The Strider boots from the Lord Of The Rings movie are in the final stage. Teasing out the details on the action figures we are using for reference didn’t give us a lot of information about the construction of the cuff. Neither did several re-runs of the movie. We arrived at what we feel is a reasonable interpretation of the original. The nice scuffed and dirty pieces of salvaged suede we used didn’t have a large enough straight piece to make the cuffs in one piece. In the spirit of the original, we seamed it together to make our wrap around cuff look close to the movie original. In this case, the natural scars and flaws in the leather would make the boots look more like what the character might have cobbled together than using a fresh new piece, so we went with it. Yesterday I finally solved the tie issue. Leather laces were too perfect and short, twine from the home improvement sources just didn’t look right, braiding the waxed cord we used for the stitching was too wimpy ….nothing was coming up right. I was at the drapery workroom that I use in my other life and looking at new trim samples. One of the companies had introduced a line of natural jute trims and there was my rope. Three ply, 1/4″ jute rope sturdy enough to hold up to actual use with the right amount of rustic. Next step – distressing and off they go.
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My sister and her family made a trip east and stopped at Mt Vernon. She took pictures of the shoes displayed with the portrait of Martha as a young woman. Not at all what I expected her to look like. The shoes are wonderful. the picture will go in my reference file. One of these days it will the inspi I’m always surprised when someone asks how to take care of their new boots and slippers. We use the same kind of materials that any good shoe manufacturer uses. So: Polish with a good quality wax or cream polish and buff. If you have an unusual color, a neutral color wax will give the shoe protection. If you will be wearing them in situations where water or snow will be an issue, spray on a waterproof protector. To keep the insides nice, wear hose or socks if it fits your persona. If not consider a thin terry cloth or fabric covered insert that can be taken out and cleaned. When it gets nasty, toss and replace it. If you do a lot of off-roading in them, clean the dirt and grass out of them paying attention to the edges. The debris will work it’s way under the insole and break down the glue. Use shoe and boot trees. The Container Store and Bed Bath and Beyond both carry an assortment. Boot trees are also called boot shapers. They adjust to keep the tops of your boots looking their best. If you have tall ones, you can stack two in the boot. Stack boot trees on top of a shoe tree at the bottom so the boot stands on it’s own. Some shapers come with a hanger so you can hang them on a closet pole. If they need new soles, any good shoe repair shop can resole them. I had an interesting call from a nice young man in the Yale University theater department. He needed a source for period shoes for a production that they’ll be doing this spring. I explained that we are totally custom and that he’d need to provide me with actual foot outlines and measurements for us to use to match the wearer with a properly sized last to build the shoes on. Our preferred way to work is to send his actors the shoes with no finish insole and no sole to try on before we finished them for wearing. That would give them the opportunity to make us aware of any problems so they could be corrected before the finish work was done. Lead time would be three to four weeks depending on the styles he picked plus shipping time for the fitting and delivery. If he has a time crunch, we will do them without the fitting, which means that he has to be dead on with all the specs. It will be fun to have another play to do. We haven’t done a theater production since the Lord Of The Rings musical in Toronto and enjoyed the challenge. The ankle boots were the final part to a black velvet Italian tunic made for the annual SCA 12th Night celebration in Hemet, CA. The touch of suede gave them the perfect blend of textures to tie them to the matte velvet and silk cord accents. The soles were French crepe for dancing and flexible enough for the period style moves. Also ran into Paul Giles in his new Elizabethan and he’s thinking new footwear. The first pair we did for him were so comfortable, he’s decided he should have others. That kind of feedback is always nice to hear.  Italian Peacock Tunic  suede trimmed Italian Renaissance boot Just in time for 12th Night. This boot is a blend of a Medieval style boot and the Renaissance boots worn in the movie Romeo and Juliet with Michael York. We added the suede detail on the cuff to give it a touch of texture and color contrast. The costume is black velvet, so the suede will have a similar degree of blackness. The whole costume will be worn to the SCA 12th Night festivities in Hemet, Ca. We put a flexible French crepe sole on them for dancing. I can’t wait to see the whole costume pulled together. Over the holiday’s I had a note asking if the purple and gold slipper would be appropriate for a man and could it be made with a change in colors. That’s our definition of custom. Everything can be changed. In this case, all he wanted to change was the color. Most of the slippers can and have been made for both men and woman. The slipper that inspired these was originally made of fabric and for a man. This slipper style was selected by the queen of the Northern California Renaissance Faire to complete her costume for the 2007 event and this is how we translated it for her.  Mid 1500s slashed slipper The prototype has returned from it’s fitting and is going into production. The only detail remaining will be just how to “distress” them. I re-watched the Lord of the Rings movie and went by one of the riding stables and took a look at wear patterns on boots that spend a lot of time on horseback. Looks like the charcoal bucket and the inside of the grill may have the stuff I’ll need to give them the right patina. A little experimenting is in order. January 9th is 12th Night for our SCA group. The perfect occasion to dress up and take my new shoes for a spin on the dance floor. While I was cleaning up my shoes after the Escondido RennFaire, I thought I’d pass along a tip for working around those cutouts. I cut a piece of blue painters tape the shape of the slash and cover the underlay with it. I work around the holes with a Qtip and then buff. The tape keeps the polish from smearing onto the under lay. The strider prototype is ready for it’s fitting. Pedro was the one who tackled the pattern and he usually nailed it on the first try. I’ll see tomorrow. We’ve had a successful conclusion for the customer with the foot problems. The shoes fit like the glove leather they were constructed with and she’s very pleased. She tells me that the new gown should be ready soon and she’ll be ready to dance. The gold detail was made with pale gold metallic finished leather to coordinate with the gold details on the gown. The ankle straps have large grommets instead of eyelets to make it easy to use ribbons to match a variety of gowns. The toe detail was adapted from another Renaissance |
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