Sixsmith

Sixsmith & Co. will host a FREE shoemaking demonstration on Thursday, March 1st at 6pm. In this demonstration, I will build a woman’s shoe and explain all the parts and components that go into the assembly of a shoe. We’ll discuss the how to integrate components into a comprehensive design, and the options for part fabrication and sourcing.

This demonstration will take approximately one to one and a half hours to complete.

If you are interested in footwear design and fabrication, you may wish to consider joining the footwear design meetup group here: http://www.meetup.com/footwear/.

Please contact Meredith@6smith.com if you have any questions about this meeting.

Hi,

I teach shoe making at Sixsmith & Co. in Lincoln, MA. For our shoe making class, I use leather for the insole board.

Get a piece of cow leather that is around 6oz or 8oz. Cut it to the shape of the insole. Soak it in water, and then wrap a piece of cloth around it so the leather is pressed tight against the shoe last all the way around. Leave it to dry for a day and then unwrap the cloth.

You'll find that the leather has taken the shape of the last and is stiff like a board. This will work fine for an insole board.

Shanks are difficult to find so I make my own. Shanks can be made from hardwood, fiberglass or metal. I make fiberglass ones for my classes. I've been told that fiberglass shanks have now surpassed metal ones in popularity. You basically need to make the shape of an arch out of a piece of fiberglass cloth and resin about 1 inch wide and taper the ends so they land in the right place. Take an old pair of shoes apart to see the shape and placement.

I also make custom heels for my classes. It's difficult to buy them in small quantities and the students ask for custom work anyway.

For toe boxes/toe puffs, the standard material is celastic, but I've heard too many stories of people with health issues who claim they were caused by celastic, so I won't give it to my students. Instead, you can use Fosshape or Wonderflex materials which you can by online from hat supply shops. They melt into shape with an iron. You can also do a lay-up of buckram and fabric stiffener, but you need to use it like paper mache and it takes a day to dry completely which is too long for my classes.

These small parts are hard to find, but if you need a short run of something, give me a holler at Meredith@6smith.com and I can make small custom batches for you.

I hope that helps and good luck with your shoe making!

Meredith