Carreducker Intensive Shoemaking Course - Days 11 and 12

And so it ends. Another August intensive shoemaking course is finished with 5 pairs of high quality shoes on 5 happy students

The last 2 days are spent finishing - making the  shoes look sharp and presentable

Day 11

After much rasping (some would say too much!).....

Rasping

More rasping

The shoes were ready to sand. We use three grades of aluminium oxide paper and sanding blocks to achieve a flawless finish.

The edges had the same treatment.

Sanding the edges

The last task of the day was to set the edges with an edge iron.


Day 12 - the last day!

After much hard work the previous 11 days, the last day was a little more leisurely.

They glassed and sanded the soles and then moved on to their chosen finish - inked or natural.

We then passed a single lipped iron around the heel and used the seat wheel

Before taking out the lasts, they cleaned up the uppers and tried some polishing/burnishing techniques to great effect.

With the lasts out, we put socks - either half or full socks depending on the fit and voila! The moment of truth - trying them on.

Once everyone had finished, we celebrated with champagne and cup cakes

And here are the finished shoes. Fantastic work we hope you will agree.

And some very happy students.

And so another summer intensive shoemaking course finishes. We hope you feel inspired by these posts and will maybe think about doing one of our shoemaking classes. The next intensive is in October and then again in January 2016.

We have planned dates for next year and will be posting them up on the website soon.

And by the way, look out for our new website which will have an e-commerce section called the Tool Shed where you will be able to buy all of our lovely tools and shoemaking materials.

So, that's a wrap. Until next week, happy shoemaking!