On My Desk

Fussing around with the heel tacks, prior to screwing the heels onto Helen's tango shoes.


Heels and soles on, now the laborious and never-ending finishing/cleanup begins. Oh joy.


Leo's main pattern. I trace all the pieces from here.


Assembling Leo's uppers. He requested some yellow.


Uppers finished and ready to last into shape. They remind me of old-school Reebok high tops from the 80s. Champion style. Hope that I can finish them before winter!

Listening to: The Coup - We Are The Ones

Ecco a lei!

Finito, my navy blue Printemps with white details.
They look much more cowboy to me than the white ones.
Now all I need is some truly Autumnal weather in which to wear them.
Giddy up!

Suggestions please!

I finished these sandals yesterday, and am so looking forward to wearing them this summer. Red foil finish kid leather, 1960's Australian stamps of the Queen in 3/4 profile, cute pinked edges, navy blue waxed leather sole.

My only unfinished detail is what to call them, and that's where I'm taking suggestions. I've been referring to them as QEII or HRH, but I'd be keen to hear what you think.



Listening to: America - West Side Story
I've been watching this again, such a great movie, and Rita Moreno as Anita is astoundingly good. Hope that you're singing this song all day, like I have been for most of the week!

This week I've......

....been to Geelong to do a presentation of my work to the Sewing Guild. My mother-in-law is an amazing sewer (is that the right term?), and she has always appreciated what I do, so she asked me a while ago if I would play show & tell with her sewing group.

It was great to meet all the talented ladies, it was a real bastion of fabric, so I was almost hyperventilating as they discussed interfacing and lingerie fabrics, not my forté as you might know already.

I really enjoyed their perspective of my craft, and to see it all together made me remember that I do have a body of work, even if the making does seem glacially slow at times.


I've also been inhaling the fumes from this leather dye, it's not altogether unpleasant. Very potent stuff, not as much as raven oil, but it really soaked into these heels. Most shoes are finished with a black or brown waxy dye, but neither of those colours feature much in my making. So I've been experimenting with good ol' navy blue, my fave, and they turned out beautifully. After this photo I covered them with shoe polish, which was then buffed to a high shine.


The detailing on these soon-to-be-revealed shoes has really gone over the top, but that gets me so excited! Every part of the shoe has some special treatment/decoration/feature, including these steel tips for the soles. I can't even remember where I picked them up, maybe when I lived in Sydney. I used them on the outer edge of the heel, so that they don't wear down.

I am hours away from posting a picture of these beauties, I just can't wait to share them. When the sun comes up I'll be straight back into the studio to decide on a final detail and then you'll know all about them!

Listening to: 24 Carat Black - Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth Classic old-school funk

Works in Progress

A great day in the studio today, well, the afternoon, the morning was spent running along the Merri Creek, and then attending a seminar on toilet training. (Any tips for the mother of a nearly 5 year-old High Functioning Autistic chap who is rather fond of nappies?)

Anyway, the above photos are the fruits of my labours today, in preparation for the handmade footwear showcase coming up in October at Craft Victoria. Yeehar, I think that's the first time I've mentioned the exhibition, maybe I can finally admit to it as I have a few projects nearing completion.

What else is happening, oh well of course there is a launch at CV tomorrow night for the 'I Make Stuff' book by Handmadelife, an embarrassment of riches this week to be featured in 2 books! I was a bit disappointed not to be able to get some of my new projects completed and in the aforementioned book, but there are some old faves instead.

Hmmmm, painted the back fence, oiled the garden bed tops, harvested some broccoli rabe, did some pilates (oh man that is a foreign concept to my gung-ho sweaty approach to exercise - what's with the gentle slow going-ness? When do I go for the burn? My muscles aren't even sore, I mustn't be doing it right!) danced around the house to Sharon Jones, made chicken stock, wore high heels and a smart blazer to kinder pick up to fool the other parents into thinking that I'm a go-getter, ate a lot of chocolate, recovered some sleep post Tour de France, about to lose some due to 3rd Test match in Edgebaston.......

It's all happening. More detailed photos to come, unfortunately my perfectionist nature will not allow full in-progress shots till the dreaded finishing process is complete, and I may even save some surprises for the exhibition. Don't worry Dudecraft, I'll be keeping you in the loop!

