apprenticeships and schooling

Looking for someone to make a particular style of boot? Need a mentor? Post a notice here.
Post Reply
Message
Author
jesselee
6
6
Posts: 469
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:00 am
Full Name: Jesse Lee Cantrell
Location: Town of Niagara, NY, USA

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#126 Post by jesselee »

All,
I am looking for a Civil War reenactor (Confederate preferred) who wants to learn the old Trade. If anyone knows of someone contact me by email.

Cheers,
JesseLee
gshoes
5
5
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:41 am
Full Name: Geraldine Rabey
Location: Elgin, IL, United States

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#127 Post by gshoes »

Looking for all Bootmakers Shoemakers and Wannabe shoemakers and bootmakers in the Chicagoland area that would be interested in getting together on a monthly basis. This would hopefully be a very informal setting where locals can talk about and share techniques and progress in their ongoing efforts in footwear construction. I am hoping that this will serve as a great place to inspire each other no matter what skill level we are at presently. Please give me a shout out so that I can see how many others might be interested in forming a casual group to fill in between the HCC annual meetings.

Geri
User avatar
athan_chilton
4
4
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 7:03 am
Full Name: Athan Chilton
Location: Urbana, IL, USA

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#128 Post by athan_chilton »

Geri I live in central IL, about 140 miles south of Chicago. I wouldn't mind coming up there, not every month (I am not much of a city driver) but would love to meet others in IL who are learning this work. I would also welcome anybody from up that way who felt like a trip to the country - come and visit my messy garage & spend a couple days in the tiny town of Philo... please email me off list at serenity.chilton@gmail.com - I am interested!
erickgeer

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#129 Post by erickgeer »

Geri,

I've been a bit busy to respond, but feel free to PM me - I think this could be fun.

Erick
luckyduck

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#130 Post by luckyduck »

Geri,

PM me when you get together. I get into the city a couple times a year and could maybe coordinate a get together with our usual hanging out.

Paul
jenny_fleishman
7
7
Posts: 514
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:00 pm
Full Name: Jenny Fleishman
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Been Liked: 2 times

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#131 Post by jenny_fleishman »

Hi Geri,

I'd be interested.

Jenny
luckyduck

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#132 Post by luckyduck »

Again, I am not sure if this is the correct sub-forum. But here it is.

This is a review of the 4 week boot making class I took with Lisa Sorrell in Guthrie Oklahoma.

Overall it was a great class and I learned a lot. My goals going into the class were to learn what it takes to get my workmanship from a hobby builder up to the level that I can make boots of high enough quality to go into boot making as a business. I think we made that goal.

Class format:

Lisa built a pair of boots and I watched her do each step while taking pictures and notes. Then we went over anything I had questions about. Then I did the step on a pair of boots using the notes and Lisa kept a close eye on what I was doing. Usually there was another lesson to clear up any misunderstandings at this point. Finally I did the step on a pair of boots unsupervised and then she showed me techniques for recovering from mistakes. Happily the unsupervised pair was the best looking. In the stages where we had to wait for things to dry we covered inlay and stitch pattern design along with how to pattern triads and one piece tops. Since I have already built several pair we skipped most of the skiving, sanding and cutting as separate lessons.

Results:

I am really happy with the step up my work has taken. I have not built a pair at home yet (it has been 5 days), but am confident I will be able to as soon as the tools and supplies get here. A lot of what we covered was refinement of the techniques I had learned in a pretty much self taught way from DW’s book and the forums. Many times I was not using the correct tools because I did not know what they were and many other times I was not using them correctly to get the best results. The class has given me enough confidence that I have ostrich on order for my next pair of boots and already have the patterns rough drawn after being home for 5 days.

My home work after the class was some pretty straight forward skill practice with the machines, drawing patterns, and just building boots.


Recommendations:

I would recommend this class if you can take that much time away. You can also learn a lot more about boot making if you have at least learned how to skive, not be afraid of the finisher, and sew a bit. For practice before the class I made 2 feet of beading, sanded 2x4’s of pine into heel shapes and sewed practice patterns a total of about 1.5 hours a day, 4 days a week for 5 months. The other thing I did was make 6 pairs of boots using DW’s books. This gave a great back ground so that the class was a refinement and correction of techniques instead of trying to learn from scratch in a short time. This implies that you will have spent the time finding most of the heavy equipment before the class so when you get home from the class you will be able to order up some better hand tools and leather to get building.


Cautions:

There are no written materials. It is up to the student to take notes and pictures adequate to remember. I ended up with about 80 pages of notes and 130 photos and would consider that barely adequate. I also re-read the last couple days worth every night to mentally go thru the steps and set it in my mind better.

Paul
User avatar
athan_chilton
4
4
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 7:03 am
Full Name: Athan Chilton
Location: Urbana, IL, USA

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#133 Post by athan_chilton »

Wooden heels rather than leather? Is this typical for western boots? Or was this practice for shaping leather heels?

