Yesterday I went to the opening of the Beth Levine exhabition 'First Lady Of Shoes' at the Nederlands Leder en Schoenen Museum, Waalwijk, Netherlands. Its a retrospective of the shoes she designed and made under the label 'Herbert Levine', her husband, because it was unthinkable a woman designed shoes in the early fifty's. Ok, the shoes are all factory made (they had there own shoefactory in Brooklyn) but what astonished me was the very high quality of the shoes. Such craftsmenship is very rare nowadays, even the best Italian shoes are not that well made anymore! For further information: http://www.schoenenmuseum.nl

Alexander

Some months ago...right after I had finished and posted for download Golding's Vol. I, I received a call from Frank Jones.

Frank called to congratulate for completing the Golding and to draw my attention to some fairly egregious spelling errors that had slipped past me in the early chapters. During the conversation, I mentioned that I had been re-viewing Thornton's Textbook of Footwear Manufacture and in passing I commented on how it was a shame some of the newer books were inaccessible to the public, and to projects such as my offerings of Golding, due to copyright issues.

Well, Frank mentioned that he had known John Thornton...and several weeks later I received another call from him in which he indicated that he might be able to obtain the rights to reproduce Thornton, and would I be interested in scanning and converting Thornton to PDF the way I had done with Golding?

I had thought that I was done with such projects. They can be very frustrating to format just right not only due to differences in typefaces and publishing methods in the past but it can be a long tedious job--roughly two years for each of the three volumes of Golding that I have done. But I was intrigued not only by the information in Thornton and the fact that it is much closer to our own time period but with Thornton's much more "commercial" approach (although he quite deliberately and correctly sees and presents hand techniques as the foundation of all modern manufacturing techniques) and have always felt that such information was as much a part of our heritage as the older literature and deserved respect.

And to tell the truth, I found that I kind of missed the early morning (4:30-5AM ) "workouts."

So, to make a long story short (as if) Frank got permission...legal permission...for the Guild to scan, digitalize, and post for free download, J.H. Thornton's Textbook of Footwear Manufacture the 1953 edition (that's because that is the volume I have).

All kudos go to Frank Jones for doing the leg work and for the "persistence of vision" to see it through. Thank you, Frank.

And a heartfelt thank you on behalf of myself and the Honourable Cordwainers' Company to John Thornton's daughter--Mrs. Judith E. Doherty--for granting the Guild permission to reproduce Mr. Thornton's work.

Coming sometime in the second decade of the 21st century.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Like the labors of Hercules it appears you are not done yet. Many many thanks for the immense efforts you have made. Thanks to Frank and Mrs. Doherty
Tom

Firstly, big thanks to Frank and DW for making this possible.

Secondly, DW, if there is anything I can do to help please let me know. I'm reasonably useful with inkscape, and have a bit of experience typesetting in LaTeX at least so if there is any way to spread the load, even if it is in things like proofing the OCR output prior to formatting, I'd be happy to help.

Alasdair,

Thank you for the offer. If there was any practical way to take you up on it, there would be two of us up at cock's crow. But not only do I have one of the only copies I know about but I may have the only 1953 edition I know about.

I work with Ventura Publisher, which presents problems in and of itself--files created in VP can only be opened by VP. I use version 8 but the newest version costs literally hundreds of dollars and I'm not sure that a newer version would open VP8 files. Although you expect it would, the file format changed considerably between versions 7 and 8 and there's no guarantee version 10 would even read version 8 files.

Aside from that, if the truth be known, Thornton and his publisher/editor did some pretty...how shall I say this?..."novel" things by way of formatting.

For instance instead of the "normal" decimal point we all know--sitting on the "line"--his are about one-third of the way up the height of the numbers; instead of the standard "L" shaped device to indicate a three point angle, he uses a "hat" bracket--a angled shape that sits over the letters representing the three points. Kind of hard to express.

The point is that these may have been standard mathematical notation in Europe back in the fifties...or not...but they're not standard here and now. Sometimes I have to create the notation from scratch, nevermind the lengths I have to go to to format the text with these devices. Even fractions...I generally rely on importing ole objects created in an Equation Editor, but sometimes I have to create them from scratch.

And then there's the graphics and photos...

I have no doubt that you are savvy enough and skilled enough with Inkscape and/or Gimp to do what I'm doing but how do I tell you what parameters I'm using to clarify photos that are at least 60 years old and not even in their original format?

And all that's important because I want the book to be, when scanned, recognized, and converted to pdf, as close to the original as possible yet "of a piece," if you see what I mean.

It's not like any of these issues are insurmountable ...don't get me wrong...but go back to my opening remarks and again, it begs the question--is it practical?

Maybe if you were next door...

