Video

"Waraji" (wah-dah-jee) or Japanese rice-straw sandals are ancient woven footware. They can be woven from many different plant fibers and rope, as well as from synthetic cloth or strips of t-shirt. The technique I am researching and learning takes about 45min - 1hr per sandal just using your hands and feet as the loom, so if you already have the raw material ready you could make a pair in about 2hrs give or take...pretty quick!

This is the introduction to making a pair of woven sandals out of 3/8" dia. store-bought sisal rope. We will be weaving a pair of "zouri" (zoh-oh-dee) which is more recognized as a modern sandal. I will show you how to measure out the lengths of rope to use. For me, I am a shoe size 10-1/2... I will need one length of rope approx. 25ft long. Then another length of about 12ft.

What you will need:
Approx. 75ft of 3/8"dia rope (depending upon your shoe-size)
Cutting tool (knife or shears)
Duct-tape
Pointy stick or thick chop-stick
Two 4ft (approx.) lenghts of leather, wide ribbon, or fabric of your choice