The Gallery

[admin]

Debated where to put this but in order to provide the easiest access, I decided this would do.

Here is a Kirby Allison interview with Daniel Wegan--the 20119 winner of the World Championship in Shoemaking. Some interesting techniques and some interesting perspectives here. Very much worth watch and very inspiring.

Kirby Allison / Daniel Wegan interview:

[BBvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/RL-CYj94L1c[/BBvideo]

[homeboy]

Unbelievable! Congratulations Daniel!

[dw]

@homeboy

Yeah...the upper stitching at 21spi! At some point fairly early on in the video you see a close-up of the uppers. the stitching is very very...I mean very...consistent and regular--it's beautiful. At another point there's a shot (it's only for a moment) of the welt stitching...at 25spi!

Wegan might very well be the best contemporary shoemaker in the world I don't think I've ever seen anything or anyone better in this day and age.

[bcFour]

tough to follow the world championship shoes - but keeping the thread going with pairs #6 and #7.
Pushed some limits on the cap toes for the wife. uppers a little rough but happy with the heel.
The blues were my first time dying and rolling the topline edges.

[dw]

Like them...keep pushing!

[bcFour]

first norwegian welt.
Oxblood Vocalou, suede tongue.

really enjoyed making these and learned a ton in the process, naturally. Heel seat really needs some work, which seams common for my shoes. not sure what's going on since it's the same midsole and outsole as the rest of the shoe which smoothed out and polished nicely. Same process - different result. probably need to spring for a slide box wheel iron thing. hmmm. Anyhoo, here they are.

(and when, as a maker, do you stop seeing a pair as just a collection of mistakes?) (....ugh....)

[dw]

...

Nicely done.

(and when, as a maker, do you stop seeing a pair as just a collection of mistakes?) (....ugh....)

Hopefully never...

My advice to all my students is:

"Upon completion of a pair of shoes a maker should always look for three things to improve upon in the next pair...no less than three things lest he fall prey to complacency, no more than three at peril of false pride."

Without mistakes you never learn.

[bcFour]

a little behind in posting.

Pair #9, finished back in August, was a pair for my 2nd daughter's Godfather. Oxblood Vocalou, baker insole, milled kip lining.

[bcFour]

Pair #10: Finished in Sept for myself. Dark Brown Vocalou. Modified the toe of my typical round last to get a slight chisel and made some huge leaps on learning how to get the waist tucked in there.

[dw]

^ These are beautiful. I can see you refining your skills everytime you post. Good on you.

[homeboy]

bcFour....great shoes and progress! Tip of the hat to ya!

[bcFour]

thanks to both of you! The high bar you guys set really gives the novice (me) a target to aim for.

[bcFour]

Unlined, hand-dyed Vegano french calf, double sole chukka. AK- my new everyday beaters

[bcFour]

ok, so these sort of escalated. I wanted to make a more casual shoe for someone that, really, only wears casual shoes. The rocket is a surprise since he is a total space nerd. The inlays and many extra pieces got the patterns and closing to be a little....complicated. It all meant the welting and sole stitching (yes, hand stitched despite the low spi) became the easy part

[homeboy]

Man! You're on a roll! Great job!

[dw]

"Back in the Saddle again." A whimsical conflation of a man's saddle shoe with a few Western boot sensibilities.

Horween 'waxed flesh', Annonay saddle, box toe, 1-3/8" 'military' (Cuban?) heel.

saddle_shoes.jpg

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[homeboy]

Great Job Dee-Dubb! Me likes 'em!

Adios, Jake

[bcFour]

cool shoes, beauty of a heel shape! lots going on there.

[bcFour]

classic, no frills oxford. went of the less-is-more approach.

recently acquired some new (to me) finishing tools. made all the difference in the world being able to get some edges crisper and 'finished'.

[dw]

Nice looking shoe. Very clean. Less is more!

[homeboy]

Well Done!

Jake

[martin]

A rather different type of shoe and shoemaking: This is a reproduction for the Bata Shoe Museum, and now part of the "Tutankhamun - Discovering the Forgotten Pharaoh" in Liege, Belgium of one of several shoes found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (so from 1323 BC probably).

The side walls are covered with a mesh of almost 500 square and round beads, the closing needed almost 400 rings of 2.5mm diameter to be brazed together. With the original these were all gold, for the reproduction I had to use brass for cost reasons. The original coloring of the leathers is lost with this one, but most likely it was a combination of green and red. The green dye was done with copper verdigris, for the red I used madder. Leather was most likely fat/oil tanned and the color/dye only painted on the grain side as can be seen on other finds. The repousse work on the gold insole (also brass in the reproduction) mimics that of the contemporary sandals made from plant (palm?) fibers.

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Best,
Martin

[martin]

And here is the other one of the 2 Tutankhamun shoe reproductions for Bata and now in the exhibition mentioned above. Rather different from the first one, the decoration relies a lot less on gold with fine cutwork being in the focus, although it still is enhanced with gold rivets. Again, we do not really know from the condition of the find what the color scheme was originally, but a combination of green and red seems likely. This, as all other details for both shoes where discussed and decided with Andre J. Veldmeijer, egyptologist, archaeologist and leading expert in ancient Egyptian leather research (and initator of the idea of reconstructing these!).
Leather and dyestuff choice are as for the other shoe, i.e. brain/fat tanned leather, dyed with copper verdigris (green) and madder (red). Both the front/toe and the back parts of the strap complex have a papyrus core covered by leather. Again we find the decorative chess pattern to frame the main decoration, achieved by weaving very thin strips of leather through vertical cuts in the covering material.

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[dw]

@martin

Lovely, intricate work...almost boggles the mind.

[martin]

Thank you :-)