Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

I have the boot tops skived and all the pieces for the inlay skived too. It took me around 45 minutes to hand skive all four boot panels.

The soles are stitched. I’ll let them sit overnight in a plastic bag; I want the soles to be still damp but not too wet or completely dry when I put in all the wooden pegs tomorrow.

Four layers of leather on top of each other (two boot front panels, two back panels), design cut by hand with an X-Acto knife

The customer chose the smooth leather over the rough-out and they’ll be completed soon. I laid the soles this morning.

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!

I started making these shoes when Ruth Bader Ginsberg died and it’s taken me this long to finish them. On the outside of the shoes are the words “DISSENT” and “RESIST.” The insides say “nevertheless she persisted” and “when there are nine.”

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.