Custom Renaissance Boots » Uncategorized

Early 20th Century slipper

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:13:05 +0000

Last year I had a request for a 1920s style dance slipper. The woman didn’t realize that we do only custom work and that she could choose whatever she’d like to have us replicate. She said that she’d think about it and disappeared. Out of the blue, a picture of a designer shoe from 1925 showed up in my inbox with a note that this was her dream shoe. The slipper itself won’t be a problem. We can create it in the leather she’d like instead of a fabric and add some period details to dress it up. The heel however is going to be an issue. It’s the waisted heel style that is quite common in historic shoes and difficult to impossible to find in the right size, height and configuration. After her request last year, I explored the possibility of recreating the shape and making a mold to do the heels myself. I dug out the instruction book for mold making from a project 20 years ago (a valid reason for never throwing anything away) and located a source for small quantities of the resins. As soon the dancer decides on a heel height I can pull the right last and make a prototype. Being able to create exactly the right style heel for period shoes would open up a huge variety of styles that we can replicate with much better accuracy. I love it when a customer is up for helping us expand our horizons.

Vionnet shoe from 1925

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One More for Lord Of The Rings

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:43:36 +0000

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

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Clone Trooper and Final Fantasy Boots

admin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:23:20 +0000

I had an old customer contact me last year to make him a pair of Clone Trooper boots from the Star Wars movies. The research turned up no pictures of actual footwear but the information that the armor had all been computer generated. Major gasp of surprise! I dug out the Visual Dictionaries and went through the pictures. It was an interesting meeting at the shop. We had plenty of time since the armor was still in production and there was really no deadline. The guys made up nine different sets of bits and pieces to try to get something that you could actually get your foot into and would look like the pictures. Since the bottom of the boot looked like it had been inspired by some sort of sport shoe, we did a soft toe. To get the seamless look of no opening, added a zipper in the front which would be covered by a molded leather spat attached with Velcro. Then added the strap. It actually was a very close real world interpretation of the Elite Clone Trooper picture that we used as a reference.

We’ve had another request for a pair and he’d like them more as a pull on boot. Since he’s not opposed to adding a zipper on the inside of the boot, we can use a more conventional type of construction. He, however has armor issues that we’ll need to address. The back of the leg armor is rubbing holes in the boots he’s now using.

The troops had just finished patting themselves on the backs for pulling off the Clone boots when a request for a boot based on his Final Fantasy character arrived. That one just required cleaning up a computer generated drawing. Pulled that one off too.

white Clone Trooper boots

boots for Final Fantsy character

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Next Step for Aragorn’s Boots

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:46:24 +0000

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

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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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Success with Elizabethian Slippers

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:43:51 +0000

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 slipper for these tiny shoes.

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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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