Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

I’m making a reproduction of an old Dixon boot, and as I was stitching this top band I was thinking of Andy Dixon, the designer for Dixon Boots, and wondering if he’d think I’d done a good job and hire me had I lived in his town and time.

My mentor Jay Griffith told me that boot makers used to save the cut-out pieces from an inlaid boot and use them to create an overlaid design on another pair of boots. Anyone need a pair of cowboy boots with red overlaid butterflies on the tops?

Corrected the issue on the second brown boot this morning and got it on the last, and also lasted this pair of turquoise alligator boots

Today I sanded for hours, attempting to customize a last for one of the most challenging feet I’ve seen in years and then I realized that the vac system wasn’t doing a very good job so I went out and found the bucket was full to the brim so I emptied it one scoop at a time into a huge trash bag and it’s a windy day and it was a total mess on the back loading dock (yes, I wore a mask) and now I’m filthy.

Introducing: “Little Birdie”

Two boots are almost done; I need to shape and polish the heels.

I taught a leather inlay/overlay class in the Netherlands today, at Rene van den Berg’s shoemaking school. I started the morning with not being able to find my earrings and watch in the hotel room, and this made me feel sure I was late and unprepared. But I had the most wonderful students, I felt very welcome, and it turned out to be a fantastic class. I cannot wait to see their final projects when they are completed!

Also, I met a massive pair of scissors. My hands were not big enough or strong enough to use them.

Here are some photos from my presentation to the Annie Oakley Society and the opening of the cowboy boot exhibition at the National Cowboy Museum.