The Gallery

[paul_k]

I have just returned from three weeks with DW and Randee Frommer in Redmond Oregon. I went for training in the boot DW has come to be known for, the Full Wellington. About this boot, DW says, in the opening paragraph of his soon to be released book on the subject, "No other boot so exemplifies the bootmaker’s art. It is clean and elegant in its form; it is difficult and eminently satisfying in its creation. It is the epitome of bootmaking. And it is nearly a lost art."

What could be more enticing than that?!

So I packed up for 3 weeks away from my best friend and darlin' wife, to take on a journey that would bring me face to face with challenges, which I had no clue would be present. I would enjoy expounding on the many inspirations and difficulties I had, but that is for another topic in it's time.

So, here is my best attempt to apply each lesson as it was shared with me.

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Let me say this, This boot is practice. It is by no means a $3000 dollar DW Frommer Boot

There are a whole slew of things I learned from the Frommers and I can only hope to remember half of it. There are steps in it's construction which I will do my best to improve as I work with the specific tools and techniques. I am far from proud of the boots themselves, (and don't get me wrong, they do look good), but as a symbol of opening myself up to learning and trying new (to me) tecniques, there is a wealth of learning in there. Mastery will take many pairs.
We will all have access to DW's book on this challenging boot style soon, as I mentioned earlier. But Whew! It was alot for this head with holes that I use to keep my ears apart.

Many operations were demonstrated to me, that I had never spent the time by myself to figure out. My work will never be the same as it was previously. I will be thankful the rest of my days for the time I spent with this couple, who have a genuine passion for bootmaking and passing it on.
If you have any inclinations to follow my example of scheduling it and doing it, I say Just Do It! You'll always be glad you did.

BTW the leather is brown beaumont with columbus naturelle lining, and forrest green kangaroo for the binding and side seam piping. The two row stitch pattern, in two shades of green, is my own, and was adapted from a pair of full cuts made in 1906.

I hope ya like "em! The fits the best I ever had for myself too.

A public Thank You, DW!

PK

[dw]

Pair of boots I just finished...my own designs...black kangaroo (which wanted to bleed) and black French Calf vamps (which had some worrisome plating/finish failure). They looked good coming off the trees but I am not certain about long term stability of the calf in particular. I would have revamped them except that I was working under a fiftieth birthday deadline.

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Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[paul]

I have wanted to post a picture of these for some time now. They were my entry for the Silver Dollar City Bootmakers Competition. And they were just returned today. Winners have been announced, but these were not among 'em. That's cool. There's always next year. However the whole process has really inspired me, so I wanted to share them.

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These were entered in the Show, or "Boots to be Worn on Stage" category. They are red kid suede from Shrute and Ash, with a filigreed collar (I call this one a cape) of 4 ounce milled veg. from Wichett and Craig. My design inspiration was aimed at a stage different than the Grand Ol' Opery, or some such. It might even be called Ecclesiastical. I was inspired by the red robes and gold capes of the Cardinals at the coronation of the last Pope. When the contest was announced, this was the image that came to me. They still inspire me. I have the cape image saved as my desk top!

Hope you like their simple, less-is-more design.

One last thing. It seems appropriate, at this point, to offer congratulations to those who did place. I understand Lisa Sorrell got an award. Way to go Lisa! I hope any others who are members, will post a picture of their entries on the Gallery for us all to see.

FYI, here is a link to the web page which lists all the people's choices for winners.

http://www.bransonsilverdollarcity.com/mini-section/default.aspx?id=11&pid=157

PK

[sorrell]

This is a pair of boots I made for Dale and entered in the Panhandle Leather Show Boot Contest in Amarillo, Texas this past weekend. I won first place with them! The foot is navy crocodile and the tops are a mixture of Australian and Italian tanned kangaroo.

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Lisa

[sorrell]

These were my entry for Silver Dollar City's contest, Office Boot category. They took third place.

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Lisa

[sorrell]

And these were my entry for Silver Dollar City's contest, Stage Boot category. They didn't place but I still like 'em!

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Lisa

[headelf]

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These aren’t in the same league as the photos from the master bootmakers but I thought you might like to see the shoe “ornaments” I contributed to the local hospital’s annual Festival of the Trees fund raiser.

The color pallet was prescribed by the charity and the whole tree has a shoe theme because one of the chairwomen is a shoe freak. The shoes are a little gaudy for street wear but should “read” well from the top of a Christrmas tree.
These are real women's shoes--size 3.5 and have all the usual shoe parts: steel shank board, foam insoles, thermo toe puffs, pigskin suede lining.

Pink: Re-embroidered pink satin with pink pigsuede lining. Red leather stiletto heels and sock lining. Poof ornament fashioned from three different French wire ribbons. Red Venetian glass beads complete the gold ribbons and ornament hanger.

Green: Silk brocade with holly berry motif. Pink pigsuede lining. Red leather sculptured heel and sock lining. Gold holly berry motif ribbon forms the bow ornamented with a faux stone center. Green Venetian glass beads finish the gold ribbons and ornament hanger.

These little shoes contain over over $100 worth of materials and around 30 hours of labor.

