First pair of boots - Done!

The Boots Are Done!!!

 

 

 

So, to re-wind a bit, let's go back to where we left off before.  I needed to make the insoles.  Here's the insole material (celtek), with shank board glued on.  The shank board was soaked, then duct-taped to the lasts overnight to shape it.  The shank board is on the top (foot side) of the insole.

 

 

As previously, I glued on a piece of the liquid fiberglass shank material, then tacked folded up tin foil around it and heat set the shanks.  The tin foil is to keep the celtek from burning.  This is the bottom (pavement) side of the insole.

 

 

 

I don't have photos of the next bit - mixing a 2-part expoxy, putting on a layer of fiberglass, then more epoxy, then a suede shank cover. 

 

Then I got to work lasting.  This is the fun part!  It really starts to look like it might work!

 

 

Once it's all lasted and glued down, I take out an exacto knife, and cut away all but about a half inch all the way around.  I glue cork (the rolled up cork sheets from the craft store) into the spaces, and then sand it down as smooth as possible on the belt sander.

 

 

Now they're ready for soles.  Which I should cut out.  Usually I use soling material - the black, rubber-like stuff.  It's really durable, pretty easy to cut, and made for this.  For this particular shoe, I wanted something more like a welted riding boot look (without the hassle of welting), and I didn't want the soles to be black, so I'm using thick leather.  I also took the opportunity to emboss in my logo.  Which I put too far forward.  I'll remember that next time...

 

 

And I dyed the soles a dark mahogany color.

 

 

Glued the soles onto the boots, and was ready to take the lasts off.  !!!  This part is so exciting!

 

Took a few minutes to make the comfort insoles and sock liners.  Insole is 1/4" poron, the sock liner is more of the brown pigskin suede I used for the lining.  I've used the *entire* piece of suede on this one project.  That's kind of crazy.  The sock liner is glued to the poron. 

 

Still had to make the heel blocks.  I've done a ton of photos on this, showing every little step.  Heels are very 3D items, and you have to have two exactly the same.  I'm hoping to find some more sources for heels, because carving them out of white oak isn't, I think, a good long-term solution.  The wood will eventually break from the impact, if nothing else. 

So - I started with a block that was the right height and width.  I traced the angle of the sole, making sure I still had about 1/4" of toe spring, and cut the top off at that angle.  I also rounded off the back profile.

Then, give the top a sloped concave curve, to account for the fact that the bottom of the shoe is not flat.

Check this against the boot, and draw the front and rear.

 

Oops - this one got caught in the saw, and is now firewood.

Don't forget - you have to make two that are identical.

Next, the heel breast - that's the front edge, which should have an inward curve.

Not pictured here - the final shaping step, which was to angle the sides in a little from top to bottom.  These wood heel blocks were then stained with a dark mahogany wood stain, and attached to the boots with a 1 1/2" screw.  The comfort insoles were put in, and it was time to try them on:

 

THEY FIT!!!  I was so excited, I had to wear them to go out to dinner.

 

Lots of lessons learned on this one.  I think the biggest things here are that while it's possible to use 4oz tooling leather, and do tooling and dye it however you like...  it's not easy.  I'm not sure I'd do that again without a really good reason. 

 

Second important lesson:  a few days after I sewed the uppers together, I watched a great video of Lisa Sorrell using her crimping boards on cowboy boot vamps.  Given the sort of weird fit at the ankles, and how difficult it was to last these without horrible huge wrinkles at the vamp point, I'm absolutely going to make a crimping board before I attempt the next pair of boots. 

 

Also, I'm not convinced that doing a welted construction wouldn't have been the better option for these.  But - since I've never done that, and don't have a lot of the tools, I think that's a project for another day.

Overall, however, I'm really pleased with how these turned out.  I'll absolutely be able to walk the couple of blocks from our hotel to the party in them, without getting sore feet or blisters, and that's great.  Yay!  Boots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually have progress to report!

Finally making progress on the shoes!

 

I finished the sewing - most of which I ended up doing by hand.  That sucked.  But the hand-stitched bits look better than the machine-stitched parts.  I guess I need to start looking into getting a better sewing machine.  Regardless, I'm fairly pleased with how the piping on the edges turned out.

 

 Here's how I did the piping:  I cut a strip of the black leather, and skived it down as thin as I could.  I sewed it along the upper edge, right sides together, then flipped it over, and stitched the lining to the upper along the stitch line.  (Stitch-in-the-ditch.)

