Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

Here’s a full photo of the Marty Stuart boots that have my signature inside. I knew I had a photo of them on my computer at home. I thought I had an image of the boots at Jay’s boot shop before we sent them, but if I do have that photo I can’t find it. This one was taken at a museum exhibit… somewhere (I don’t remember).

Yesterday I got to go into the archives of the Country Music Hall of Fame and view boots from the Marty Stuart collection. My introduction to boot making was working for Jay Griffith; Jay made Marty’s boots at the time, and I learned how to do inlay and overlay work on Marty Stuart’s boots. As I viewed that early work, I was overcome with the desire to sit down with Beginner Lisa and give her some tips and pointers, because she definitely needed them!

Jay always believed in my potential. He bragged on my work, trusted me with work I probably shouldn’t have been doing yet, and told me I was as good as Betty, a legendary top stitcher who’d worked for him at Blucher Boots. Jay also decided that I should begin signing the inside of all the boot tops I stitched. I had no idea at the time how absolutely unprecedented it was to allow a mere employee to put their signature inside the boot top of an established maker.

When I looked down into this pair of boots and saw my name, I cried a little. It was so long ago and I’ve come so far. I hope that Jay would be proud. I hope that Marty knows how much of my career I owe to the fact that I learned to do inlay and overlay on the boots he had Jay Griffith make for him.

Note: I don’t have permission to share a full photo of the boots, so there is not one.

It’s time to begin building the heels on this pair.

Introducing: “Somewhere Over Arkansas”

After the leather soles are hammered onto the boots, the edges must be trimmed. I cut the waist area of the boot with a knife. It’s a crucial step — leave it too wide and the boot sole has all the shape of a potato. But there are absolutely no do-overs here, so you must not cut it too narrow either. Plus, there are of course two boots, so each one must not only have a nice curve on both the inside and outside of the sole, they must also have nice curves that *match each other* and leave the sole exactly the same width on each boot. There are no templates for this and I don’t draw it on; I simply take my knife in a steady hand and trim the soles, then compare them.

The boot on the left has been trimmed and the boot on the right is still potato-shaped.

Two pairs of boots getting close to being completed. I have the soles in the water for the brown pair, so tomorrow I should be able to lay the soles and stitch them. The blue pair needs another heel layer, then the rubber heel cap, and that should take the heel to the correct height.

Introducing: “Bluebird Let Me Tag Along”

My Friday didn’t exactly go as I anticipated. I intended to side seam this pair of boots before I left for the day, but instead I finished three of four seams. That’s annoying, so I came into the shop this afternoon, finished side seaming, and turned them. Now I’ll be ready for Monday.

OK, I’m going to brag. If you hate that, skip this post.

Most of the leather I use (because it’s better) is struck-through. That means that the leather is dyed all the way through. If you scratch the finish it will mar the glaze, but the leather underneath is still the same color. The green top leather on these boots is not struck-through; the green is painted on and the leather underneath is white. It was the color I wanted though, so I went with it. But during the processes of making the boots, the finish cracked or rubbed off in places, leaving white spots.

Since I made these boots for display only, I wasn’t worried about how the finish would last over time, but I was uncertain about my ability to accurately mix leather paint and cover the white spots. Today I opened all my leather paints, chose Kelly Green, Pale Yellow, Gray, and Medium Brown, plopped the amounts I thought would be required together, mixed them, and MATCHED THE GREEN THE FIRST TIME. I know what I’ve done and even I can’t tell where I’ve painted and where the original leather is.

Also, I still need to finish the heels but that’s enough excitement for today and I have to go grocery shopping, so I’m leaving. The life of a boot maker is so incredibly glamorous.