Listening to: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Tell Me


PS. I'm about to go on a well-earned spending spree on etsy, I have a few favourites, what are your recommendations?

Girl on film

Here's some footage of me lasting a pair of shoes during the week.
So here's a peek into my studio, sharing with the motorcycles and pushbikes.



It's weird for me to see what I look like while I'm lasting, so let me explain some bits.

I use an old-school technique favoured by European shoemakers who are generally senior in years, where you keep all the shoemaking tacks in your mouth. It sounds completely gross, but there is a great reason why. The tacks we use to fix the uppers in place have to be grabbed by the head, then pushed and hammered into the leather. If you keep your tacks on the bench, like most young folk do, you have to fish around to get the head of any particular tack, and for me it feels like wasting time.

Remember that I have lining, stiffener and upper all sandwiched together, the stiffener is wet and is covered on either side with a slippery adhesive. This is so that while I'm lasting the shoe, the layers can slide over each other as I get them into place, but finally once the shoe is done, the adhesive will dry, cementing the layers together in a permanent bond. So to spend time fiddling around on the bench for the head of a tack is just too time consuming for me.

No, I'd rather risk tetanus by putting sharp 14ml metal tacks into my mouth, keeping them between my lower gum and lip, like I'm a Major League Baseball player with some chewing tobacco. All that ruminating you can see me doing in this footage, is me feeling with my tongue for the head of a tack, pushing it out and grabbing it with the pincers. Once or twice I may have pinched my lip, but it rarely happens now.

I totally understand why many shoemakers prefer not to do it this way, and I have tried going back to fishing around on the bench, but this tacks in the mouth system really does work for me. It's a bit of a relic, and I don't want to let it go!

Listening to: Mos Def, Talib Kweli & Common - Respiration

PS. Thanks to my anonymous stamp sender from SA!

Progress

Finally finished building up these lasts, I lost my way for a while, it was all getting a bit too Ali Baba, but now I'm onto the pattern.


All will be revealed, I can't wait to cut the leather and get stitching!


These booties are off to a great customer tomorrow, hope she loves them, they are looking fab.

Listening to: David Bowie - Fashion

The whittler

From this....


.....to this.

And there is still more to go. Endless re-shaping, taking a step back to see if I'm really seeing it properly, or am I just turning it into a Toucan? Hard not to get caught up in the details, got to remember the over-all shape I am after.

Nearly finished. Wading through drifts of leather dust and small shavings.

Drinking: Swedish bitters, Verjuice and mineral water. That's as hard as I get folks.

It's a beauty!

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

In the studio

Time for some patterns, new territory for me which is all about boots. I have made many a boot when I worked for other footwear designers, but the pattern making side of it is a new world. As I've mentioned before, my methods of making patterns are mixed and varied, mostly drawing on the last and the geometric method.

So for this new-ish venture I consulted good old George Koleff's book on geometric pattern making. It's a really thorough look at traditional shoe and boot styles, and also gives info on pattern grading, last making, size comparison charts etc.

At first when I sat down to this task I was a bit overwhelmed, I had to turn off the radio and stop getting out of my chair when it got too hard. The instructions are pure geometry - 'measure a line at 83 degrees to the H-L line, which is half the C1-C line, plus 7ml for women and men but not for children's boots ........' It was a bit tricky, but I persevered and lo and behold by the end of it I had a recogniseable boot pattern.


Today I cut all the pattern pieces in card, and will assemble them in paper or do a leather mock-up to see if it's all behaving. I have a few other boots on my list of things to do, so I'm looking forward to becoming fluent in this whole new language.


I also discovered that if you pour hot tea into a cup, and nestle some tiny easter eggs next to it on the saucer, by the time the tea has cooled enough for my taste, the eggs are lovely and gooey, and unfortunately a bit addictive.

In other news, the studio is rather chilly now in the mornings, I had to get my Cottage Industry fingerless gloves on today. Also the broad beans and carrot seeds are up, garlic is mostly all planted, and I'm loving 'Around the World in 80 Gardens' on ABC 1, tonight at 8:30, but alas I will miss tonight's episode as I'm off to see Dylan Moran.

Works in progress

Have been taking advantage of a visiting Granny, and hiding out in the studio while the boy is still on kinder holidays. It is still a little bit hard to concentrate with all the sandpit action and frequent visits, but I have some new belts on the go, so I must be doing more than just drinking tea and listening to the radio!


