Hello all, excited to be participating in this forum - I’ve been reading it for a while and learning a lot so I appreciate everyone else that posts and shares their information!
I started shoemaking back in December when I happened to buy some leather and needed to figure out what to do with it; after making a wallet and a purse I set my eyes on shoes.
So far I’ve mainly used antique lasts from eBay and have had good luck with getting ones that fit. I started with barebones tools and using cheap leather for everything( upholstery uppers and belly leather for soles) but have been upgrading as I go!
Definitely a fun hobby and trying to get better every pair! When I was first getting into it, I heard Lisa Sorrell say she recommends a beginner just makes a lot of boots so I have taken a quantity approach to making and even though I have my fair share of failures, I think that it has served me well and I’m happy with a lot of my pairs, I recently made my suit and shoes for my sisters wedding(all within the last 48 hours) which was a fun challenge and a fun thing to show off at the wedding!
I’m excited to continue learning and getting better each pair!
Welcome to the forum! Twenty pairs is no joke—a real milestone. I’m glad you chose to share it with us. I’m also impressed by the range of what you’ve tried. Loafers and wholecuts in particular.
I’ll make sure to say the same to you as I say to all the other makers who join us: Feel free to jump into topics and start your own. No need to be shy or play the cautious “new guy”.
This forum only gets better when folks let themselves be a little “constructively selfish”. If you’re hung up on a question, or having trouble sourcing a material, or have just seen something online or in a book that interested you, it’ll almost certainly be of interest for others here, too. We can never tell where a question or conversation will take us. I’ve learned a whole lot on little excursions just reacting to other makers’ build journals.
If I can jump right in to technical nerdiness, why no beading on the boot side seams? Just curious. Some of the old old school makers like first gen Tony Lama didn’t use them
Thank you, cowboy boots have been my favorite thing to make so far - it feels like so much personality goes in to them!
I haven’t had a specific reason to not include a side beading. I had never had a pair of cowboy boots before it’s been a lot of details to learn and aesthetic choices to make as I’ve been getting closer to a real cowboy boot.
I recently got wooden pegs and beading from Lisa Sorrell’s site so I’m planning on trying it on the next pair!
Thank you, Ken! And thank you for the site you have put together - I know shoemaking content is not abundant so it has been nice to read through and I will do my best to contribute!
If you hadn’t seen these videos they are a nice resource if you want to see some of the processes explained sequentially.
And of course you can’t possibly beat Lisa Sorrell’s videos which taken together contain all the cool little techniques and tips you only get with decades of experience
I also found it helpful to watch videos of Lee Miller and by Eradawn on YouTube. If you want to geometrically pattern boots from a last, Eugene Pik has a nice tutorial.
I summarized some of these resources in this Reddit post:
