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Tough Feet

Thin, flexible, tough soles stuck directly to one's feet
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Something like the toughest inner-tube material, cut to match the outlines of one's feet, and stuck on. The idea is being able to walk over sharp things but to have the traction of being barefoot, with as much of the sensitivity as comfortable.

Ideally, this would let one's own soles breathe, and gradually remove all actual callus.

I wanted this for a Halloween costume; to cover my office floor with something that looks like broken glass, wear Tough Feet, and put more shards of glass and stage blood around the edges of my feet.

hello_c, Sep 25 2000

(?) Liquid Latex http://www.getspfx.com/Liquid%20Latex.asp
[Scott_D, Sep 25 2000]

(?) phase out socks and shoes http://www.halfbake...socks_20and_20shoes
[egnor, Sep 25 2000]

Glass, fake. http://freeweb.pdq....eadstrong/glass.htm
Make your own sugar glass. [StarChaser, Sep 25 2000]

Adhesive Foot Care Pads https://a.aliexpress.com/_BfA1irip
[xaviergisz, Apr 29 2020]

phase out socks and shoes https://web.archive...socks_20and_20shoes
Archive of [egnor]'s link above, to an odea of [mrthingy] [pocmloc, Apr 29 2020]

Stick on Soles for Feet https://nakefit.us/
[tatterdemalion, Apr 29 2020]

Tiger Feet https://www.youtube...watch?v=EQfidTOTsLo
[pertinax, Apr 29 2020]

[link]






       Reminds me of a tire commercial...I forget who the company was, but it was some runner running along at car speed, passing cars occasionally...He stops at a stoplight, one foot cocked and you can see the tire tread and the company name on the bottom of his foot, then he zooms off again.   

       Don't think that anything thin enough to be invisible on your feet would be tough enough to stop glass, and you'd still have the problem with it coming up the sides or between your toes...Might try a piece out of a tire, or something, and a lot of 'spirit gum'...
StarChaser, Sep 25 2000
  

       You want to get RID of your calluses?
centauri, Sep 25 2000
  

       Starchaser is right on the money. That said, wrestling shoes, martial arts shoes, surf booties are the most flexible [and comfy] shoes. If you really want to bastardize the whole process you could take the cheapest shoe of the lot which is likely martial arts. Cut and paste. LOL
thumbwax, Sep 25 2000
  

       StarChaser, thumbwax, I know it doesn't exist *yet*, duh. If it did, it woud be baked. I was thinking of an ad for bicycle inner-tubes, which shows the tube stretched over a broken bottle. That would presumably keep the foot from being cut; and it was very thin; but it might not be comfortable. Of course, it would still be more comfortable than actual gashes. The optimal toughness is for the hypothetical baker to establish.   

       centauri, I want my calluses to be optional - attach for striding along the beach rocks at dawn, remove for wearing dainty slippers to the ball.
hello_c, Sep 25 2000
  

       Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me
thumbwax, Sep 25 2000
  

       C'mon, thumbwax, I know you're capable of arguments that a thing not only doesn't exist but *couldn't possibly*, and wouldn't be desirable if it did, and so forth. Much more interesting.
hello_c, Sep 26 2000
  

       As you're talking about it, it's unbakeable. You said you've seen rubber that will do it, but if it was thin enough to stick unseeably on your foot, it'd still hurt when you stepped on something. If you make it thick enough that it won't hurt, it'll be obvious. The best thing you could do would be to use thin steel or something, but then it doesn't flex...
StarChaser, Sep 26 2000
  

       *sniff* All I want to do his help with your Halloween Costume. Arguing for the sake of it is a waste. That said, Starchaser again annotates a perfectly valid down side [Let's see if he can get a hat trick].*sniff*I'm Okay...Hmmm...What would Socrates have used...
thumbwax, Sep 26 2000
  

       There is order in the universe. PeterSealy, let me be the first to *sniff* wel-*sniff*-I'm sorry-welcome you back ;) Yeah, what Pete said.
thumbwax, Sep 26 2000
  

       Plasti-Dip, is a liquid plastic used for coating the handles of tools - it dries hard, available in the hardware section in a couple of colors. Liquid latex, in flesh tones, can be purchased at theatrical supply stores (where you might also be able to purchase sugar glass). Neither will protect you from large shards of glass, you'll have to use a kevlar cushion, or maybe metal shields under the balls and heels of your feet, good luck _c! Sounds like a good, if elaborate, gag.
Scott_D, Sep 26 2000
  

       While we're on the subject, Halloween coming up and everything, I used to aspire to being a movie special effects make up artist when I was young, after I purchased a make-up kit from a hobby store - it had a material called "scar-stuff", that you mixed with water and an anti-hardening agent, which you could then mold into various appliences.   