I'm also doing a bit of procrastinating regarding imminent pattern making, I have 2 lasts taped up and ready to go, but I keep putting it off. I think the bank balance would suggest I get right to it and finish the damn shoes. We are employing a few cost cutting measures around here, instead of buying some of my favourite magazines, I'm borrowing them at the library! It's quite lovely, I'm not one of those piles of magazines that I can't bear to throw out kind of people, rather I rip out (from my mags) or colour copy (from the library) the pages that appeal and file them away in specific folders - yes I have Virgo rising if you were wondering.

Another treat that comes with a visiting Granny is that of an evening we have our very own craft night set-up, complete with pot of tea, Easter chocolate, knitting, crochet and embroidery. It's all happening here, we cackle at the same gags in Frasier, are eagerly awaiting tonight's inaugural screening of Mad Men, and curse the cat for wanting to sit on our woolly creations with her marching feet and sharp claws.

Listening to: Wind in the eucalypts; it's rather breezy!

On My Desk

These are some of my beloved Postage belts, soon to go up on Etsy, setting up shop there is taking me a while and is rather tedious. I hope that the GFC doesn't make this all a bit redundant, I've been having small crises about making things to sell when folks are tightening their purses a bit. Maybe KRudd's Xmas bonus will make it OK for a while?

Am off to Sydney for a weekish, sans small person, yes indeed I've been let of the leash! There is a capoeira festival that I'm attending, plus saying goodbye to a great pal who is off to South America, and just hanging out with buddies from when I lived up there in leafy Sydney. My list of shops and galleries to visit is rather large, I guess I'll be doing a lot of walking up hill and down dale. When I lived in Sydney I was such a keen bike rider, I rode absolutely everywhere, now I find it hard to believe esp with all the hills, narrow streets and crazy traffic.

So I have also been tagged by the curious Pip, something to do with divulging 6 bits of trivia about one's-self, and without giving away too much here goes:

- I am a proud left hander who actually does most things right handed, it is very useful,

- I was born in London and moved to Australia with my fam when I was nearly 5, with a great cockney accent to boot. Got teased at kindy and lost the accent quick smart, but there are still traces of it there, especially as I grew up in Adelaide, where we talk a little bit more posh than most of Australia,

- I always wanted to be Princess Leia, she was regal, kicked ass, had some great outfits and got to be with Han Solo, sigh, actually I still want to be her,

- at school I was good at playing the recorder, and always got to play the giant tenor ones as I had biggish hands, also played the violin, a bit of piano and now berimbau, atabaque and pandeiro at capoeira,

- it took three days for my son to be born, was so freaking painful and I swore I'd never do it again (but am reconsidering lately),

- I am a perfectionist/procrastinator, often not attempting things because I don't think they would live up to my imaginary ideal, I am working on this as it is a bit defeatist and I do realise that you learn so much through making mistakes, the means is just as worthy as the end.

Listening to: Astrud Gilberto - Agua de Beber

On My Desk

I foolishly painted my fingernails last week, admiring how glamourous I seemed, only to get stuck into finishing Leo's shoes and have it all chip off and look skanky. Here's a how-to on the chipped polish look.Applying a strip of randing to the edge of the shoe

Glueing the midsole

Glueing the wedge insert (yes there is a lot of glue-sniffing going on in my studio)

Putting the sock in


Et voila! It takes a while on the sanding machine, and I was covered in fine EVA foam dust, but now they're finished and he loves them.
I've got a bit of video footage of me on the sanding machine, I might edit it down and post it soon.

Listening to: John Lennon - Hold On

On My Desk

'Tis the season folks.There is no denying it, Christmas is not far away now. I must say I'm ready for it, I feel the need for masses of tinsel and family/friends, a big celebration to mark the end of this huge year. I saw some great festive wares at Aldi the other day, I'm hoping that the Sydney Road Aldi will be open soon, they look almost ready!

In the studio I've been a woman possessed, it's my first foray into making decorations out of leather, and what a treat they are. I'm still sampling and tweaking and debating whether to sell them in packs or individually, any thoughts? I'm doing an informal survey into the decorating habits of various people, your ideas would be welcome.

One thing I am noticing is that forest green leather is hard to come by, I need to get to Leffler soon and have a browse.....

Listening to: The Meters - Same Old Thing
Turn it up loud people!

