Just keep making

I was showing this book to a friend the other day, and I realised that a number of the makers profiled in Handmade in Melbourne Volume 2 aren't making any more. This book was published in 2009, but already so many of the creatives have had a career change, sold all their tools and equipment, or put things on hold, for whatever reason.

It made me feel sad that these makers had gone to the lengths of presenting their work for inclusion in this book, had written profiles about their passion for their chosen craft, the desire to keep their skills up, to grow their practice or their business, but now only 4 years later they are no longer pursuing that dream.

There are also a few inclusions in this book who have gone on to great things, their business has expanded, product range is new and exciting, they have gone from little local markets to massive stockist lists, and huge fancy markets, Angus and Celeste I'm looking at you!

Over the years I've had some ups and downs grappling with what it means to be a maker, and recently had some fantastic conversations/peptalks with Esteemed People Who Know Important Things, who assured me that I just need to keep making, but to be honest there's no way I could stop tinkering.

So in between Christmas and New Years' festivities, endless bickering of my children, an Instagram feed full of peeps on holidays, and both of my neighbours renovating, I have somehow found the time to begin a new pair of shoes.

It took me a while to decide on which leather to use

It has been far too long since I made a pair of sneaks, I mean a proper adult sized, fully lasted and constructed pair of custom kicks. It feels amazing to flex these muscles again.

Coco helped me cut the pieces while I listened to Ashes cricket - clean sweep!

They are almost stitched up and ready to be lasted, more pics coming soon.

Baby Sneeks

Time for a production run. Clear the bench and get methodical. Cut all the components and prepare to get miniature.

 Wow! I love to see flat pieces of leather taking on three-dimensions, I find it really satisfying, and get a bit happy in the studio, as you would have seen on instagram @emblueski

 A whole stack of vamps. A sandwich of vamps. I am loving this colour combo.

 Almost done, mudguards are stitched on, now time for the soles...

 At this point I often wish I had a post machine, but I was taught to turn uppers inside out to close certain stages. It's not that hard, and when I get to the end I feel a bit clever!

Voila, a tray of baby sneeks. Small, Medium and Large. Damn they are cute :)

I'm also doing a run in red/royal blue, they will all be at the Finders Keepers market on Oct 4/5 at the Royal Exhibition Building here in Melbourne town.

Traditions

Aprons & Hammers with Emma Greenwood from Craft on Vimeo.

So I'm still in Italy, sweating it out in Rome with the family. We have one day left and then the ridiculously long, uncomfortable flight home. We will be going from extremely long days, sunset after 8:30 pm, temperature around 30 degrees, to Melbourne's wintry weather, and extremely short days. I hope our immune systems are ready.

It has been a very inspiring trip, we have seen a lot of art, both contemporary and classic,  and we have eaten a heap of pasta, pizza and gelati. The kids have had a lot of attention, Hazel is a big attraction, as all the Italians wave at her and talk to her, calling her bella, or carissima. Travelling with kids and a Granny is, um, well, interesting, logistically challenging, expensive, and ultimately quite amusing. The kids are a big icebreaker.

I have been paying attention to the style of the Italians, hot damn they are sharp dressers! In Venice I was gobsmacked, Florence and Rome less so, but generally they have amazing knitwear, leather products (of course), and eyewear/spectacles etc.

I was particularly inspired in Florence, as Tuscany is the home of the leather industry, with many tanneries, workshops and manufacturers. A friend was visiting the San Miniato region to meet with leather producers, and I eagerly await her findings!

I love the traditions of Italy, whether it's food, arts/crafts, family, living with mucho gusto! And so in a very circuitous ramble, I finally get to introduce this short film, showing me in my studio, using traditional shoemaking techniques.

My buddy Tom from Bandit Films was commissioned by Craft Victoria to make a few films on Melbourne artisans/craftspeople, including Philip Stokes, Nicholas Jones, Emily Green and myself. Over the course of a year or so, Tom visited me in the studio and as he filmed we chatted away about shoemaking and crafting, there is no dialogue here but plenty of visual information.

I hope you enjoy it, seeing it all while I am away from home makes me a bit teary, as I do miss my studio, and am storing up all this inspiration and energy for a big frenzy when I get home. I especially love the closing shot of me and Little Hazel, she was only 18 months old, such a munchkin!

Olde Worlde

 French boots from the 1860s.

 The stitches were so small and perfect, every detail was exquisite and I felt like a big galumph in my battered boots.

 This is my ideal outfit, seriously, I am such a fan of these old military  uniforms. Do not be surprised if you see me sporting one of these jackets in the near future.

Bentwood cradle from the 1860s. Gorgeous. I had to restrain Hazel from climbing in.

These treasures are all in the permanent collection at the NGV.

Right now!

Hi there, welcome to my studio! Today I am lasting a pair of boots, the old-fashioned way.

These are the tools I use to last any uppers. If they are on my desk all at once it means - BUSINESS TIME! You can see the lasts on the left, with appropriate build-ups for this client.

The uppers are pulled over the lasts with pincers, and then wrapped over the insole and held in place with tacks. The pincers are a combination of pliers and hammer, in this image I'm using them as a hammer. Tap tap tap.

And here they are being used as pliers. I keep the tacks in my mouth and pull them out when I need them (a very old-school method), the face I am making in this pic is because I'm fishing around in my mouth for a tack. Tasty.

