Oobleck Condom Shoes

This instructable will help you make oobleck shoes out of condoms, cardboard and old sheets. Oobleck is starch mixed with water to create a non-Newtonian fluid. This means that when pressure is applied it becomes a solid, and reverts back to liquid state when the pressure is removed.

This is the perfect material to use for nice cushiony shoes; it has great shock absorption for walking, and becomes soft and pliable for standing.
 

for this project you will need:

Corn starch
Condoms
Bowl to mix in
Heavy duty Card Board (i found some in an old 3 Ring Binder)
Old sheet
Serrated Knife
Scissors (i only  had an exacto knife)
Crazy glue
Thread and needle

Draw an outline of your foot on the piece of cardboard. Make sure that it is bigger that your actual foot; it needs to protect your foot and the condoms from the ground. I drew mine about 3/4 in bigger. Take your knife and saw out the shape.

Cut out a section of the sheet that will be able to completely cover both sides of the cardboard foot. Make sure you leave one of the long sides intact, you will be using it for strips of cloth later. 

Mix your oobleck in a large bowl. I started by dumping a bunch of cornstarch in it, and then adding water slowly while mixing. At first the starch will not want to mix; it will either be powder, or make hard clumps. Continue to add water until it looks like a liquid and acts like a liquid under slight or no pressure. If you poke at it it should become hard for a short amount of time. I found that a thick mixture worked well.

Take a condom out of its package and unroll it completely. Pour some oobleck into the condom (it is easier if you have someone to help). Fill it about 3/4 of the way so that it can stretch a lot if it needs to.
I made 4 condoms for each shoe. You may need more or less depending on your foot size.

Arrange them on the cardboard so most of the surface is covered.

This step can be a little tricky. You want to make the cloth as taut as possible so that you weight will be evenly distributed across the whole shoe. If it isn't tight enough you will feel annoying hard lumps under your heel. 

The first part is the hardest. Lay your cardboard flat against the cloth. Make sure that you are able to wrap it all the way, so that there are no gaps, and all the seems are on the bottom of the shoe. Start at the toe and work your way to the foot. If you have trouble you can try Krazy Gluing them into place, and then sewing. (the glue won't be strong enough to hold it by itself. 

Put the toe condoms in when you have sewn about 1/3 of the way. nestle them up so that they reach to the tip of the toe. 

When you are about 2/3 of the way put the heel condoms in. Sew up the rest of the shoe as tightly as possible. 

Its OK if there are some bumps and ridges. Your weight should be able to flatten most of them out if they aren't to extreme. you can Krazy Glue around the bottom so make it stronger.

Make two strips of cloth from the long side of the sheet. I made mine about 5 inches across.
Wrap your feet securely onto the shoe and take them out on a test drive.