Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

One boot is always harder to last than the other. I’m tired and running late so I promised myself that the second one would be the easy one and…it was!

I’m preparing to last the oak leaf boots. I like the way I can control where the water goes when I spray the boots, and I like the way I can get the counter soft and pliable when I soak them. So I combine the two techniques: I soak the counter area then spray the rest of the foot prior to lasting.

I sewed the side seams yesterday and turned them this morning. They’re beginning to look like boots!

One set of red alligator vamps is on the crimp boards. The brown leather is kangaroo lining and it’s cemented to the red alligator. This is how I reinforce a delicate leather; I only reinforce the tongue area and edges. The vamp looks nicer and is easier to work with than one that has the reinforcing leather cemented all over the entire vamp.

I just finished fitting the last for the oak leaf boots. I would say “successfully finished fitting the last” but really there’s no way to know that until I make the entire boot and he tries it on.

As a small person it’s frustrating to never be quite tall enough to reach things and maddening to be underestimated because I’m short. On the other hand, it’s very nice to be able to make myself new red alligator boots out of the scrap box!