Luckily I had two single wooden lasts with no hinges in size 3.5 that I acquired in a big box of shoe junk. Their brothers and sisters in various sizes were all so split and moldy from getting wet, that I burned the corpses in a pizza oven. Just didn't get around to burning these last two.
Because the lasts were singles had no hinges, I had to make two different mules! I was glad I did because having to screw around with counters, etc. would have added to the hours involved. The project turned out to be a learning experience. I now know how to make a size 3.5 shank board out of an 8.5! Just takes a metal shear and a band saw!

Georgene Mckim

[kaspar]

Well here are some works I have done during past 3 years. I try to use vintage materials if I can. The sole leather I am using is mostly from the 1930-s. There´s no sole leather on the market today, here in Estonia, cause nobody is working with it.


These womens bootees were my first attempt to practice pegging. And I love this technique since then, especially the effect after. Uppers are hand embroidered.

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In the middle of a process.

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Inspiration from the Art Deco era. Brocade uppers decorated with peacock feathers.

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nicknamed "Phantom"

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(Message edited by Kaspar on November 26, 2006)

[kaspar]

Thank You Paul. It is good that there->here is people to share these kind of things with, other shoe/bootmakers and enthusiasts.
Here are some older works.

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Cheers
Kaspar

[j1a2g3]

1st shoe I made after coming home from the shoe school.

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[dw]

Here's a boot I just finished for a fellow in England (second pair actually).

17" grafted tops, 11/8th" heel, wide chisel toe, Horween Arlington

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Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[jake]

Gang,

Let me try this again...."Plain-Jane" work boots for yours truly. Black elephant on red, waxed kangaroo. 10" tops with 1 5/8" heels.

Happy New Year!

[jake]

Hmmmm....mighty rusty!

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[sorrell]

This is a pair of work boots I just finished for Dale.

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[sorrell]

Shoot...I forgot to reduce the size of the picture. Could Emmitt fix that for me?

Lisa

[dw]

Nothing special...but here's a pair I just finished. the only thing of note is that the leather is Burnishable Buffalo (Garlin Leather) and a very light colour.

Burinshable buffalo, 13/8ths heel, full pegged sole with mid-sole, "coffin" toe. Sideseam...close.

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Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[dw]

Oops! Sorry, not a "coffin" toe but a wide Blucher.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[dw]

This is a pair of boots just finished by my last student--Sean McMillan, a pedorthist from British Columbia--which I am posting by request.

He had little or no previous experience with sewing machines or any of the other techniques that go into making a pair of boots. He did a good job....a very good job.

It was interesting working with a pedorthist...he undoubtedly knows a lot more about feet than I do...yet he was appropriately circumspect about interjecting his knowlege into the course. Which I appreciated immensely. I'm sure he was probably grimacing internally at more than one point. I asked him, however, if he saw any flaws in my logic while we were modifying his last. Whether out of courtesy or not, his answer was "no."

More to the point, his boots fit well. He mentioned that his arch felt well supported, his metatarsals were in the right spot (we determined that he had long toes and put him in a last that was, sizewise, somewhat shorter than he expected in order to fit the shank just right)) and he had just the right amount of clearance around the toes both widthwise and depth-wise. He also mentioned that the counter fit around his heel perfectly.

I have to admit to a little bit of trepidation just because he was a pedorthist and probably as tuned into his feet and proper footwear as any customer I've ever fit up.

Anyway...here's the photo:

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Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[luckyduck]

And now,something completely different.. Here are some of my unlasted, turned style moccasins. These are 8 oz bull hide with deer trim. The deer was shot and tanned by the customer. The soles are rubber grindings in barge cement that is painted on. The buttons are antler. My goal this year is to figure out a way to make these lasted.

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[dw]

This is a pair of full wellingtons that Chuck Deats made in 2005. They are French Calf.

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[paul]

I've been busy.

Stressed too, but yesterday, while talking to my son about how I was doing, I realized that being stressed and complaining about being busy didn't get it done any faster. It's April and all the world is fresh and new.

I finally got these two inlays 'good enough' to use them for my customer. I apologize for using that dreaded term. But I'm sorry, three times is enough to make you wonder where is the charm! But these were the tiniest pieces I've ever worked with, and the tiger was a real noodle job to figure out layers.

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He wanted one on each boot. They're installed now and I feel I can move forward to completion. I lasted them this morning.

These have been such a challenge, and the reason that I'm shareing is to show that sticking to it pays off.

Thanks for looking.

PK

[dw]

Here's a apir of boots I just finished. I'm not thrilled with the colour combination myownself but some folks (including my customer)like it.

The interesting thing about these boots is that the bottom edge of the collar as well as the edges of the toe cap and heelscab are turned.

I used two different size punches on the collar and foxing...it's hard to see but there is a series of very tiny holes (between the larger, more visible holes) which are made with an Italian strike punch that was given to me by a student who is a "line designer" for a big New York based international manufacturer.

I've never seen anything comparable in domestic punches, but the effect is impressive and much more elegant than just a series of same-sized holes.

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Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

[dw]

Nothing special, but they came out clean. I've changed the way I handle the facing lock. All edges, except around counter cover, are turned. Crimped gusset tongue. Inch and five-eighths heel. Oil stuffed, five ounce uppers. And even the kiltie's a little refined.

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Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[paul]

I wish there were another pair between DW's packers and these, but...

Here is the finished pair with the inlays I shared back then. Somebody expressed an interest to see them when done.

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With my new assessment tool of finding only three things I'd do better on, all three are glaring at me.

Oh, well. It's all part of the process(read Adventure).

PK

[paul]

Thanks Fellers!

PK