Going to create high heels by myself...

[hh&c fan]

Thank you shedevil, but I don't think I'll be able to sell any shoes: -> it will get as expensive as having a real shoe maker create your shoes -> it will take several times longer than made by a pro shoe maker -> I don't have any experiences about last making - my feet being very close to me can give me some orientation but that won't work for your feet -> I can only spend a hour here and there. There are too much other things to be done. So all I can do is to show you how you - or perhaps a craft knowing friend - can follow my idea and create your own dream shoes.

[manoleat]

Great model you made! But it seems you don't stick to the baby doll toe anymore as your model shows a bit pointier toe box.

[Dr. Shoe]

So, how's it going? It's been over a week since your last post.

[hh&c fan]

So, how's it going? It's been over a week since your last post.

Already told ya I don't have too much time. Currently refining the last shape, the one I showed was just a very basic model.

Great model you made! But it seems you don't stick to the baby doll toe anymore as your model shows a bit pointier toe box.

Yep it's no rounded baby doll toe box anymore. To be exact I never planned that. I most love the extreme vintage pumps with a short but slightly pointed toe.

Just bought the first materials as I found a good deal on ebay - the interior will be silver leather...

From time to time I'll show what I'm doind/planning, but real production will begin in 2012. Taking a look at my time schedule I think they'll have to wait until the first days of march.

However before I could begin anything I have to collect all needed tools and materials; also I have to have the lasts / plateaus / heel mold be milled.

Oh and the shanks of course.

So there's enough to do until then...

[manoleat]

Take your time, Rome was not built in on day too. Anyway we will follow your thread with interest (at least I do).

Good luck!

Btw: These vintage boots of my collection have a slightly pointed toe box either http://www.hhplace.org/vintage_fashions/18403-boots_30s.html#post262322

[boothill]

The boots you showed are said to be made in the 1930s by a guy named Sal Gervasio but there is no proof for that. You can read a bit more here:

http://thebootfetishist.blogspot.com/2010/03/betty-page-boots.html

and much more in issue #13 of Bootlovers.com. There you can also find the whole gallery of these boots (pictures made 2002).

Making platform and heel as one part by milling a solid piece would let them look like the similar platform boots from Pleaser etc.

Your sketches are nice (I think) but in this small size here difficult to watch.

OH WELL, we all want those boots, don't we!!!

Those boots are by far the best looking and most elegant platform shoes I (and you ) have/will ever see. And why's that? -The design is very unique and stylish and yet very sexy. In most of the platform boots the way your feet goes is the same like on some low 1.5" heel type shoes. But on these shoes how the foot "bends" is just amazing.

I would definitely buy a pair from my wife if I ever found a company making boots exactly like this. Oh well, two pairs.

And on to the subject: been thinking of making a pair of shoes from wood..or at least try. Something like this shouldn't be too hard:

http://www.pleasershoes.ca/FETISHSHOES/PleaserShoes-Beau-607W-TLE.htm

[hh&c fan]

Hey there!

I think I finally got the right last shape. Will show some pictures soon.

One question for our experts - here's a website telling some stuff about high heel manufacturing - http://www.medianet.pl/~andrew/shoes/comfy_heels.htm

In the middle of the document there's a section about shanks. They say the best shanks aren't made out of steel but from epoxy resin reinforced with carbon or glass fibers. What do you think about that?

[FXHH]

1st, have not read the whole post!! so hope that I'm not repeating anything however read the parts where you were looking for cnc work done there is newer and better technology available its called ''3D printing'' do a google and a you tube search and get the shock of you life with the new manufacturing technologies, I did you will either be able to make one off in your home, yes there are small table top machines on the market, or make molds witch can then be mass produced!! good luck hope this helps will post up again if I have more info

[FXHH]

http://www.botmill.com/landing/holiday-3d-printing/?gclid=CPbez-KTlq0CFQZLpgodGFVynQ

[Dr. Shoe]

Hey there!

I think I finally got the right last shape. Will show some pictures soon.

One question for our experts - here's a website telling some stuff about high heel manufacturing - http://www.medianet.pl/~andrew/shoes/comfy_heels.htm

In the middle of the document there's a section about shanks. They say the best shanks aren't made out of steel but from epoxy resin reinforced with carbon or glass fibers. What do you think about that?

