FOR FUN OR PROFIT, LEARN HOW TO MAKE ECOLOGICAL SIMPLE SHOES AND SANDALS
FOR FUN OR PROFIT, LEARN HOW TO MAKE ECOLOGICAL SIMPLE SHOES AND SANDALS
there are many processes for making footwear, these posts describe processes that I use and teach.
If you’d like to make shoes the simple way, you can do so in the comfort of your own home. You might even gather a small group who want to learn together. Here’s how it works. I send you a shoemaking kit that contains a sole in the size you request – it has a …
Do you have some shoes that fit just right, that you would love to duplicate? If so, here’s how to do it. Use two layers of masking tape that exactly copies each piece of the shoe. Just as you do when making a pattern over a last, have one layer of tape going in one …
My own mother had problems finding shoes to fit her swollen ankles, so I had wanted to make her a pair. However, before I was able to, she moved into a nursing home and was not getting out of bed. So, I had some ideas in mind when I recently received a call from a …
Recently in a shoemaking workshop, one student dutifully cut out vamps for toddler shoes, but both somehow turned out to be for the right foot. She came out with the above priceless quip!
I’ll be hanging up this flyer on local telephone poles! Wish you could attend! Learn to Make “First Walkers”! Why make your children’s shoes? Well, they’d be locally-made, not in some distant and possibly unhealthy factory. You can select the materials – recycled leather, cloth, non-petroleum-based soling… You can express your individuality and that …
I have had the good fortune to collaborate with Renee Canady – an accomplished leather worker – on making a pair of sandals, to show what can be done with carving and tooling on footwear – that isn’t a pair of cowboy boots! She did the carving, tooling, painting and dyeing, and I assembled the …
Looking through old files, I came across this sketchbook page I somehow obtained many years ago. Perhaps the person who drew it will be a google hot-shot now and will come across this, so I can properly request permission to use it.
I love the work of Natalie Chanin (www.alabamachanin.com) and how she has shared the details of her hand-stitching process in three inspirational books. Adopting her nonchalance, I no longer concern myself if the ends of my threads are visible on the outside of my work – which is a big boon to a shoemaker since …
How could boots be more beautiful?! Marlice van Zandt made these by felting her own llama fleece, following directions in the video workshop (http://www.northeastfiberarts.com/feltbootworkshop.php) offered by Jennifer Hoag of Northeast Fiberarts. They were made by the resist method, meaning that a piece of plastic is inserted between two boot-shaped piles of wool batting; once this is …
After seeing “Stephanie’s side-seam moccasin” project in Martha Stewart Living magazine, I decided to make it using different materials and stitching. I changed it further by stitching a piece of material along the top edge of the moccasin, transforming it into a boot! The boot can be found in the Craft Manual of North American …