The toe stiffeners are on, I'm painting them with adhesive so that they form one layer when the upper is pulled over.

The upper is all lasted, held in place with tacks, and here I'm hammering down the pleats. The boots will stay like this for a day or two, then once they are dry I can start to clean them up and get ready for soling.

Tada!

Belated mention

Totally forgot to mention that my pal Stephen Phillips designed the shoes for Christina Exie, the winning contestant of Project Runway - woot! He knows that I love spending time on my sewing machine and asked me to stitch the uppers for 10 pairs of slick ankle booties, which was heaps of fun.
Check out his site for the HUGEST post on his experience making this production run all by hand - the man is a champ!

Stella

These beauties are on their way to London with Stella, as she sets off to cover the Paralympic Games for Ramp Up. They fit so well, and look amazing on, a perfect illustration of how custom made is the best!

I will miss working on these, I had a lot of fun, and they are so small and cute. Lovely leather, a few new processes and testing things to get them right. I think I'll do a few more pairs of elastic sided boots - they're so hot right now :)

Argyle Hero Boots

Tada!

Some quick studio photos in the afternoon light.

Had a tense day yesterday making the heels, I wanted them to be offset and so the angles and measurements were messing with my brain. I lost my way for a while and had to reign myself back in and get methodical about it.

It's OK to make one heel, but to replicate it perfectly again is always a challenge. If I was making more of these I would cast the heel and have a mold to use again, but I just wanted to get these done, and attached and OFF MY LIST!

Now off to sew uppers for Stella before the kids come back home......no rest for the wicked!

Lovely lasting

First I handskived my leather stiffeners, built up my last a bit, and added the cone and ankle build-ups. When you make a boot you have to allow for more room in the ankle area, so these extras are tacked on. I have some plastic ones, but have made many others from veg tanned leather. I usually keep all that stuff in a box, so I can rummage through and see what fits each last, when I need them.

Then I checked out the proportions by resting the upper sitting loosely on the last. Take note of my heel block; Hazel's clamshell phone and a slice of plastic toast.

 I tested a new pair of leather shears on heavy duty 5ml veg tan soling leather. I found these beauties at Northern Sharpening in Coburg, I needed to get a new bandsaw blade and George said he would MAKE me a new one from industrial steel, not 'hobby' steel, which he said my old one was made from. Profesh.

They are amazing, like a great pair of secateurs, but for leather. I'm gobsmacked that such a thing exists, I've always used bandsaws or a Landis cutter.

I had to cover the upper in plastic, to avoid getting glue, dirt etc on them. They are the tallest boots I've lasted, so there was a lot of leg hanging around, if you know what I mean.

Just illustrating how useful a lap can be. Sometimes I use a lasting pin to work on, but often it's my lap. A great workout for the adductor muscles in your inner thigh as you squeeze to hold the last firmly.

Hello bandsaw, I am so glad to have you on my bench again. This baby was at Sam's for a while, but after some huffing and puffing and possibly one strained muscle, it's back with me. Watched a few youtube tutorials on bandsaw blade changing, just to check that I did it right. Those videos are awesome, I wish I knew a lot of those informative blokes.

All this action while wearing my Tron boots from a few years back. I try to keep my exhibition pieces in perfect nick, packed safely for another show and tell day. But I've been wanting to wear these long boots to keep me warm and look robotic. Thanks to Sync for the collab.

 Done. Gold star to me!

Satisfaction

 Here's where I'm at! My uppers are almost assembled, I just have to put the lining and zips in and then I'm ready to last them. Gulp, that bit is always daunting, no matter how many pairs I've lasted, I always get nervous at this stage.

 

 I embroidered the second panel in record time, here they are top to tail, don't they look awesome? They are quite heavy and plush, I ironed them to keep them a bit more streamlined, which felt a bit naughty, I'm sure you're not meant to iron embroidery.

My delightful tin of yarn will no longer be my constant companion.

 Stitching the uppers makes me feel so happy, it's like the best jigsaw puzzle coming together to make a whole. It's one thing to draw a crappy sketch and imagine what it will look like, but to get to this stage, grinning from ear to ear and doing a happy dance, is such a buzz.

Today I'll get the lining and zips in, get the stiffeners made, make some minor adjustments to the last shape and attach the insoles which I made ages ago. Might have time to last them before school pickup.

More soon!

Argyle Argy Bargy

 Sure enough, stitch by stitch, my diamonds have been taking over this piece of canvas.

I can't quite estimate the hours, must be about 30 so far, but it is very satisfying to see one finished. I laid some of the upper pieces over the top in the studio the other day, and I'm really looking forward to sewing them together and getting lasting.

Now for one more! Don't forget that shoes come in pairs :)

Gatsby

Wow - these sure took a long time to cook.

I lasted them a while ago, and just couldn't figure out what sole to put on, my options were to go for a straight-up sneaker sole (been there, done that), or to do a more traditional men's-style sole and heel (ditto).

Essentially I wanted to try something new, and after a lot of ruminating/thinking time I decided to do a covered wedge sole. This meant a lot of time on the sanding machine, a bit of testing, a lot of measuring.

Yesterday Tom came in to do some more filming as I covered them. I'm sure I was making the face of extreme concentration - how flattering!

This morning the soles went on, I cleaned them up a bit, and got all excited to see the fringe fanning out just as I had planned. Drats that I can't wear them till Tom comes back to do the final shots!

In the studio