Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

Embarrassingly enough, this was one of my workbenches.

My pride and honor has been restored.

I drew the design on the left yesterday. I decided it wasn’t really what I wanted for that pair of boots, so I chose the vintage tulip stitch instead.
Interesting bit of history: A very similar tulip stitch is traditional for a kind of Hungarian boot also.

New boot, made by Hungarian Attila Kovacs, with a traditional Hungarian stitched design

I lasted a pair of red ostrich leg boots today.

I won’t get to start these boots for months, but they sure are going to be pretty!

If you look closely you can see the perfectly round circle I drew with a compass. I used to be obsessed with perfection; these flower petals would all have obediently touched the circle line and pointed in exactly the same direction. Then, around the time that I realized that I was not in control… of anything… I discovered the beauty of randomness and imperfection.

Today I’ll build the heels, one layer at a time, on this pair of boots.

It’s the final episode of speed boot making on “It’s a Boot Life” and there are pictures from my museum exhibit in Ohio.

It’s a Boot Life