On My Desk

Teeny tiny pleats on the reverse side of a Queenie Brooch. They are about 2-3 mls long, and are so cute! I then hammer them flat and slice them off, such a shame, maybe I'll make some work where the pleats are a feature.
These are off to Artisan, I completely ran out of Queenies when the girls at Irving Baby in Adelaide snaffled up my last ones.

On My Desk

Squeezed in a bit of shoemaking in the last few days, thanks to Paula for entertaining the little guy.
Have a new pattern on the go, I'm very excited about it, the drawings have been in my sketch book for far too long. Hopefully by next week I'll have photos of the uppers all ready to go.
Can't stay to chat, I'm dragging on the white pants to shoot over to capoeira, apart from the jogging I haven't been to training for 3ish weeks - ouch!

Listening to: Eric B and Rakim - Microphone Fiend

On My Desk

It's all getting a bit frenzied in preparation for my week's work at Craft Vic, which starts next Tuesday. I'm doing a bit of leg-work now, so that I can have a few different things to make, in various stages.

The above pic shows a selection of brocade fabrics, I am having to choose which one to use in a version of the Chinoiserie shoes that I'm making for myself. I am such a fusspot with colour, it's taking me far too long to decide.

There's also a great book on cowboy boots, I have never made any but am feeling like I might try it soon, and a handful of souvenir spoons; I seem to be buying them at op-shops lately.

Also pictured is a pair of lasts for Leo, next week I'll be making a pattern for a new pair of trainers for him.


These are Leo's lasts, with a build-up on the front for a bit of extra toe room.

In these two photos you can see that I've tacked leather over the lasts, before you do this you soak the leather in the sink, and then tack it on so that it holds it's shape. Once it's dry, you remove the tacks, and in the case of Leo's lasts, I'll glue the build-up back on and sand it into shape.

The smell takes me back to many workshops I've slaved away in, especially the smell of Leo's wooden lasts combined with the wet leather, very evocative.


This image is of the lasts I'll be using for Chinoiserie #2, and it shows the first stage in making an insole. These days commercial insoles are made from layers of laminated paper, because it's cheaper, but the old school method is to use layers of leather, with a shank in between. I'll show more pics as I go, I find this part very satisfying, like making your own yoghurt, being self-sufficient.

More On My Desk at Kootoyoo.

On My Desk

The desk I have mainly used in the past few days is the computer table in the house.
I've been madly finishing an application for Artisan's Cherish Showcase, which will at their retail space (m)art in Brisbane in the lead up to Christmas.
So I've been finessing the CV, writing Artist's Statements, taking up-to-date photos, including this one, of my Dahlia Brooches.
They are made from crocheted leather thonging, and are so robust that I can only make about three at a time, I get a bit of RSI in the ol' wrist!

Listening to Boogie Down Productions - Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop

On My Desk

A belated post, things are hectic here.
We are getting packed for a quick weekend to Adelaide to visit family, and friends with a new baby.
Plus In The Making exhibition opening tonight, I feel a bit frazzled and unpresentable!

The above pics include some messy, messy activities, a dremel and attachments for sanding and getting microscopic bits of dust up your nose.
My glueing bench, very stinky indeed, I am still picking bits of glue off my fingers. The Botanica sneeks are nearly finished, I almost rushed them to wear to Adelaide, but I had that feeling I would have stuffed them up at the last minute, and exercised some rare restraint!

More On My Desk at Kootoyoo

On My Desk

It's that time again, and I am so lucky to have more than one desk. This one is a plan drawer unit, bought at an auction at an old shoe factory for $30. It weighs a ton, and I have moved house with it far too many times. It does keep me organised, I have little cards slotted in the front to tell me what goes in each drawer, but my son has a habit of re-arranging them.

I use this makeshift bench to hammer on, because it's steel it absorbs all the force, and doesn't bounce like other tables. The huge slab of wood atop the shelves is an old-school end grain clicking block, basically a giant cutting mat. I mostly use it for hammering rivets, hole punching, anything where I really have to wield the hammer or mallet with a mighty force.

As you can see it's being used here to temporarily hold rolls of leather, I am loving the metallic red, and the circular multicoloured number is a treat I bought in Japan and am too scared to use. It cost me thousands of yen, about $120 at the time for one hide. I don't think I'll ever use it!