Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

Introducing: “I Wonder If They Ever Think Of Me”

Jay had two variations of this design. I love them both and have used them for years, always giving him credit. This time the design changed a little to be more my own, almost without me realizing it. It’s very subtle, but I can tell so I thought I’d give this variation a new title.

In memory of Jay Griffith, my first mentor

I finished a pair of boots today and they’re hanging in my shop window on the boot trees.

Here’s a full photo of the Marty Stuart boots that have my signature inside. I knew I had a photo of them on my computer at home. I thought I had an image of the boots at Jay’s boot shop before we sent them, but if I do have that photo I can’t find it. This one was taken at a museum exhibit… somewhere (I don’t remember).

Yesterday I got to go into the archives of the Country Music Hall of Fame and view boots from the Marty Stuart collection. My introduction to boot making was working for Jay Griffith; Jay made Marty’s boots at the time, and I learned how to do inlay and overlay work on Marty Stuart’s boots. As I viewed that early work, I was overcome with the desire to sit down with Beginner Lisa and give her some tips and pointers, because she definitely needed them!

Jay always believed in my potential. He bragged on my work, trusted me with work I probably shouldn’t have been doing yet, and told me I was as good as Betty, a legendary top stitcher who’d worked for him at Blucher Boots. Jay also decided that I should begin signing the inside of all the boot tops I stitched. I had no idea at the time how absolutely unprecedented it was to allow a mere employee to put their signature inside the boot top of an established maker.

When I looked down into this pair of boots and saw my name, I cried a little. It was so long ago and I’ve come so far. I hope that Jay would be proud. I hope that Marty knows how much of my career I owe to the fact that I learned to do inlay and overlay on the boots he had Jay Griffith make for him.

Note: I don’t have permission to share a full photo of the boots, so there is not one.

It’s time to begin building the heels on this pair.

Introducing: “Somewhere Over Arkansas”

After the leather soles are hammered onto the boots, the edges must be trimmed. I cut the waist area of the boot with a knife. It’s a crucial step — leave it too wide and the boot sole has all the shape of a potato. But there are absolutely no do-overs here, so you must not cut it too narrow either. Plus, there are of course two boots, so each one must not only have a nice curve on both the inside and outside of the sole, they must also have nice curves that *match each other* and leave the sole exactly the same width on each boot. There are no templates for this and I don’t draw it on; I simply take my knife in a steady hand and trim the soles, then compare them.

The boot on the left has been trimmed and the boot on the right is still potato-shaped.

Two pairs of boots getting close to being completed. I have the soles in the water for the brown pair, so tomorrow I should be able to lay the soles and stitch them. The blue pair needs another heel layer, then the rubber heel cap, and that should take the heel to the correct height.

Introducing: “Bluebird Let Me Tag Along”

My Friday didn’t exactly go as I anticipated. I intended to side seam this pair of boots before I left for the day, but instead I finished three of four seams. That’s annoying, so I came into the shop this afternoon, finished side seaming, and turned them. Now I’ll be ready for Monday.