Taskmaster Lorem

My feet are bruised, my wrist is strained, my legs are heavy.
Ran 10kms on Sunday, smelling the freshly cut fennel along the train line, feeling pretty good until 8kms when my rhythm started to go. Had to really concentrate, it was a case of mind over matter.

Have been at capoeira training Monday and Wednesday, and am feeling a few niggling injuries which I hope don't turn into anything more serious. That's the killer with training towards a goal, maybe you'll get injured or over train and completely lose the plot before d-day. My day in question is the 28th June, when I'm hoping to run 10kms in the fest that is Run Melbourne.

Lorem is going to Europe for a few weeks, so I've been getting as much training in with him as I can, and last night I started to feel that the more I learn about Capoeira, the less I know. Sometimes the flow just won't come, and last night was one of those occasions.

Need a big rest, maybe a massage, definitely a night on the couch drinking cups of tea.

Listening to: Young-Holt Unlimited - Soulful Strut

Every lady wants purple at some stage, right?

Assembling the uppers, I love this stage, it's like a big jigsaw.

Attaching the upper and lining; I like this stage considerably less so, it's a huge wrestle and the padding of the lining makes it hard to see where the edge is exactly. The paper clips are substituting for pins.

Ready for lasting.

Et voila! These were easy peasy, as I have done so many pairs of trainers. They are looking lovely and smooth, and a really perfect rich shade of purple, for Aunty Jenny.


Listening to: Weezer - Say it ain't so

Boots

Making leather laces
Stitching laces

Interior of boot upper, showing non-stretch tape that resides in each and every shoe, different tapes for certain areas. You can also see the reverse side of the loops which the laces go through.

Finished uppers, awaiting lasting. May I just say that this is some of the most sumptuous leather I have ever used. It creaks and squeaks beautifully, smells amazing and is so damn soft, while being strong and supple.


Lasted boots, drying out for a few days before a fitting. These laces aren't the final fancy ones, when you last shoes always use old laces, as they get a bit beaten up during lasting and soling. The final laces get put in during the finishing process, where angels sing and all the heavenly splendour of the finished shoe is revealed.

Listening to: Mike Ladd - Airwave Hysteria

Colour of the day

Magenta.

When I was a kid my sister and I had a Crayola Caddy, with all the crayons standing up around the edges of the central square. Damn, I wish we still had it. Anyone got a photo? I can't seem to find one.

photo by bookgrl

Anyways, I loved that all the colours had a descriptive name, not just a number. Unfortunately when reading the 'hot magenta' crayon, I rearranged the letters in my mind and for quite some time thought that this fine colour was called magneta. Maybe you just misread my misreading. Have another look. MAGNETA.

So I thought that this colour has something to do with magnets, and indeed many years later it does exert a certain magnetic attraction. I imagine that it also makes the noise of the Hypnotoad from Futurama.

In homage to the only shade of pink that I have ever considered wearing, today I'm sporting shiny magenta tights, which are making me feel rather invincible. I'm sure this delusion will only last until I get into the studio, and am reduced to whimpering when faced with my first challenge of the day.

To top it all off I have just stumbled upon a site called Colourlovers, and am now hyperventilating at all the spectrum goodness over there.

Listening to: Inner City - Do You Love What You Feel? Old school house music from 1989! Check out this video, I think I was in year 11 and sure remember some of these dance moves.... oh yeah.

Corky Saint Clair

Not only is Corky Saint Clair a great character from Waiting for Guffman, but also a much beloved Melbourne store in the Degraves subway arcade. We recently dropped off a number of Mini and Double fringed military brooches to Corky, adding to the deliciously fabulous range of jewellery, accessories and gifts. You know when you walk into a shop and feel instantly at home? That's the mood we get at Corky HQ.

Leo and I love to visit, because there is a cupcake shop nearby, a Sole Devotion shop selling John Fluevog and Trippen shoes (drool), and we love the baguette shop too. Plus the pink tiles in the stairwell and arcade are so retro, a detail from old Melbourne town that remains, let's hope for many more years.

Listening to: Amerie - One Thing

Making friends

Leo and I spend a lot of time over at Dude Craft, looking at the robots and all the other 3D treats that people are making. I'm astounded by the amount of creativity out there, and I truly feel at home at Dude Craft HQ.



