My first shoe-making class was on Saturday- It was held at the Council of Adult Education in Degraves St in Melbourne. Our teacher, Brendan Dwyer, has been in the biz for over 20 years.
We chatted about the types of shoes we could make during the course and chose which shoes to attempt during the rest of the sessions. Options included various sandals (Brendan said these were the easiest option), happy camper shoes, apache moccasins, moccasins and turn shoes. The turn shoe is supposed to be the most difficult. (Brendan said that the students who choose this type will be doing the most cursing).
Thought I'd try the turn shoe..... will try not to curse!
So what were the highlights:
Brendan's wonderful historical snippets- did you know that in the late 15th century pointed shoes were in for male fashionistas. The King had the longest points and common folk were banned from having shoes with longer points than the Kings- those who did were fined.........The Pope wasn't so keen on these pointed shoes and declared that they were lascivious, evil shoes that threatened the moral fabric of society... lol
Measuring feet- the shoes and socks were off and those who had not prepared their toes for a public viewing were exposed.... made me think, when you buy a pair of factory produced shoes these days the last thing a retailer would do is touch your feet..... industrialization, globalization- we've been incrementally accepting less humanity in our economic transactions for some time.... what a delight it is to embark on making shoes by hand for people
Brendan's workshop- what a wonderful place- full of rare items, hundreds of wooden shoe lasts, strange old machines, quirky shoes, pieces of leather and old tools... the perfect place for a one in a million craftsman - Did you know that statistically speaking that's how many shoe makers are left- 1 for every million people?
Well I've been practicing taking foot measurements and making sure that my toes are spiffy for the next class.... Stay tuned for class two and some pictures of my progress
Recycle, recreate, risk a bit of whimsy
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