Hey Hey!


my sister rocking a christmas gift beach bag like a true champion.

The year is off to a flying start, with Dani and I printing out some MASSIVE calendars for each of our studio/rooms so that we can get to work on some serious time management and business planning. Being the stationary nerd that she is, Dani even bought us a new set of coloured Sharpies so that we can colour code our plans and lists. Bam. That’s how you get things done!

In an effort to not have another “as long as I do something shoe related each week it counts as shoemaking” year I have asked Dani to set me deadlines and enforce them with some sort of no internet or no drums/guitars punishment for slacking off. Goal #1 is to have a pair or more of shoes, that are actually / reminiscent of what I intend to sell, ready for a big birthday BBQ we have planned at the end of the month. So with 3 weeks to go I have lots to do! Designs, refinement, material choices… eeeek… then i have to make the damn things!

So, it’s late now and tonight isn’t going to yield much in the way of design genius, which means I may as well do this update and keep you all in the loop.

Weeks one and two of 2011 have so far produced the following : A new desk for shoe designing, a new ‘mood board’ for my inspiration, a test fitting of Lauren’s long-overdue raffle winning shoes and plenty of business lists and plans. I also managed to score some vintage shoe making tools from a local 2nd hand shop… rasps, edge shapers etc. I’ll post some photos next week.

| New Desk |

Q. How do you know if you have mild O.C.D?
A. You BUILD a desk  just to draw on, then photograph it in the making, then decorate it, then photograph it again, then post about it on your blog.

Seems my clippings gathering has lead me towards :
black/grey + red/yellow/orange + cyan/purple/turquoise + redhead girls + short haired girls +  more yellow + high, high, high heels.

So, that will be the style direction of my first range, and it will (at the moment) be aimed towards the archetypal Melbourne ShopGirl… ie. must be wearable for a few hours whilst working (with some exceptions for a few 100mm heeled showpiece shoes), must be able to be worn in Melbourne when it may rain at any moment, must work with black clothes, must kick major ass.

I’ll put up some sketches next week when i’m in the pattern making stages….

| Lauren’s Shoes|

I also have managed to knock up a test-fitting shoe for these, and have just found out it fits! yay! measurements = success.


test fit + pattern adjustments


…lasted, but with a bit of an error in my pattern – too loose around the throat.
Tightened it up with a cool little moccasin stitch, and will have to adjust the final pattern.

I put a few heels under it to see how much it changes the look (quite a lot apparently) and am still a little undecided on which one i’ll go for. I like the fat heel (bottom left) but it’s a bit too Louis Vuitton, and may not be right for Lauren. I’ll see.
..

This is what I have been thinking… in Patent Black, Mary Jane strap, silver heel, 10mm platform. Not sure about colour/details yet, but they’ll come to me when i’m making it.

| 3D printer |

… not too much on the go here. I am missing a part, and the next stage = electronics which is kinda blowing my mind…. so maybe more next week?

Lastly, we got a new camera for ourselves for Christmas – an Olympus EP-2 – which is beautiful to look at, heavy, stylish and takes much better photos than our old clunker. So look out for some nicer photos springing up this year, once we learn how to auto-focus, and deal with the no-inbuilt-flash situation.

Rock on kids, until next time……

Listening to :  Luomo [shout out to Tom + Jess]