Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

Work has been ongoing at my shop even though I’ve been too busy to take pictures for a few days.

I got new headshots today, courtesy of my friend Mallory Eagle. This one’s my favorite.

Flora and I organized her area of the shop. It’s impossible to be neat when there’s no place to put things, so I bought a shelf, built another one, hung a thread rack that Ray Dorwart gave me, and put giant bolts over the window so we can hang the boot trees up there.

Flora made these beautiful western-inspired Chelsea boots and I got to try them on! They’re not for me though.

It was a rush on Emma’s final day in my shop to get her shoes completed before I took her to the airport, and I’ve almost forgotten to share photos of her work. Emma is from London and I assumed she’d want a very subdued pair of shoes, but I was wrong! She went for purple quarters with bone and yellow flowers, and green vamps. I happened to have some lavender and yellow shoelaces that paired nicely with her shoes. My favorite part of having Emma as a student was seeing her enjoyment of the process at each step; she was celebrating with delight at the smallest and most mundane shoemaking tasks and that made it fun!

I finished a project I’ve been putting off for far too long. Using an inexpensive Baker Leather split, I sized leather pieces to fit exactly under my cutting boards and then cut holes out to accommodate all of my rulers and pattern templates. Now I’ll fasten the cutting boards to the wood, over the leather piece, and I’ll be able to tuck all of my patterning materials neatly under my cutting boards.

Students and friends on the sidewalk outside my shop. I’m grateful for the relationships this craft has given me.

I think I’ve outdone myself this time. These are going to take while to skive…

I’m working on a new deck of playing cards. Here’s a sneak peek at the new cards.