Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

I can’t stop playing with asymmetry. I love a design that isn’t symmetrical but it is balanced, so that’s always my goal.

One more update from my weekend: Every year since 1993, I’ve attended the Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup in Wichita Falls, Texas. An important part of the event is the boot making competition, where we all create our very best work and vie for first place in one of the many divisions. The Master Category is for experienced makers; there aren’t really any guidelines for that category other than you have to be willing to compete against makers who are brave enough to choose it.

A few years ago I began creating art pieces based on concepts that are difficult to convey with my medium of leather inlay, overlay, and stitching — things like light, shadow, movement, and reflection. I had an idea for conveying depth and in a moment of hubris I decided to do it in boot top form rather than a single art piece. My idea was to do a grove of aspen trees, hoping for the feeling of looking into a forest.

Typically I post process photos as I’m making the boots, but since these were for a competition I decided to not share them to social media at all. So now, all in one post, I will share process and completed photos of the boots that won the Master Category at the Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup. These boots are titled “Rocky Mountain High.”

Several years ago — at least fifteen — I learned about the MacArthur Fellowship Genius Grant and it changed my life. My initial goal was (of course) to win it someday, so I began reading about exactly what the qualifications were: “At the heart of the MacArthur Fellows Program is its aim to identify extraordinarily creative individuals with a track record of excellence in a field of scholarship or area of practice, who demonstrate the ability to impact society in significant and beneficial ways through their pioneering work or the rigor of their contributions.”

I began to think about the type of person I’d need to become in order to qualify. I started my YouTube channel with tips and techniques, and for eight years I consistently filmed videos and added to my channel. I’ve been recognized in other countries by viewers of those videos. Last year I attended a shoe making event in New York City; the event started with a group of shoe makers telling their origin stories, and I was astonished at how many of those stories began with me and my YouTube channel. I began teaching and speaking and writing. Eventually my goal turned into being that person rather than winning the award.

This past weekend, at the Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup in Wichita Falls, Texas, I was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Some of my students and friends and mentors spoke prior to presenting the award, and the beautiful things they said about me indicated that perhaps I’ve achieved my goal. The MacArthur Fellowship jurors are secret and there’s no way to apply or be nominated, so my chances are similar to winning the lottery. But I will always be grateful that I found the award and decided to try and be the sort of artist they’d recognize. The initial goal — to win — was too small. I’m glad I pursued generosity and learning and teaching and growing as an artist, because it made me a winner!

My 2026 cowboy boot calendar has arrived and it’s available for purchase on the website!

Look what I found in my archives* this morning. I would have sworn to you that I am unable to do boot sketches but evidently at one point I did. This drawing has to be 25 years old and apparently I never went any further than cutting out the top band and saving it with the sketch. It’s very obvious here that my early design preferences and ideas were based entirely on Marty Stuart’s tastes.

*Box of random accumulated stuff

Yesterday I posted a photo with the leather filler in the bottom of the boots. Today, in order, you can see the stitched-in shank, the shank cover (pegged but unsanded), and the final shaped shank cover.

Also costarring my little shoes in every photo.

The insides of cowboy boots make me happy.

Also, you won’t get a neat end result unless you’re meticulous in the parts that don’t show.

The welt is that narrow strip of brown leather that I’ve sewn onto the boots by hand. The process of sewing on the welt is called inseaming, and it’s my favorite part of the boot making process. Well… inseaming and skiving a really complicated design. Those are my favorite things. Oh, and drawing designs and making the patterns for it. Also when the customer pulls on the boots and their heel thunks into the boot and they fit properly. That’s definitely my favorite thing.

Boots and shoes are built around a last — the form that gives footwear its shape. Lasts used to be made of wood but now they’re typically made of plastic, which is heavier, and the heels are built and rough-shaped while the last is still in the boot. The red and gray boots are a size 12.5 and each last weighs two and a half pounds (plus the weight of the actual boot around it). I’m always sore after building heels on a large boot, but the little size 3.5 shoe feels as light as a feather in comparison!