Awesome thread! I'm glad someone else is taking inspiration from this type of sandal. I've been researching and prototyping sandals from this company
http://www.kikany.com/sandals
Who learned from Barbara Shaum in New York
Both are great resources for sandal design.
I will also be glueing several layers of leather together and I hope to use brass tacks in the same manner so this information was very helpful. So far I've made a pair of flip-flops that turned out pretty well and look forward to making more! I hope this thread stays active and I'll try to post some pictures of my work soon
Cheers!