Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

New boot design for someone who was wise (or unwise) enough to say, “I don’t know… do what you want.”

Surprise! There are two pairs of these shoes! I couldn’t decide if I wanted the design to be stitched on the smooth side or the fuzzy side of the leather so I’m making a pair of each. Which one do you like best?

These are only draped over the last. I’ll last them properly tomorrow but I was eager to share!

P.S. See… I can do subtle!

My friend and fellow boot maker Valerie Coe came out to Oklahoma and we made her a pair of shoes! In the photo where she’s wearing the shoes, if you look closely, you can see that she tried them on (to make sure they fit!) before we finished the sole edges and heels.

I think I forgot to post photos of the Louvin Brothers shoes after I finished them! All work is done with leather inlay, overlay, and stitching — there’s no painting.

This is the art piece I’ve had in my head for months; it feels good to get it out. It will be one of the most complex projects I’ve tried so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. I have some busy days ahead and it will be weeks before I get to work on it again.

The whole time I was making the Fender tweed shoes, I was keeping a secret: I put the new owner’s name on the outside of the left shoe. I wanted to surprise him which meant I couldn’t post pictures that revealed the name. I tried to do the letters in the same font as the Fender logo but given that the words “Dallas Wayne” and “Fender” only share two letters (not counting the letter D because I needed to capitalize it), so I had to make up most of it.

New YouTube video on using Crimp Screws

Shoemaking Tools