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Revolutionary War Era Shoes

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:39:00 +0000

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 ration picture for some one’s footwear. The detailing is wonderful. The last would be a challenge, but the heels look almost modern. I used reproductions of buckles from one of Martha’s relatives as the buckles on the pirate shoes. These look really similar and must have been a popular style a the time.

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Taking Care of your Period Footwear

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:31:48 +0000

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.

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Polishing Renaissance Slippers, LOR Mockup

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:30:25 +0000

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.

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Thoughts about Designing Medieval and Renaissance shoes

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:18:39 +0000

Making the assumption that the footwear that has survived to become part of museum collections may be because it didn’t fit well, wasn’t a favorite pair, didn’t look like the wearer wanted, in short was a dog left sitting at the bottom of a closet, I feel that one could get creative about the detailing using the survivors as a starting point. This was also not a period of mass production and I would expect that there was a lot of individuality exercised. If you are inspired, go for it.

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Custom Shoes Caution

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:49:51 +0000

Ran into Paul at Great Western War. His new Elizabethan shoes had started to give him blisters and wondered if we could solve the problem. I asked to take them with me after the event and we’d fix the problem. When the shoes were brought by camp, I found a new pair of Dr. Scholls insoles in them. Our shoes are custom and do not automatically include space to accommodate the thick ones. If your intent is to wear them, you need to include them when you measure.

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Elizabethan Shoes for Small Feet

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:51:04 +0000

Chris goes off roading at the Renaissance Faire in Pennsylvania and requested a style that would be comfortable on uneven ground with her foot problems and be equally at home with an Elizabethan court costume and a pirate’s. She wanted a slipper in black with an accent color to enhance a variety of yet to be made outfits. We’ve settled on a soft metallic gold since all of her jewelry is gold and side stepped the color issue. Since her feet are tiny, a slightly pointed slipper inspired by a early 17th century French shoe will be very flattering. The sample will be ready to ship by end of the week.

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