And I got started on the lasting. 

I even remembered to take out all the tacks holding the insole to the last, except for one in the middle, where I'll be able to remove it after the shoe is lasted.

Since I had the glue out, I also took the opportunity to cover the heels with leather.  Still crossing my fingers that white oak will be strong enough.

 And... here they are - linings glued down, ready for the toe box and counter.

Counter, Toe Box, and Final Lasting

Time to get going on the structure.

I know - this first picture is a re-post, but it's in here to show different things.

I cut the counter out of the same orange suede I used on the insoles.  In class, we used split shoulder (tooling leather), but I don't have a splitter, and I'm thinking that the suede is about the same thickness.  I soaked it for a couple of hours in water, and then spread Hirschkleber (elk hoof glue) all over one side.  I applied the counter to the back of the last, on top of the lining, but under the outer leather, and lubed up the outside with the hirschkleber.  In the photo, the counter is the brown thing on the back of the shoe. 

The white, semi-circle piece is the toe box (also known as a toe puff) - it's a thermo-molding material.

 

You put glue on the white stuff and on the toe of the shoe, and let it dry.  Then heat it up in a toaster oven (I got one on clearance at Fred Meyer for $20!) until it's floppy, and quickly stretch it over the toe of the shoe.  While it's still warm, you can use scissors to trim off the excess material at the feather line.  

 

Then, I used a file to sand down the edges of the toe box, so there won't be a visible line on the outside of the shoe. 

 

I also took the shoes up to the belt sander and ground down the wrinkles in the lining (on the insole) and trimmed away the excess material there.

 

 

Time to finish lasting!  A quick swipe of glue on the insole and the black suede, and a generous application of shoe stretch, and it's ready for nails.

 

My ghetto lasting stand is working just fine. 

 

Here's how they're looking at the moment.  Next, I need to trim and sand down the wrinkles on the black suede, like I did on the liner, then fill in the bottom with some cork.  Then soles - which I'm going to make out of leather - yet something else I've never done.  These shoes have a lot of experiments in them.  Perhaps I should have started with a more standard pump...

Finally, they're starting to look like shoes

I don't know yet if it's just this particular pair of shoes - the suede I chose is a little heavier than the kangaroo leather I'll mostly be working with in the future - but my sewing machine did not like sewing the lining to the outer suede.  Even with a walking foot, it did a really shitty job of keeping tension.  Since these shoes are for me, and they're sort of an experiment/learning experience all around, I kept the mostly-ok bits, and hand-sewed the rest.  Ugh.  

 

 

Then, trimmed off the excess lining material.

 

A couple of things had to happen before I could start lasting.  For starters, my home-made ghetto lasting stand was too tall.  So I had to unscrew the steel pipe, and take it out to the garage, and cut about 8 inches off it.  Now, when I put the last on the stand, I can brace it with my knee. 

Also, I made sure to test the hinges - to make sure that the glued-on modifications I made to the last wouldn't make it impossible to get the shoe off once it's done.

Then, I had to drive to Fred Meyer.  Because it turns out I don't have an old bottle of baby powder in the bathroom.  I didn't even know where they kept the baby powder at the store - I had to ask. 

Also, I'm going to be adding a 1/4" thick comfort insole into the bottom of these shoes, so I grabbed some fun foam sheets, glued them together (to get approximately 1/4" thickness) and cut out some insole shapes, so that the final shoe will have enough room in it to slip in the blue comfort foam.  I put the last on the stand, put the fun foam on the sole, and then the insole I made previously.  Nailed it on with three nails, positioned toward the middle, where I'll be able to get them out again after the shoe is lasted.

So - under normal circumstances, you'd powder the inside of the upper liberally with baby powder, to help get the shoe off the last when you're all done.  Because I'm working with suede, and it's a flat (which means it'll be easier to get it off the last anyway), I powdered the last, rather than the leather.

Then the nailing begins!  My lasting pliers are a little large - I may eventually invest in a second pair with more pointy grippers. 

After it was all nailed down, I sprayed it liberally with shoe stretch - I'm hoping that as it dries, it'll form a bit into this shape.  The next step (probably tomorrow) is to carefully take out the nails, and glue down just the lining to the insole, all the way around. 

 

Both shoes are at this stage - and they're sort of looking like shoes!  That's kind of exciting.  I started making the toggles that will hold those two straps down.  There are still a couple of different ways that could all shake out, and I'm not sure which way I want to go with that.