Shoemakers

Shoemaking is an old craft, but industrial massproduction supersedes it. Still crafty enthusiasts revives it :)
Local oldshool factories of shoe lasts and soles are tethering on the brink of closure. Feltmakers are a great support for them nowadays as their creations are getting more and more popular in all over the world. I joint to this by selling production of these factories in My Etsy shop Rasae . Through this I meet a lot of interesting people, who are my customers in supplies shop section. One of them is Sharon Raymond from US, she says: "I think every village needs a shoemaker, I hope you'll be the one for yours!" Visit her blog with lots of tips and ideas of shoemaking: http://simpleshoemaking.com/wp/ and her Etsy shop with shoemaking tutorials: https://www.etsy.com/shop/simpleshoemaking and her youtube chanel. This is her tutorial to show how to make leather shoes using my soles:

Thank you Sharon!

Rubber toe soles

I was looking for a perfect soles for my felted boots for a long time. In traditional way galoshes are outer shoes worn in inclement weather to protect the felted shoes (valenki) and keep the feet dry. But traditional galoshes are so clumsy and big...

I found the soles, which reminds of galoshes, but are much more elegant. They are with rubber toe, so the part of the felted shoe, which is the most vulnerable to moisture, is safe now :) From now on, my felted boots and clogs, can be ordered with  these soles.

In my Etsy shop you can find these rubber soles for felt shoes for your own projects

Rubber soles for felted boots

Traditional felted boots (valenki) can be worn in the frosty winter without any additional soles on the clean white snow. Usually they are thick and extremly warm.

In our wet Winters this way wouldn't be very good. So I started to make felted clogs and booties with the rubber soles for outdoors wearing. I was looking for best solutions and found out, that soles for felted boots should have a high edges. Such edges are necessary for two reasons:
1. wool felt is not so stable like for example a leather or sheepskin, so it should be put in a deeper sole in order not to lose the shape;
2. felted boots should be stitched to the soles, glueing is not enough as felt can peel off while wearing together with the soles and glue.

I do not put any insoles, but shoemaker, who adds soles to my felted boots, puts necessary underlays between the soles and the felted shoe. So the feet touches only natural wool felt, like in felted house clogs. But shoes also they can be worn outside thanks to a high, water and cold resistant soles.

You can find rubber soles and other shoemaking materials for yor own projects in my Etsy shop with a section of supplies for shoemaking

Pasidaryk pats / Do it yourself

Planšetinio kompiuterio dėklo vėlimo pamokėlė. Naudota plonytė merino vilna, viršutinis sluoksnis - vilna maišyta su įvairiais, daugiausiai šilko, pluoštais.










Lesson (tutorial) of felted wool tablet sleeve. I made the sleeve of merino wool. Outside layer is made of batt made by me - merino wool mixed with mulberry silk, tussah silk and other fibres. If you like this sleeve, you can get it here .

Various handmade wool batts are now available in my ETSY store .

Sheep

Pavasarį sesė savo ožkytėms į kompaniją priėmė keletą lietuviškų šiurkščiavilnių avelių. Nukirpo pirmąsias garbanėles, ir davė man su jomis pažaisti :)))

In this Spring, my sister bought few Lithuanian coarse sheep. She lives in a farmstead and already had goats with cute little goatlings. The first sheep was shorn and she gave me the wool to play with it :)))

Voila!

Kurpaliai / Foam lasts

Ką tik baigiau vieną eksperimentą - pasidariau kurpalius vėlimui pati :)
Ieškodama pirkti, aptikau nemažai pardavinėjamų putplasčio kurpalių, tačiau jis man pasirodė pertrapus. Vat kietasis (ekstrudinis) putplastis sunkiai sutrupinamas. Kaimynystėje vykstančiose statybose pamačiau, kad tokį naudoja pamatų šiltinimui - storą storutėlį! Gavau atraižų ir įgyvendinau sumanymą:

I have just finished an experiment - made lasts for felting by myself:)
Looking for to buy shoe lasts (moldings), I found a lot of foam lasts, but they seemed so fragile. I wondered about lasts of solid (extruded) hard foam. I saw that in neighborhood construction workers use hard foam  for foundation insulation - thick and hard! I got the strips and implement my idea:

Lengvai pjaustosi medžio pjūklu, paskui dailinau peiliu su dantukais, galiausiai pašlifavau stambiu, paskui smulkiu švitriniu popieriumi:

Hard foam is quite easy to cut with wood saw, then knife and finally to polish with large, then fine sandpaper:

Turiu 41 dydžio kurpalius! Užtrukau kelias valandas.

I have foam lasts for felting, size 41! It took me a few hours to make them.

In my Etsy shop you can find supplies for shoemaking and make your own shoes!

The last touch

Pagaliau išrinkau - natūralaus kaučiuko padukai mano klumpaitėms :)

At last I have chosen - natural rubber soles for my clogs :)
Welcome here, if want to know more :)