Again, thank you for asking...it is generous and kind of you.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

(Message edited by dw on June 11, 2009)

Hi DW,

Sorry 'bout the delay in replying to this. I've been having a think about it for a little while. I fully understand the issues of the graphics. If you're dealing with anything other than line drawings, it's certainly going to be best to have them all done by the same person.

I don't know how much work it would save, but proofing the OCR output is something that might be easily shareable. Packaging up the scanned output and the OCR output in batches of a few pages for people to compare and correct may well save more work than it creates. Even if it was a case of splitting it in two I'd be happy to proof half the book if it would help. I'm assuming you're scanning and OCRing rather than manually transcribing here.

Now, being very aware that the best tools are the ones you know and that this may be totally infeasable for you, I'd like to point you at a typesetting system called LaTeX which I use a lot in case it offers an easier solution to your accented characters and math problems.

It is free (both as in speech and as in beer), and runs on almost every operating system.

http://www.latex-project.org/

It does have a fairly steep learning curve, but there is a *lot* of help out there on the Internet.

It's a markup language rather than a graphical application and does take a fair bit of getting used to, but it has enormously greater options for accented characters and mathematical layout (for which it was originally designed) than any other system I've seen. One of the beauties of it is that once you have your page layout and fonts sorted, the engine handles the typesetting, allowing you to concentrate on the content.

Here are a couple of pages showing the sorts of things it can do:
http://nitens.org/taraborelli/latex
http://www.tug.org/texshowcase/

There is a large book documenting one of it's optional document classes that I'm currently getting my head around to write a book in:
http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/memoir/memman.pdf

Does your edition of the book list the font in which it was typeset by any chance?

Just minutes from both junction 18/m25 and Chalfont & Latimer rail/tube station, Latimer provides easy access to London, Heathrow airport and all points beyond. There is ample free on-site parking and a good taxi service. This one time stately home has a history reaching back hundreds of years and Ghosts!

Check out the web sites

Rooms are being held at the following special rates which include Friday and Saturday dinner, bed and breakfast:

Double £75 + VAT PER NIGHT PER ROOM

Single £55 + VAT PER NIGHT PER ROOM

It is recommended that you reserve your room as soon as possible, some have lovely views over the Chess valley. You will not have to pay for it until the conference.

When booking, please quote: James Taylor & Son Shoe Conference.

More information regarding the conference will be sent out later, but topics likely to be covered include: handmade and repairs to uppers, adapting shoes with raises, and how we all have evolved our order forms. This is a gathering of like minded people and we are sure to find things that make our livings easier. A type of continuing professional development.

The conference fee will be £45 to include Saturday lunch if paid after 1st January (£35) if paid before!

For those not attending the conference but staying for lunch on Saturday it will be £17.

Please find enrollment forms for the conference enclosed, if you can fill them in and it is best if you return them before they get mislaid.
Looking forward to hearing from you.

You are cordially invited to attend the exhibition opening of

SCANDAL SANDALS AND LADY SLIPPERS,
A HISTORY OF DELMAN SHOES
an exhibtion by the graduate students in Fashion and Textile Studies

Monday, March 8, 6-8 PM
The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue at 27th St., New York City
Additional info: www.fitnyc.edu/museum, or call
212.217.4558

I'll be flying to Germany in less than two weeks to attend the German Shoemaker's Days and International Shoemaking Contest in Wiesbaden. I sent a pair of cowboy boots for the competition and I won a gold medal! I can hardly wait to attend and meet new friends in Europe. If there's anyone on this board who will be attending I'd love to meet you.

I'll also be going to Stockholm, Sweden after the contest. I'll be in Stockholm for a week and I'll be teaching classes there on inlay and overlay techniques. If anyone would like more information on the classes please contact me.

Lisa Sorrell

Lisa,

Congratulations!! You deserve it if anyone does. It will be fun to travel to Germany and Sweden...and it's all a write off!

Are Dale and the girls going with you?

Have a good time. Take pictures especially of the boots that won the Gold Medal.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

Lisa,

We all feel a little prouder knowing you represent.

Thank you and Congratulations.

Have a wonderful trip.

Paul

Lisa,
congrats on the Gold Medal!

I look forward to meet with you and Dale in Stockholm and to the class on the in and overlays techniques.

Have a safe trip.

Janne

I've started a fan page on Facebook and I'm posting regular photos and explanations of work in progress. If you're interested, go to www.facebook.com/sorrellcustomboots

Lisa Sorrell
Sorrell Custom Boots

I hope this is the right place to announce this, and I hope it is o.k. to announce it here. if not please have someone contact me.