A shank has to be as stiff as possible. It doesn't really matter what it's made from as long as it retains the shape of the shoe.

[hh&c fan]

1st, have not read the whole post!! so hope that I'm not repeating anything

however read the parts where you were looking for cnc work done

there is newer and better technology available

its called ''3D printing'' do a google and a you tube search and get the shock of you life with the new manufacturing technologies, I did

you will either be able to make one off in your home, yes there are small table top machines on the market, or make molds witch can then be mass produced!!

good luck hope this helps

will post up again if I have more info

I alredy know about 3D printing. However it's very expensive and often the possible size is strongly limited.

A shank has to be as stiff as possible. It doesn't really matter what it's made from as long as it retains the shape of the shoe.

yep of course but I was hoping someone could tell me if epoxy+fibers really's better. possibly it's easier to create than to find someone who can do steel shanks. more about that later.

[Dr. Shoe]

No. There is a move to use these materials to make the soles but they still need to be reinforced.

[bss]

The shank has to be rigid as the insole and outsole will be bonded to it. If it flexes the sole could start coming apart in the arch. Don't skimp here if you intend to wear the finished product. If finding proper shanks is proving fruitless consider having a machine shop mill them out of solid stock. I'm pretty sure that a blacksmith could help you out in the shank department as well by forging them out of cold rolled steel strip stock.

I hate to destroy a high heel on purpose, but taking one apart will give you a real education on how they are made. After successfully extracting a shank from a high heeled shoe (no easy task) you'll soon see how beefy and rigid they really are. Warning don't do this with a wedge or one that has a rounded outsole through the arch. The wedge will be shankless and the other could be.

I really hope you can do this. I really want you to be successful doing it. I don't however want to see you hurt yourself with a weak design with an extreme heel.

I took a few high heels apart. I was planning on make miniature heels to the size I needed it to be, and built with the same material from the high heels I took apart. The reinforcement in the heels and the shank are harden steel. They are very hard to cut or bend. See attached pictures.

[bss]

Take a look at the attached picture. It is an X-ray of a foot in a high heel shoes. You can see all the steel reinforcements in the high heel shoes.

[hh&c fan]

Thanks bss, very useful material!

[Mike Hinch]

Those are really nice boots. It looks like thirty pair of lacing holes and I did mot see a zip. The zipper takes away some of the thrill of knowing that they are on for the long haul. As for making them, my plan is to take fiberglass cast material and rap my foot and leg then cut off the thin fiberglass pack it with potters clay and that is my last. Have already made one right last for my ballet heel project. The stiff parts I plan to make from fiberglass and three layers of real leather and no zip. Would really like to get together with someone here in Orange County Cailf to build with. In adtion to my ballet heel project I also plan to make a pair of Camel to boots. And the toe tip of the ballet heels I have road kill tire tread and may hav just found a source of nonvulconized rubber to bond the tire tread to the boot tip.

[Dr. Shoe]

How's it progressing? I'm sure we're all dying to know.

[Mike Hinch]

My project is come to an absolute stop as the shop is going away. What the deal was there is a TV shop here in Orange and I do a few repairs that the owner does not like such as switchmode power supplies. Then after the day I would play whit my own projects. The shop will be totally extinct by 20 apr 12 after that I will be doing the same sort of arrangement with a music repair shop. My electronic expireance will not be for naught as some customers bring that to the music shop and I even repaired an oscilloscope for this guy. After things get setteled I will bring the boots out of storage and continue building.

[hh&c fan]

Still I am hardly able to find time for working on the heels. Currently I refine the (digital lasts) as everytime I look at them I find some other thing needing to be corrected However I think the digital lasts are almost done now. If possible I'm going to show the final shape and a first rendering of the whole shoes in a few weeks.

[hh&c fan]

Some time has passed... and now I'm back at work. I think I'm almost happy with the new shape. Attached are some screenshots of the model consisting of 4 parts - last, sole, plateau, heel. Of course I have to do some microcorrections as the real sole and leather has a certain thickness.

What do you think of the shape? Do you like the design?

