Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

I blithely decided I’d put all the inlay pieces into these boot tops, but it took me 45 minutes to do one so I’ve decided to save the other three for another day and go home. The biggest challenge when positioning inlay pieces in a boot top like this is the fact that there are so many inlay holes and not much top remaining so it’s delicate and wants to wiggle out of shape. I spent a lot of time fighting that and more time remembering which pieces went where and which order they needed to go in. With these lessons learned it should go faster next time.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a new design — I abandoned my responsibilities and customer orders to make these little boots. I think the reason they intrigue me so much is because I completely ignored the traditional way I’ve always started a design.

Whoops, I got distracted and started a pair of lace-up boots for myself because I couldn’t get them out of my head.
Also, are these not the coolest things you’ve ever seen?!?
Possible answers:
Yes
YES!
Why is this even a question of course yes.

This customer said he didn’t mind bright colors so I’ve taken him at his word.

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.