Also, pardon my true ignorance - I keep seeing the term 'beading' but don't know what it is. Please somebody enlighten me?

Paul, your results are impressive and your boots are bound to start being better and better after such a learning experience. But I bet you are right - it is the long hours of practice beforehand that allowed you to fully appreciate what was being offered.
User avatar
sorrell
6
6
Posts: 320
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:00 pm
Full Name: Lisa Sorrell
Location: Guthrie, OK
Been Liked: 10 times
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#134 Post by sorrell »

Athan,
The heels on western boots are leather--he was just practicing shaping things using the wood. It was wonderful having a student who was comfortable using the sander. It can slow things down when you have to learn using the sander before you can learn bootmaking.

Do you by any chance sewing clothing? Beading and piping are basically the same thing. Beading is a strip of leather that's wrapped around a cord and then sewn into a seam.

Lisa
luckyduck

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#135 Post by luckyduck »

Athan,

Used 2x4 is really cheap when you are grinding up 3 or 4 heels a day. I'd hate to think how much soling leather and hours of pegging it would have taken to make a pile of scrap that big. I pretty much would saw off the end of a 2 foot board and shape it like a heel. Then cut that off and do it again until it was too short to hang on to. Get a new piece and repeat. It takes about 3 inches of board at a time and is pretty messy. Being confident with sanding skills makes holding a nearly finished boot up to a 30 grit wheel a lot less stressful. Image

Beading is just a 5/8" wide strip of thin leather as long as long as the top line of the shoe/boot. It is skived both sides to center, then glued and folded in half the long way with a piece of curved needle thread down the middle. It is difficult to skive the second side as it is really thin and stretchy. This makes it good, if frustrating practice.

Paul

(Message edited by luckyduck on June 04, 2011)
User avatar
dw
Seanchaidh
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 1997 10:00 am
Full Name: DWFII
Location: Redmond, OR
Has Liked: 204 times
Been Liked: 122 times
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#136 Post by dw »

Just a note...

While I wouldn't disagree, really, with anything that has been said about beading, I have seen beading on men's dress shoes that had no cord or thread in the center.

I, myself, think the cord...when used with a sufficiently thin leather...makes for the best look. But sometimes a leather that is lightweight enough is not available. At which point the leather must be split.

Is there a splitter or skiver in the house?

If not, the beading can all too easily end up looking like a worm.

But!! Sometimes that same piece of leather may be folded, sans cording, and be perfectly adequate.

Examining high end dress shoes, I have become convinced that...again..."less is more." A very thin, almost "retiring" bead is more refined and elegant than a thick and clumsy and "in-your-face" bead. On some of the men's dress shoes I have looked at the bead is almost invisible from the side.

And in the end we might give some consideration to what the bead is fundamentally there for--it is to finish the edge of a piece of leather that cannot be folded for patterning reasons or simply because the leather won't fold gracefully. As such, it stands to reason that it needs to emulate a folded edge.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member
User avatar
dw
Seanchaidh
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 1997 10:00 am
Full Name: DWFII
Location: Redmond, OR
Has Liked: 204 times
Been Liked: 122 times
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#137 Post by dw »

I might add...for those who have never made beading before but are thinking about trying...that the skived edges of the 5/8" strip Paul is talking about are not generally folded edge to edge.

Usually, they are folded such that one edge is offset from the other by an eighth inch all the way down the length of the bead. The the edge of the beading is "pinked" just as it might be with a cloth piping.

Both the folding and the pinking, when done this way, have the effect of making the resulting skived edge longer and thinner so that it disappears more readily under the edge of the tops or the topline.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member
User avatar
athan_chilton
4
4
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 7:03 am
Full Name: Athan Chilton
Location: Urbana, IL, USA

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#138 Post by athan_chilton »

Thanks, Paul and Lisa, for clarifications. Sanding practice sounds like a good idea!
User avatar
sorrell
6
6
Posts: 320
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:00 pm
Full Name: Lisa Sorrell
Location: Guthrie, OK
Been Liked: 10 times
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#139 Post by sorrell »

Athan,
I just posted a video demonstration of making beading on my YouTube channel. There's a link to it in the Cinema Verite, Screening Room thread.

Lisa
User avatar
dearbone
8
8
Posts: 1032
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:23 pm
Full Name: Nasser Vies
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#140 Post by dearbone »

First i want to congratulate Paul for his achievements in boot making, His "Baptism in the awl",my advice is,keep making them boots until you are perfect and remember "The last is always first".

Lisa,

Thank you for the demo, I learn something new.

