Well, I’ve always insisted I wasn’t going to do it, but the time has come to give in to the lure of the 3D modelling virtual shoe world.

The only reason I was trying NOT to get too nerdy with this stuff was a fear that I’d spend 57 hours a week in my spare room on a computer, and somehow classify that as a craft. As a bit of justification for the jump back in to the digital realm (not that I need to justify anything, but I may as well) … a few conversations lately have lead to me decide that if I’m going to release a range of shoes that are worthy of a high price point and a super level of exclusivity – dictated by my personal involvement in their construction, and thus high labour costs – they may as well have all the bells and whistles I can possibly muster up.

So this week I am looking in to custom digitally printed fabrics to integrate with the leather uppers, and it was pretty obvious that ‘guessing’ what pattern goes where, and what scale / orientation / colour to use would be a never ending task if using actual fabric samples. I have modelled up my chosen last in 3D, knocked up some quick indicative geometry for the rest of the components and now I can get to work on laying out patterns and colour combos much faster than using the ol’ textas.

I will also be pushing the limits a bit with my heel and platform shapes, so having 3D digital models = direct rapid prototype prints = much better results than my hand carved ones.

Things can get pretty crazy in a short amount of time….

With that mini milestone under my belt I’m off in to the city to meet another new shoemaker in the making to see what she is planning on doing. Exciting.

Enjoy the sunshine today if you’re in Melbourne (and I assume the snow if you’re in the northern hemisphere) and Happy Valentines Day.

Hey people, just a quick post to see if any Aussie shoe makers, or soon-to-be a shoemaker optimistic people are looking for a sewing machine?

Dennis, whom I purchased most of my machinery from has some other items to sell before he leaves Australia for good.

He has a Pfaff post machine (493? Same as mine), a flatbed heavy duty machine, or maybe 2 flatbeds, and a massive collection of shoe trade catalogues and magazines that he has gathered over the years as design references.

If you are interested, let me know and I can ask how much $ he wants for them… Best you get in before he leaves next week!

Hey all, just a quick image post to show what I managed on my first day back in the studio in ‘shoemaker’ mode.

Unfortunately this was only done in the last 2 hours of the day after spending the rest of it messing around with odd jobs that went nowhere… I also hit a hurdle when I found that a whole lot of yellow leather I was looking forward to using is just wayyyy too soft and tends to stretch and tear when I work with it. The annoyance took me a good hour to get over, but time is scarce, so it was on to other things.

After a suggestion from a seasoned high heel wearer that some of my designs were a bit high in the ‘throat’ – thus making the wearer’s legs look a little short if they’re not super tall – I had a go at modifying a previous design to see how well a variation on a theme would work. I also added a bit of gold piping (my first attempt at such an idea) and DAMN, it really adds a sexy evening-wear look to it. This will be investigated further asap.

So, a new shape, low in the front so when combined with a 1″ platform and a big arching heel it will make anyone look tall, long and lean. Nice. (The heel wont be white, that was just a raw one I had around)

Ooh, I also received my first email about an internship today! From the USA too, so hi Madeline if you’re reading this.. I’ve replied, we’ll see where it goes from here.

Listening to : Learn to speak French with Alexa, the Podcast….I’m learning to speak French, seems like a fun way to spend my train trips!

Howdy,

Another week of not much crafty stuff to show… I know, what’s the point of a craft blog with no craft?

Dani is nearing the firing stage of her bowls order (which is a mammoth achievement in itself, making 100 of something she normally makes one or two of is pretty bananas) so we’ll be dropping them off at Northcote Pottery this week to use their mega kilns instead of 12 separate firings in Dani’s little battler.

a still image from the video footage I’ve been shooting of the entire process…

I managed to get out to the shed yesterday for the first time in a fortnight and finished off a the test fit boot mentioned in a previous post. It’s always SUPER satisfying to hold a real shoe in your hand that looks about 90% the same as the drawing you started from, so although the completed shoes are a bit scarce these days it’s nice to know I’ve still got the knack.

There were some lessons learned from this one, on a technical level it was my first attempt at a zip, and the first skived edges in a long time (I was still a bit lazy on my skiving it seems as there is still some bulging around the seams where it should be dead flat)

and on a design level I am getting to appreciate how ‘unusual’ design features sometimes translate to less-than-ideal results. Namely the abrupt right angled detail in the topline of these = two flaps that dont know where to go… lesson learned, either reinforce them or attach them to something if I don’t want little “shirt collars” hanging in the breeze.

please ignore the heel, its raw laser cut MDF, no time for making a stacked leather one just for a fitting.

Thanks for stopping by… seems our visitor count is still climbing so that is always encouraging to keep typing and conversing with my ol’ pal WordPress dashboard and knowing it’s not just us two that are seeing this.

On that note, the countdown to the proper, real, official, actual launch of Dead + Buried (the workshop/retail store/online emporium) is now being measured in months, so we’re getting a little crazy here with lists, plans and dinner conversations but it IS VERY GOD DAMN EXCITING!

As Dani would point out though, I do, um, need, like, shoes to sell, not just ideas.
So here comes a few months of hard work and some hardcore shoemaking! Buckle up folks.

Listening to : Mastodon – Leviathan

Hey people, not going to be a lengthy post tonight as I’m a little tuckered out after a big weekend. I had a 2 day rock-fest jamming with my pals Nick and Nick (in no particular order) and developed a new even more unlistenably slow and heavy style of music than what we started with.

That said, I have some new stuff  on the bench and would hate to miss the chance to show off a little!

After my recent weaving adventures and some internet reading, I narrowed down my material requirements to some sort of “silk tweed” – and then managed to find an AMAZING piece of fabric on eBay finishing that night. Good timing? You bet it was.  48 hours later I got hold of a (larger than expected) piece of tweed made from recycled sari silk in the most ridiculous amount of colours. I have incorporated it into a new pair of prototypes and am now set on sourcing, or weaving my own, tighter and finer version of this fabric for my production models. This one is just a little too chunky and is hard to work with on a shoe pattern scale, it just needs to be woven much tighter.

TOP : Fabric + First sewn up pattern test
BOTTOM : Patterns cut + Sunday night’s effort at lasting. Missing buckles, platform and heel.

There are some good points (better technique) and some bad points (changed my design half way through, added straps and buckles, regretting it now that they are much harder to make) of these ones, but on the whole I’m happy with them. Will have soles and heels added this week, ready for Dani to wear them – finally a pair in her size! Drop in for a visit at Pieces of Eight later this month for a viewing.

Listening to :  Talking Heads – Little Creatures