I don't have a ton of photos, but I think the high point for me was the opportunity to socialize and geek out with other makers of shoes. We're an odd bunch, but I found some kindred spirits there, learned a lot, and made some great connections with some of the vendors. Shoe making equipment, tools, and supplies are hard to find - it's great to be able to actually *talk* to the people who can provide those things. Many of them don't have websites or online ordering - you just have to know who has the thing you want, and call them up. Like, on a telephone. How last century! Of course, we're making shoes by hand, here.
I just had to purchase some leather, of course. I got some frog skins, and lizard, and ostrich shins. (This is not my haul - this is the vendor's table.)
There was also a competition - these are some of my personal favorites of the submitted shoes:
These amazing boots were inspired by a sculpture. You can't see it in this photo, unfortunately, but the stitching and overlay work is really amazing - almost every color you see is a separate piece of very thin leather, not paint. (There's a little bit of shading done with dye, but mostly, it's separate pieces of material.)
I had seen photos of these before - Deborah's very cute star cutout pumps. Now I got to see them in person.
Rose, who was in my class last year, and was a speaker at the symposium, made these, and won the People's Choice award for them. Very sharp - and exactly what I would have expected from her!
Again, a really great weekend. Lots of good food, and wine, and interesting people I want to stay in touch with. I'll be heading back down to Ashland on Sunday to start a two week long class on fashion boots - so there will be more shoemaking stuff here shortly!
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