       The "scar-stuff", I discovered, was plain, unflavored knox gelatin. I had some success later, in producing hideous makeup, that even grossed-out emergency room personel, using this gelatin, grease paint, and fake blood. Unfortunately, I never did discover the formula for the anti-hardening agent, and one Halloween I did a full face job on a friend of mine, simply smearing the substance directly on his face, and modelling as it dried, to great effect, although as the night wore on, and the gelatin dried and shrank, his screams of agony became more and more convincing. He suffered manfully for his art, but was in no great hurry to repeat the stunt. Glycerine might work, or another water based lubricant like KY jelly, as an anti-hardening agent: as I've since moved on to liquid and foam latex, I'll leave the experimentation up to you.
Scott_D, Sep 26 2000
  

       But there are real feet callused enough to walk over very sharp rocks, with enough feeling to grip those same rocks despite their seaweed and instability. We should be able to duplicate that degree of callus.   

       For a Halloween prank, the sugar glass is a better idea, since getting real glass out of the carpet would be unlikely. Thank you.   

       Until synthetic spear-divers' calluses, a think metal plate would do - I should link to the Heel with Feel - but it wouldn't let one grip and react with one's feet.
hello_c, Sep 27 2000
  

       My thinking was that even sugar glass can hurt, it's not as sharp as glass, but still hard, and sharp enough to cut your feet, uncomfortable at the least. Liquid latex would provide exellent traction, and sensitivity, but would wear quickly, requiring periodic re-coating.
Scott_D, Sep 27 2000
  

       Mm, but sugar glass really is sugar, yes? So even if one got a few slivers they'd dissolve instead of festering. Slivers I can withstand for the sake of art, and latex would probably protect against most of the slivers.   

       So. Halloween costume solved; beach-walking yet to go.
hello_c, Sep 28 2000
  

       Is easy enough to make your own sugar glass...Added a link to it. Should be able to make it thin enough to not be too sturdy, but it does only come in brown like that. Not sure what they use for the clear stuff in movies. Probably not real glass, but they do break it before the body or whatever hits it. <In the movie Demolition Man, there's a big sign made up of vertical strips of glass, each with a letter etched on it. The car jumps toward them, and all but one of the strips break before it hits; the one that doesn't break is in the middle, and it looks pretty goofy.>
StarChaser, Sep 28 2000, last modified Sep 29 2000
  

       SCORE! Hat Trick for the StarMan
<|:)
<|:)
<|;)
thumbwax, Sep 29 2000
  

       <laughs>
StarChaser, Sep 29 2000
  

       I once took a bite out of a <real> glass in a restaurant...Was bored, and recognized the glass as the cheap type...My friends were talking about people I didn't know in places I hadn't been doing things I didn't care about, so I took a bite out of it. Put the rim behind my front teeth, braced the lower teeth against the curved side a little down from the top, and pulled the glass down. Broke off a crescent shaped piece about one inch deep by two or so wide, then rattled it against my teeth with my tongue while making chewing motions.   

       Stopped the conversation dead. While they were trading looks of the 'Do we want to run away, or will that only provoke it?' type, I spit it out and stashed it, then swallowed and smiled at them.
StarChaser, Dec 10 2000
  

       I had been thinking about thin kevlar sheets, cut and krazyglued to the sole and ball of feet. One might have this done before a long beach vacation, to provide a measure of protection against shells/ glass.   

       As regards eating a bar glass, a guy I used to know did this on a bet, except he carefully chewed up and swallowed the glass. He said that it damaged his teeth. Not a guy to pick a fight with.
bungston, Feb 22 2005
  
      
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