These are Amy Flynn's Fobots, and they really make Leo yell with enthusiasm, "Wow! Look at dose wobots!"

So I wrote Mr Dude Craft an email, saying so, and it turns out I made his day. He even did a post about creative Aussie women, and it seems that we inspire him too. Can you feel the love?
Even more astounding for me was to find that there is a Crochet Dude, and to top it all off a Manbroiderer. No doubt there are even more out there, under various monikers, all I want to say is can we have more boys at crafty night please?

I have felt a bit lonely here in blogland from time to time. I know that Miss Pen Pen will drop by, even as I typed my recent tutorial on hand skiving I set my watch waiting for her comment. I also know from my statcounter how many of you are visiting over the days, just give a girl a hello, I always love to hear from you!

On my bedside table

It's been a Masterchef frenzy at my house recently, and even now I am listening to Debbie Enker on 774 discussing how she is addicted to watching it too. I guess I've taken it upon myself to learn a few things, as my cooking knowledge has a few gaping holes. Any tips I can pick up from George Calombaris are more than welcome, so far I know how to make an olive oil chocolate mousse. In a cross promotion, get thee to Hellenic Republic peoples, viva Brunswick!

I was vegan/vego for 10 years, so I still don't quite have a handle on cooking meat (I have modest success though, thanks Weber), I try not to bake because I work from home and would scoff the lot, I have been known to be rather lazy and get to 5pm and think 'dohp-what the hell are we eating tonight?'


Then I changed my tune, I figured that I have a folder full of tear sheets of recipes from the Age, I have some great cookbooks, why the bloody hell don't I use them? So every weekend I sit down with a pot of Lady Grey (my favourite, don't you know that already?), thumb through my recipes and write a shopping list/menu for the week. Maybe you're all doing this already and are saying, jeez Emma, get with the program! Scuse me for my tardiness, I'm a late bloomer.

I can tell you it really has changed my attitude to cooking, instead of a rushed, resentful experience, it is organised, welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed. Leo is a great assistant, he loves standing on his chair at the bench, fiddling and tasting and getting a mess on his sleeves.
I have hidden many vegies in meals for him, the zucchini in the chickpea fritters, the carrot in the spag bol, I can't complain, he is a great eater.


We have recently been baking muffins for his snackbox at Kindergarten, grated apple and strawberry jam, carrot and sultana, cheese and paprika. The key for me to not scoff the lot is to store them in the freezer. I know that there are ways around frozen muffins, but I'm not listening, I'm not listening, la la la la la.

Anyways, this is an exceptionally long preamble to my current bedside/kitchenside book, Karen Martini Cooking at Home. We have been singing the praises of this book over at Beci Orpin's blog, and I really am smitten by the whole package. I guess most of my torn-out recipes from the Age are Karen Martini's, and this collection of recipes is based on her Age column - the avocado pictured above on sourdough is one of my all time faves.

"Since having her first child, Karen Martini has spent a lot more time contemplating the eternal question of what to have for dinner. No longer able to pop out to a restaurant at a moment's notice or to the shops to pick up a basketful of exotic ingredients, Karen has put together a repertoire of dishes that can be put together quickly and simply, but with great effect."

One thing I really must mention is the photography, by Earl Carter, apparently all done without extra lighting at Karen's own home. There is a real sense of rich, simple seduction in the images, light and shade, chiaroscuro for those of you who know the Renaissance, (think Caravaggio).

Listening to: Betty Davis - Git in There
deep deep funk from this Awesome lady, once married to Miles Davis

It's a beauty!

A solid steel stamp, made by Unimark.
Heavy.
Expensive.
I feel like a real shoemaker now! Trés professional! Magnifique!

Wardrobe changeover

It's freaking cold people! Officially time to say goodbye to the summer wardrobe, and so on the weekend I put all those floaty dresses away, and dragged out all my jackets and warm skirts. I have the tiniest clothing rack for a wardrobe, hence the need to keep the seasons separate, but I did get a thrill to see all my coats, and am looking forward to donning them in the coming weeks.


Of course all the sandals have to go into hiding as well, and I made the decision that some are in permanent retirement. What to do with my old shoes? I have real difficulties throwing them away, as the shabby state of my velvet Chinatown slippers will attest to (huge holes in the bottoms, I can't admit that their happy days are over).