The first time i came cross to needing piping was on certain cloth/tapestry upper i couldn't easily fold the top line or leave raw the edge of a fine cloth buttons boots, the rough sample below is grain to grain edge sewing and some seam trimming and folding in summary,one side of the brown leather is skived and depending on how far you trim the edge and treat it,you may get a very close fold much better than my quick one for the show,but this is how i do my raw edges for shoes.
13715.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
sorrell
6
6
Posts: 320
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:00 pm
Full Name: Lisa Sorrell
Location: Guthrie, OK
Been Liked: 10 times
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#141 Post by sorrell »

Nassar,
That looks really nice. I did something similar to that on a pair of boots recently. They had stovepipe tops with hidden inside pulls. I didn't have any pulls to cover the side seam and I wanted a top seam finish that would cover the side seam also.
13717.jpg


Lisa
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
dearbone
8
8
Posts: 1032
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:23 pm
Full Name: Nasser Vies
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#142 Post by dearbone »

Lisa,

I am no expert on boots top line finish but I see what you are saying about covering the top side seam,It looks good to me. I enjoyed watching your video on beading with the string,I like to try making some soon,it might be useful for certain shoe work. Now back to my last sanding/shaping.

Regards
Nasser
paul
8
8
Posts: 1038
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:00 am
Full Name: Paul Krause
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Been Liked: 14 times
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#143 Post by paul »

Lisa,
If this were Facebook, I'd click "Like".
I presume you did this on your post machine?
Paul
tomo

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#144 Post by tomo »

Here is the link to a site that uses this technique. I greatly admire this guy's work and think it's well worth a squizz. If you go to the 'Half Chaps' page, you'll see it. There was an article about him in Shop Talk, well worth the read. The building you're in Paul reminds me of his.

http://www.pinnellcustomleather.com/

BTW nice work Lisa, I enjoy your videos too. Image
T.
last_maker

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#145 Post by last_maker »

I hope this is the right place to put this message.

I am currently looking for focus group memebers where the focus will be on last making.

Members could expect to attend meeting for about a year consistantly.

Interested parties must live in washington state or be willing to travel to group meetings twice a month. The meetings are held on Fridays from 6-10pm. Every other friday.

interested indivuals may contact me at info@lastmakingschool.com for detailed information.

-Marlietta
ghlawal
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:25 am
Full Name: gbolahan lawal
Location: hyattsville, maryland, usa

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#146 Post by ghlawal »

SCHOOL ASIGNMENT.AFRICAN AMERICAN MASTER SHOE MAKER IN UNITED STATES OR ANY PART OF THE WORLD.
ephraim

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#147 Post by ephraim »

Dear All,

I just wanted to let folks know that I still have a few spots available for the 18th-Century shoemaking class that I will be holding at Historic Eastfield Village in Nassau, NY, August 20-27. If anyone is interested in learning how to make historically-accurate shoes from roughly 1755-1785, please contact me at my e-mail address (lastingforevermore@gmail.com), and I will send you details on cost, lodgings, topics covered, &c.

I look forward to hearing from you and remain,

Yr. Humbly Devoted Srvnt., &c.

Brett Walker, Shoemaker
User avatar
kevindeleon
1
1
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:33 pm
Full Name: Kevin deLeon
Location: New Orleans, LA, US
Contact:

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#148 Post by kevindeleon »

All,

Not sure if I am posting this in the right section, so admin, feel free to move it.

I am just now getting into shoemaking, and I would love to apprentice with someone local to my area (New Orleans), but I can't seem to find anyone online. I prefer to work with a shoemaker, but would also value working with a bootmaker as we all know, there is a bit overlap. I'm hoping someone on here has a contact.

I know there are plenty of schools that I could attend in NY, abroad, etc... but due to my heavy workload (I am a web developer at a large advertising firm) I have no idea when I would be able to actually take off for long enough. I figure if I could find someone local, I could at least make it happen.
dennis_lanigan

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#149 Post by dennis_lanigan »

I am looking for a shoe/bootmaking apprenticeship. I have made two pairs of shoes so far, but would like to learn more from a master. I am also teaching myself how to tan leather, both veg tan and brain tan. (If there are any tanners lurking about I would like to apprentice with them as well.) My goal is to make bespoke shoes using my own leather. The techniques I have learned so far require thick (6-8oz) leather and I currently only make thinner leathers typical of the shoes I see on this site. I would prefer a full time apprenticeship, but will accept recommendations for books or schools (not that I can afford them...but if that's all there is I'll make it work...).

I live in Olympia, WA.
last_maker

Re: apprenticeships and schooling

#150 Post by last_maker »

Hi Dennis!

I am in Snohomish Washington!! so is our school. But it only covers lastmaking by hand.

There is shoe school.com They are here in washington too. google them.

About tanning, there is a book called the modern boot and shoe maker it is published by Gresham publishing. A very old 4 volume book. It goes through a whole lot of tanning processes and dying. Unfortunately the book series is extremly expensive being about $500.00 for the set. If you still are interested, go to bookfinder.com

Have you tried useing tannic acid for tanning the hides. You can get it from local wineries. Oak bark has the highest level of tannic acid. but why wait for the bark when you can just get the substance.


Hope any of this helps,

marlietta,
Lastmakingschool.com
Instructor
Post Reply