New York Shoemaking Course Day 11

Day 11 saw us progressing very well. Everyone is well on target and we will not have the usual mad dash to get everything done tomorrow. Good work one and all.

Here the heel edge is being sanded.

After being previously glassed.

The edges are sanded after the glassing process.

Before the edges are set, the lip on the top of the welt is ploughed off.

Then the edges are set using a hot edge iron.

Soles and heel top pieces were glassed and sanded ready for inking.

And so, after 2 intense weeks of hardcore shoemaking, we are left with one final day. It's been a journey and I hope the students are happy. Exhausted,but happy.

Until tomorrow, happy shoemaking.

New York Shoemaking Course 2012 Day 10

Day 10 and it was a frenzy of rasping. Rasp, rasp, rasp until all those blemishes were erased.

We started the day by marking and trimming the seat. After narrowing it to an even width, most of the students then had to reshape the heel with the knife.

The trick with this stage is to use an old credit card to protect the upper.

The final bit of the heel was the top piece. They glued it on with contact adhesive and then secured it with nails.

Once the heel was fully shaped by the knife, the rasping started. They rasped the heel, heel breast and the sole edges. A lot of rasping.

After rasping came glassing with 2mm glass broken in a curve which creates a sharp cutting edge. This is used to get rid of the rasp marks.

Only 2 days left and tomorrow will see us glassing, sanding and setting the edges. Can't wait.

Until then, happy shoemaking.

New York Shoemaking Course 2012 Day 9

Day 9 and it is a frenzy of heel building. But before we get to that, I wanted to say a little about the room where we do the course. It is a perfect one for shoemaking, large, airy and with plenty of natural light from 4 huge skylights. And the air con is a boon! And because it is a shoemaking studio, it has the odd gadget that makes life easier for us.

And so to heels, we spent the whole day building them. Heel building is a challenge and hugely important because you can injure someone's feet with poorly built heels. So, with lots of concentration and effort, we progressed. We build heels with nails and glue rather than wooden pegs.

 Here is a student trimming the second lift with a SHARP knife.

Once the lifts are on, we use the French shape hammer to peen the edges. This squashes the leather together and closes any gaps between the lifts, making the heel look like a solid entity.

Another important aspect is making the heels a pair. So before the top piece goes on, you have to make the comparisons and adjust accordingly.

Day 10 will see us finishing the heels and getting on to finishing - joy!

Until the next time, happy shoemaking

New York Shoemaking Course 2012 Day 8

So, it's day 8 and things are hotting up.The final push to the summit starts tomorrow, but today we were making preparations.

Everybody finished stitching the soles and we started making the split lifts (rands to some of you). This is the first part of the heel, a semi circle of lifting leather.

In this picture, after finishing the stitching, they flattened the stitches with the sleeking bone; smooted down the channel flap; hammered the edge of the sole to compress it and finally glue it in place with contact cement.

Here the split lift is being skived, prior to hammering it into a horseshoe shape.

Here it is being nailed on with 20mm nails and paste.

Once the rand is on, they trimmed the excess and peened the edges with the French shape hammer. This compresses the edge into one solid entity.

Heels tomorrow, can't wait. Until then, happy shoemaking.

New York Shoemaking Course 2012 Day 7

Day 7, begins with a new week and a new teacher. Having flown in yesterday, it was great to meet the students. And what a lovely group they are! Deborah said it had been a pleasure to teach them and I can understand why.

Today saw everyone trimming their soles with their very sharp knives! Followed by cutting a channel which seems to be everyone's favourite stage. Needless to say, they all did admirably with a little help from me).

Next came stitching the soles which is a much easier task than sewing the welt, so everyone was happily surprised.

Apart from a bit of bristle slippage, it went by smoothly.

One word of warning though. Don't put your awl into the welt too near the edge, because this is what can happen. While pulling the threads through, the whole sole gave way - quite a breakthrough! I have to say, I had never seen this, so it's true, you learn something new every day.

All in a good day, so well done everyone. We will finish stitching the soles tomorrow and start building heels.

Day 6 NY Shoemaking course - handover day

It's my last day today and I feel kind of sad. It's been such a fun, lively week I've really enjoyed it and hope everyone has too. The students are exhausted though and it's hardly surprising as we looked back on all that they've achieved today. They've worked with knives, lasting pliers, nippers, two types of hammer, rasps, broken glass, awls and of course the killer toothbrush. All tools that can make or break a shoe (or a finger!) if used incorrectly.

 So I'm really proud of all of the work that they have put in and the progress that they have made. Despite flagging energy levels, injuries (old and new) and a stinking cold they made it through with soles stuck on and nearly all of them preparing sole edges and peening heels. A mammoth task!

Credit must go to Wright who, I think he would admit himself has found some of the processes a challenge, but is powering on with determination and enthusiasm. Bravo! So he will hopefully be caught up and James will enjoy a lovely sociable week stitching soles, building heels and finishing. I'm looking forward to seeing next Saturday's group shot with shoes on and feet in the air!

 So, good luck everyone and thank you for such a great first week!

The class of NY 2012, still able to muster a smile (and a show of tar-covered, bruised and battered 'jazz hands') at the end of a very long week from left to right: 

Wright, Jess, Michael, Allison, (yours truly) Lynn and Marci.