motorharp | Shoe-making school

I hate blogging. Is it still blogging if I'm on LJ? Or is it journaling. Whatever, I hate being stuck in front of my computer for any amount of time (or any computer, as I found out from going back to school and interning, yay), so I usually do these posts in two shifts: photo work, then words. I do like to have a record with pictures of what I do that works (and doesn't work), but still I'd rather be up and making things. Like SHOES! My award for finishing this leg (ahah) is to look at the sears 20s and 30s book and dream up a shoe design. *drool*

The last thing left on my list of Things To Learn is how to make shoes. There are several schools within reasonable traveling distance to me, however, I don't think it's financially responsible of me do something like that right now. (And thinking about that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms/journal/blog post.) So I made up my own shoe school curriculum. I checked out Mary Loomis' book Make Your Own Shoes, as well as Handmade Shoes for Men by Lazlo Vass, and wrote up a schedule.

I got a Goodwill pair of half-priced Amanda Smith (American) size 10 heels - they had a heel shape closest to a 1920s shape I could find that day. Plus they were half off. I usually wear a size 8.5, but I figured I could reshape the lasts.

The first step was to prep the shoes - remove any decorations (and keep for later use? Hey, I'm good, thanks!), and remove the insoles.

BTW, the insides of these shoes were gross. They were not lined in leather, but rather an iridescent-coated fabric that was disintegrating.
The padding is stuck in there like nobody's business.

Next, cut a slit in the tip of the toe with a utility knife. This was a lot easier to do than I thought - the shoes are much less robust than I assumed. Always cut AWAY from your body, because you never know when it's going to be easier than you think.

And since I hate sitting in front of the computer, I had to do this. ?

The next part I did not photograph because I was covered with plaster.

Things I learned:

Thinner plaster is better at filling the shoe, but harder to deal with since you have to hold it so the shoe opening is level until it dries enough it doesn't spill out.

Oil and vaseline work equally well, however oil is way less gross.

The author says to get a 10 lb bag - I found 4 lb tubs and 4 lbs was plenty to do two American size 10s, with some left over for patching.

This is what it looked like when I was done:

Then you cut around the upper and up the back seam, and peel it off the last. I was surprised to see how much fabric and cardboard and foam was in here. I really thought shoes had more leather in them, even when they are synthetic. The counter simply seems to be a stiffened, slightly heavier than muslin, fabric.

Right last - thinner plaster, oil. Left last - thicker plaster, Vaseline. And grosser.

Air bubbles in the left last are pretty bad. In the instructions, Loomis said to stir until the mixture goes "glop, glop", however mine was doing that from the beginning which would indicate that's just how I stir. Basically, after all the lumps are out, but before it starts coagulating, is the texture I think works best.

The shank is riveted in, or whatever it's called when it looks like a grommet. Grommeted. Gromit!

A pre-stripped screw head. I ended up using a chisel and pliers to pry out the nails, then removed the rest of the cardboard/fiberboard, then unscrewed the screw by gripping the head with pliers. The screw ended up snapping off.

This is the heel lift. Hard plastic with a guiding pin and metal pin. Even though it had a guiding pin, it was still a little crooked on the shoe.

Next up, shaping the lasts.