Plus I'm a shoemaker, this could all be research and development! I have been known to take old shoes apart, to see what's going on inside, what are Adidas using for ankle padding these days? I wish these kicks were still OK, alas my early days of capoeira were spent in them, and the toes are completely sprung open. Maybe I could turn them into sandals? Someone stop me now... this is getting depressing and I am starting to sound like a hoarder.

It is hard rubbish season over here in the Moreland area (Brunswick/Coburg). I haven't seen too many pairs of old shoes out on the nature strips, but I have narrowly avoided many car accidents as I drive with my head turned to the side, scoping all the heaps of sad old things.

I have brought home a few old green rubbish bins to be used as garden planters, but can report that our own rubbish heap has dwindled day by day, some things reappearing further down the street!

Best crack the ice off my fingers and go out into the freezing studio... will I ever prise the cup of tea from my hands?

Like butter, baby

Here begins a tutorial on leather buildups.

Earlier I discussed buildups using resin, which is a much harder medium and better for sharp, defined shapes.
Leather is much more flexible, and can cover a greater area much faster and with a more even result.
I use veg tanned insole leather 3ml thick. Cut the desired shapes and soak them in a bucket of water.



Sharpen your knife on a stone. I do this many times a day depending on what I'm working on. This knife is my bestest friend, apart from my lasting pincers, and I look after it like a treasure.
Skive the edges to be blended into an even contour. This skiving process can be done with a machine prior to soaking the leather, but I am such a fan of hand-skiving. I use my skiving machine when I'm making belts, when the edge is over a meter long and has to be even, but if I have smaller pieces of leather, or thick chunky pieces, I prefer to do it by hand.

You are literally slicing sections off the edge, resting your work on glass or marble so that the knife can glide over the surface and not get damaged. The longer you soak the leather, the softer it will be, and potentially more stinky.
I recall days when I worked at Preston Zly Design, we had a big bucket of soaking leather heel stiffeners, they would get really stinky but they were so soft and a real pleasure to hand-skive!

It is interesting to notice different textures in the leather. Obviously certain parts of an animal perform different tasks, and the texture of leather often reflects this. While I'm hand skiving, I may come across a really hard, shiny, tightly textured section which has me cursing and sweating, and then I'll be working on a really soft, buttery, loose textured piece which is a dream to skive.
Also while whittling the edges down to a fraction of a millimeter, you are constantly using your fingers to feel for irregularities, or even-ness, to check how accurate the blend is. I am always reminded how important all of the sense are when doing this, I often close my eyes to almost heighten that sense of touch, and am amazed at how much information one's fingertips can receive.

Then after skiving I tack the leather onto the last where it is required, and put them in the sun to dry. You can see that these lasts have already been built up considerably, they are for a pair of slippers for Uncle Bill, he is a diabetic with a lot of swelling in his feet. There are two layers of leather under these smaller top sections, which has been wet moulded using the previous process. Ah the joys of taking two dimensions and turning them into a sculpted 3D form!
Once the leather is dry I trace the outline of the piece onto the bottom surface, take out the tacks and glue the buildups back into place. Hammer the bejeezus into them to get the edges sitting down nicely, and often I use my sanding machine to get the blend really smooth.

Listening to: A Tribe Called Quest - Butter coincidentally Phife from ATCQ is also diabetic!

Little Gems

My first Military pin was made back in 2004, before my son was born. (That's my benchmark - before or after Leo, and it makes me feel rather productive to think I have made many more things since his birth.)
Anyway, I love these little gems, and for a time there I was thinking that accessories had to be seasonal, and therefore with each new collection I had to leave the old designs behind.
However, I decided that certain designs should live on eternally, damn these quick, fickle trends, and so the Mini Fringe Pin, as it is officially deemed, lives on.

I was lucky to get this project in Pip's delicious book, so the virtues of these pins is spreading far and wide, and they are listed not only in my shoppe, but also on etsy. Jackets love them, lapels particularly so, waistcoats too, I even have a whole posse of them on a smart blazer.


Unisex, yes; versatile, yes; colourful, of course; well made, ahem, thanks for noticing!

Listening to: Hard Knock Life - Jay Z turn it up y'all!