Regarding foot anatomy etc - I'm sure this is not perfect, but I took lots of measurements from my favourite pair of high heels and my own feet...

And if you don't know about it by now - the last looks a bit "stretched" because it will include a hidden 2cm slant plateau.

This archive contains several images (required password attached to this post): https://rapidshare.c...1374/images.zip

password.txt

[beepy]

I like the shape. One thing I might add is that on the platforms I have with a cut back toe area, there is a tendancy to tip forward. You may want to have a bit more flat area on the sole under the ball of the foot. The stiffness of the connection between the heel and the sole/shank will be a challenge. I look forward to your sucess with this project.

[Malc]

Looks good. I really like shoes with that almost square drop from the heel (not sure if that has a proper term). Good luck with the build, looking forward to the finished shoe

[hh&c fan]

I like the shape. One thing I might add is that on the platforms I have with a cut back toe area, there is a tendancy to tip forward. You may want to have a bit more flat area on the sole under the ball of the foot. The stiffness of the connection between the heel and the sole/shank will be a challenge. I look forward to your sucess with this project.

Indeed. I'll modifiy the plateau to give it a largeer flat sole area!

[Trolldeg]

The 3d-model looks a bit unbalanced, like it's going to fall forward.

[shedevil]

nice HH&C Fan, looks a bit like my boots...good job

[Heelster]

A question Dr. Shoe: Are the shanks annealed after pressing to relieve pressing stresses? I would seem to make sense from an engineering standpoint.

Stress relieving something as simple and small as a shoe shank would not get stress relieved unless there was going to be extensive welding planned for the part,

Stess relieving of parts is most commonly used on larger items that have been welded on. Heat deformation from welding occurs when the welding process occurs, and locked in stresses wil become evident during machining processes - usually during milling.

You can also see it on larger cold rolled bar when milling, but a small shoe shank - - might be better off to leave the surface stress locked in. I wouldn't bother with stress relieving in this application.

Edited May 30, 2012 by Heelster

[hh&c fan]

I'm still looking for where to get the shanks. There are some manufacturers specialized in mechanical flat springs etc. I think some of them would create fitting ones for me. However of course it would be best if they were made by someone who knows what he's doing after all. Does anyone here have connections to a custom shank manufacturer?

[Mike Hinch]

This really should be too simple to fuss over. The shank that I have found in factory shoes is a piece of junk but quite reproduceable. Figure the size and shape get some air hardening tool steel presumably in strip form and do all the cutting, drilling and bending. Bring up to 2000 degrees of what ever it takes and cool slowly. If oil hardening steel is used then it gets heated and plunged into oil and at just the right angle as warpage can occur at the quenching. Better yet make a mold from clay covered with suranrap and lay down your sole pattern in fiberglass then grind and apply more fiberglass and more grinding until it is right. This method can go from the inside or from the outside. Start with a mold of the foot or a mold of the outside of the shoe.

[hh&c fan]

This really should be too simple to fuss over. The shank that I have found in factory shoes is a piece of junk but quite reproduceable. Figure the size and shape get some air hardening tool steel presumably in strip form and do all the cutting, drilling and bending. Bring up to 2000 degrees of what ever it takes and cool slowly. If oil hardening steel is used then it gets heated and plunged into oil and at just the right angle as warpage can occur at the quenching. Better yet make a mold from clay covered with suranrap and lay down your sole pattern in fiberglass then grind and apply more fiberglass and more grinding until it is right. This method can go from the inside or from the outside. Start with a mold of the foot or a mold of the outside of the shoe.

Let's see... can I heat my baking oven up to 2000°... nope unfortunately that won't help me. On the other hand it shouldn't be a problem to find a small company who can do this in that "crap quality". However the better shanks aren't just "flat" and that's something I can't do and a non-specialized company cannot do either.

However if I have some luck, even you who also love the design might be able to buy it...

Hope I'm able to tell you more soon.

[Shafted]

Actually you can reach those temperatures quite easily and economically by building a small outdoor charcoal furnace/forge with a forced air feed. It may sound difficult, but it really isn't. I would imagine you could just google the subject and find some great plans for a small outdoor forge.