The only thing I don’t like about very complex designs that extend all around a boot top is the fact that there’s no way to photograph them that shows the entire design. Or perhaps it’s a shrewd way to pique the viewer’s curiosity!
The alligator trim on the boot pulls is the actual leather color. The foot is darker right now because it’s wet.
Also, please note how cleverly I cropped this photo to highlight my collection of Louvin Brothers albums in the background.
The side seams are done and now I shall go home and celebrate (probably with popcorn and a good book — I’m a wild one, y’all). Usually the only thing a boot maker needs to worry about matching on the side seam is the vamp/counter line, but these boots have all sorts of details that need to match on the side seam so they were stressful.
Today was one of those busy, exhausting days where I felt like I got nothing done. Finally at 5:15 I told myself that I must prepare the counters for my next pair of boots before I could go home so at least I’d feel like I’d done one thing.
The counter (I think they call it a heel puff in Europe — they don’t use the word counter) is a stiff piece inside the heel area of a boot or shoe. It supports the heel area of the shoe and also holds the wearer’s heel in place. A cowboy boot counter is very thick; it’s made from the same leather and thickness of leather as the sole. It’s skived, or thinned, around the edges either on a skiving machine in one’s shop or they can be purchased pre-skived.
Unfortunately that’s not the end though. You must also take the skived counter to a finisher (sander) and smooth and even out the skive. I don’t enjoy making counters, probably because when I worked for Jay Griffith some days when I had nothing else to do I’d go prepare dozens of counters. It doesn’t take long to do one pair though and now when I arrive tomorrow I’ll have all the pieces ready that I need to begin putting a pair of boots together.
The landscape boot tops are finished. They have been and will be an excellent opportunity for praying the Boot Maker’s Prayer: “Please match, please match.”
The landscape tops are nowhere near completely stitched yet, but I feel like Bob Ross. Look at my happy little trees!
When I worked for Jay Griffith he often told me about a woman he’d seen stitching boot tops who wasn’t using a pattern — she just free-handed the entire top design. He asked me multiple times to try it but I was too accustomed to having rules to follow and not confident enough to try.
This morning Flora showed me this set of boot tops and explained that she’d done all four of them with no pattern at all. I love the exuberance and the graceful lines and the fact that even though all four panels are different, they still clearly belong together. I’m so proud of her!
All of the pieces are together now and the boot tops are ready to be stitched.
The final puzzle piece for the landscape boot tops was the tree trunks. I was relieved when I had skived all four little trees without lopping off any branches and having to start over. Even though the tops already have many components, the stitching will add all the final details like shadows in the grass and wire between the fence posts, plus there’s a tiny little bluebird who’ll be sitting on the fence.
Tomorrow will be a day of skiving. In England the word skiving can also mean goofing off, but tomorrow I won’t be using that definition — I’ll be thinning all the edges of this leather with a very sharp knife so there will be no bumps or ridges where they join.
I’ve been dreading starting this pair of boots for two reasons:
1.) Selecting the colors. These tops require several shades of green and I’m always worried I won’t have the right green. I mean, I do have probably the largest colored kangaroo selection in the world but there are many shades of green I don’t have and obviously I need more. Also, I’m talking about my own personal collection here and no none of it is for sale please don’t touch.
2.) I had to pull out every shade of green and all the other colors so I could compare them all and make the proper decision and now I have to put them all back in their little color coded spots.
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Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker 