Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

Introducing my “Satan is Real” shoes with a bonus mini portrait of Ira and Charlie. These shoes are *mine*. I know they’re an odd little thing to put out into the world but I love them, because I’ve heard and lived these words.

“A prayer was led by an old country preacher

Who then raised his hands as everyone stood and sang

‘My God is real’

A warm breeze through the open windows

Brought in the smell of new mown hay in a nearby field

And the singing of birds could be heard in the moment of silence”

Other than the perpetual worry that I’ve gotten it in the wrong place, wingtips are one of my favorite things. And this… this is an absolutely beeeyooootiful wingtip!

I cut away the excess behind a wingtip or countertip. This makes it easier to wipe in the toe and heel because there’s less bulk, and it looks nicer also.

I can’t say I dislike stitching but I don’t like it either. I’ve been sewing for so long that mostly I just find it boring.

EXCEPT FOR DESIGNS LIKE THIS ONE! I love stitching floral overlays because the stitching is such a vital component of the design and it will change it completely. I’m looking forward to stitching these.

Note: Flowers aren’t glued yet; they’re only laying there so they’re not flat or perfectly in place.

Me: My absolute least favorite thing to do in leather inlay/overlay/stitching is teeny tiny letters.

Also me, given the smallest bit of artistic freedom: Hey! I should do something with lots of teeny tiny letters!

I have so many other things to do on these boots but I decided to just get the pulls over and done.

Today’s work

The design I’m working on now is a reproduction of a pair worn by Ernest Tubb. It’s always fun to reproduce a vintage design; I love getting into the original designer’s head and trying to guess what they did in the places I can’t see. I took a few artistic liberties on the boot tops but I’ve tried to reproduce the wingtips exactly. I can’t see what they did on the countertips so those are totally a guess.

Dale has a fishing guide he fishes with regularly and she’s become a very good friend. She wanted a leather bracelet with mountains and a river so I made her one. Dale says there’s a little trout in the stream that you can only see if you look closely and are wearing polarized sunglasses; she says she can see it too. Evidently it’s only visible if you’re into fishing. 😁

New sketch for customer approval, and they like it! Vintage and vintage-inspired designs like this one make me so happy. They are simply a joy to create; the lines and the way the design flows brings me peace. Note: This is a rough sketch. If there are any lines with bumps or wiggles, I’ll fix it soon. I like to rough sketch with pencil, go over it with ink to perfect it, and then I’ll stitch it with no thread in the needle to finalize the design.