Panatlone, one of the characters in Yale University’s spring production is middle eastern inspired. The shoe was to be a pointed slipper with a gentle upward swoop. Good in theory but not in execution. The result of adding the point to the front of a man’s shoe would have looked better coming out of a clown car than on stage. We had less that two days to redesign, produce the replacement, and get it from San Diego to Connecticut in time for the evening performance. Did it and they were very happy with the results. They will join the other six pairs we made in what I’m sure will be a successful show.
Sketch for Panatlone
Turkish style slipper
Not as interesting as the strider boot, but we just finished a pair of boots for a Gandolf costume.
The new challenge is a pair of Turkish style slippers for the Yale Drama Department’s current production. To achieve that soft little upturned toe we are using deer skin. It stretches so we can shorten the top and stretch the bottom piece of leather and get a natural curve. Dress rehearsals start Monday and thanks to overnight shipping, we’ll make it on stage at noon.
Boot for a Gandolf costume
It took me a whole day to get up the courage to mess them up. The experiments on the left overs looked ok but not great. I mixed up the gunk and started caking it on, then had to wait over night to see what I had. When I knock off the clumps and rubbed a cloth and brush over it to give it a more worn look, it wasn’t doing it. Not the right “dirty”. California dirt isn’t really good dirt – it too beige. Next step was potting soil and compost. That gave me good black dirt, the kind that one would find in a forest. It stuck to everything, laces, thread and leather. Knocked off the clumps and left a smeary mess in the same kind of places that the borrowed barn boots had. Not bad. They’ll still need some serious walking around to get the slouchy broken in look. That’s for the new owner.
Aged Strider Boots
Toe detail on Strider boot
Inside of Strider Boot
All the parts have finally arrived for the Aragorn character from The Lord Of The Rings and are assembled. The shoe laces were made from braided 1/8″ cotton rope found at Home Depot (boy, did they look at me funny when I told them what I needed) and the rope wraps are drapery and upholstery trim. The laces were tea stained to give them the right base color. The dirtying is in progress. I experimented with dirt from the yard (right color but wouldn’t stick), ashes from the grill (same issue), water and finally clay cat litter for the adhesion. Used borrowed barn boots for dirt placement and glopped it on and set them to dry. My test swatches looked great so now I just have to wait and then chip off the excess. A wire brush will finish of the faux wear patterns.
Strider boots with out the dirt
Lace detail on LOR boots
I picked up the completed strider boots yesterday and am quite pleased with the results. The solution to the cuff doesn’t look out of character with the original. I’m borrowing a pair of barn boots from a friend whose daughter rides to get the wear patterns to look authentic. The last unexpected problem is the side laces. The leather cording that we were intending to use is much too stiff. I’m hoping to find a heavy cotton string at the lumberyard that I can dye to look suitable.
Aragorn boots from Lord of the Rings movie
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.
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.
