sandal straps. Fit the stencil cutouts over the strap, then trace a faint line along the design. Place the beads over the line to create a design pattern.

• Hot glue guns can leak glue from the tip when they are hot. Remember to place a paper plate or piece of cardboard beneath the tip when the gun is hot, but not in use. Always handle a hot glue gun carefully.

References

• Screwdriver.Net: How to Use a Glue Gun