Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

I finished putting the first of these together, looked at it, and said, “Oooh, that’s Art!” Shows what I know.

First I create the pattern for my little bird and mark the patterns onto the appropriate colors of leather, then I cut out those pieces very precisely and skive them, and finally I put them together. Now I have a flock of birds ready for the boot tops!

I’m going to try something totally new on this pair of boot tops and I don’t know if it will work, so don’t make up your mind if you like them or not yet.

Introducing: “Turning to the Light”
From now on, if it’s available online, I’ll post a link to the song the pictured boot is named after. Link to song

This is the third pair that I’ll be finishing this week.

I should have this pair finished soon.

I finished a pair of boots today. Introducing: “Coca-Cola Cowboy”

Here’s a link to my Youtube video for June.

It’s a Boot Life

Cowboy boot soles traditionally have a double row of wooden pegs in the sole, and the hole for the pegs is created with a pegging awl in a wood handle. Here I’m demonstrating how to hold the pegging awl and haft. See how the side of my hand is sort of squished against the boot? When I hit the handle my hand compresses and then rebounds, which helps to bounce the awl back out of the leather.