Lastmakingschool.com was recently contacted by Nike corporation in search of a footwear pattern engineer. They also sent along a job discription. However, it was to long to post here. I know that there are many talented shoe makers and pattern makers here on this site.

It is my interest to simply continue teaching hand last making.

Thus, those of you who would be interested in a more of a footwear manufacturing environment, Please contact me for the job discription and who to contact.

thanks,
Marlietta Schock

http://lastmakingschool.com/classes/Intermediate%20Last%20Making.htm

Email:
Info@lastmakingschool.com

Prospective presentations:

• Bob Boyd, Curator of the Historical Collection, at the High Desert Museum of Central Oregon, will speak about the 19th century High Desert Buckaroo and the boots of the period.
• Lisa Sorrel on designs and stitch patterns.
• Bill Tippit has tentatively committed to give a presentation on lasts.

Redmond, Oregon is near the geographical dead center of the state. In the shadow of the Cascades, Redmond is a destination for recreational activities ranging from world class rock climbing, a major ski resort and some of the best trout and steelhead fishing in the lower forty-eight states. The airport, Roberts Field, serves as the hub for the whole area and direct flights from Denver and San Francisco and Los Angeles arrive and depart daily. Connecting flights from Seattle and Portland bring a steady stream of travelers to the area.

It is not too early to begin planning...prospective attendees can contact:

D.W. Frommer II--Bootmaker
827 NW Birch Av.
Redmond, OR 97756
1.541.923.3808
frommer@bootmaker.com

More to come as events develop.






Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com




(Message edited by dw on December 17, 2010)

DW

I am really pleased we are getting notice of the AGM details so early. I do hope the Board can be encouraged to make this the standard in the future. It is so helpful to have such complete details announced as early as the previous December.

Now I just have to get the funds together for the transatlantic fare.

Frank Jones
frank.jones@noblefootwear.com

Frank,

I think it's a good idea, as well. I suspect, as far as the board is concerned, that there is absolutely no objection to making the announcement as soon as possible after the previous AGM.

BTW, you might recognize the scenery in the second photo--that's Smith Rock and the Crooked River. You and I walked along there talking about all sorts of esoterica some years ago. Smith Rock has not changed appreciatively over the years and, I suspect, neither has the state of affairs in the world.

Maybe that's as it should be.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

Dear HCC Folks,

I am not sure where this announcement should be placed, so I will employ the same caveat as Marlietta Schock: "If this isn't the place to make this announcement, please contact me."

I am announcing that I will be conducting a workshop in the making of 18th-Century women's shoes (ca. 1755-1785) in the end of May 2011 in the midwest. The location will be in Shipshewana, Indiana. Any interested parties can contact me directly by e-mail. I have brochures printed, and can mail them upon request.

Thank you. I remain,

Yr. Humbly Devoted Servant, &c.,
Brett Walker, Shoemaker

All,

This is a little unusual, but I thought it was not only noteworthy but amazing work...

Anthony Delos has just been awarded the title of "Meilleur Ouvrier de France". the following link explains some of this a little better and shows photos of the shoes he made to earn the award.

Everyone who is interested in making shoes should have a look at this.
Anthony Delos-MOF

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

That is amazing work, thanks for the link, pretty inspiring.

I've created a deck of cowboy boot playing cards featuring 52 different boots that I've made. If anyone's interested they're available on the home page of my web site. www.sorrellcustomboots.com


Lisa

Very cool tool Lisa.
Good Luck with them.
Paul

All

We have a five-day Pattern Cutting course from 4th to 8th March in Ashland, Oregon.

The course tutor, Tim Wragg, will be flying in from England. He is a much better pattern cutter than I am.

If anybody would like a detailed course brochure, just email your postal address to the address below with any other questions you might have

Frank Jones
frank.jones@noblefootwear.com

Seems like as good a place as any to address an issue that has just recently come to my attention.

I addressed this issue, gently, in another thread and as much as I hate to rehash it, circumstances make me suspect it needs some clarification and reinforcement.

The Guild was formed as a scholarly..."educational"...organization. Everything follows from that simple and abiding fact.

The Forum was founded as an adjunct of the Guild to present and promote the Guild's philosophies and mission. In a very real sense the Guild and the Crispin Colloquy are one.

In that regard let me underscore several understandings:

The Forum was created to address the needs of serious students of the Trade as well as those more proficient members who can, and do, represent a reservoir of knowledge and skills...the which needs to be preserved and respected..


Current and prospective members who can accept these principles as given...regardless of skill level, work habits or ultimate goals...and who can respect those who articulate that perspective, are welcome here.

Those members who are made uncomfortable with passion and unflinching dedication to the Trade, past and present, may need to rethink their association here.

Yr. Hmb. Svt.

Deleted...

Reason:Violation of Posting Guidelines.




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