make your own

[marc]

I found this interesting link. Who will try first to make his own clogs?

http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y0012560/

[azraelle]

Och!! Too bad the direx are in german.

[Highluc]

Thanks for the pointer Marc, this guy definitely shares some interests with me and he got those wonderfull retro shoes and boots he wears. I hoped a lttle more explainations and patterns on how to make the cloggs.

[Dr. Shoe]

You get a block of wood which is of the dimensions you need to make the sole unit you want. Dont forget that if you make very high heel clogs you want the grain on the sole to go along the foot and on the heel it needs to go vertically downwards. On flats or low elevation you can get away with just a horizontal grain. Using a bandsaw or similar you cut out the profile then you paint the sole of your foot and stand on it with the paint wet so you can see where the foot touches the sole unit you mare making. Using a piece of sandpaper you hollow out where the paint is and repeat the process until you find that the paint will cover the sole unit completely, this will ensure a nice comfy sole. Next you cover the entire thing with clingfilm and then the forepart with a lump of car body filler which you can then shape by hand to the desired toe shape. After this has dried, remove the cling film and using blu-tac adhere the former to the sole and then cover with a piece of scrap leather lining, tack down and trim off until the leather is the shap you want. Press this shape down onto a piece of card and draw around it. Around the edge that corresponds to the top of the vamp, leave a margin of 5-8mm and then cut out. Cut the leather you want out remembering to turn the pattern over when you cut out the second piece so you have a right and a left. Shave down the underside of top edge (the said margin area) so you have a blade edge. Place the original piece of scrap leather against the underside and draw along the top edge and glue a narrow piece of ribbon or nylon tape along the inside. You then cut slots in the margin at ten millimetre intervals away from the tape at rightangles and then apply evostic to the margin and 5-8mm inside the outer edge of the tape. You then stretch the leather over the former at staple it to the sole. You could use upoholsterers' pins or those big headed tacks like on 70s style clogs. Remove the former and then hold the shoe over a heat source to make the glue go tacky and fold the fingers under so you have a nice neat folded edge. If you had a post sewing machine you could do this before fixing the upper to the sole unit and stitch along the fold but if you had access to one of these you'd be a shoe maker anyway and wouldn't be reading this

[Dr. Shoe]

You get a block of wood which is of the dimensions you need to make the sole unit you want. Dont forget that if you make very high heel clogs you want the grain on the sole to go along the foot and on the heel it needs to go vertically downwards. On flats or low elevation you can get away with just a horizontal grain. Using a bandsaw or similar you cut out the profile then you paint the sole of your foot and stand on it with the paint wet so you can see where the foot touches the sole unit you mare making. Using a piece of sandpaper you hollow out where the paint is and repeat the process until you find that the paint will cover the sole unit completely, this will ensure a nice comfy sole. Next you cover the entire thing with clingfilm and then the forepart with a lump of car body filler which you can then shape by hand to the desired toe shape. After this has dried, remove the cling film and using blu-tac adhere the former to the sole and then cover with a piece of scrap leather lining, tack down and trim off until the leather is the shap you want. Press this shape down onto a piece of card and draw around it. Around the edge that corresponds to the top of the vamp, leave a margin of 5-8mm and then cut out. Cut the leather you want out remembering to turn the pattern over when you cut out the second piece so you have a right and a left. Shave down the underside of top edge (the said margin area) so you have a blade edge. Place the original piece of scrap leather against the underside and draw along the top edge and glue a narrow piece of ribbon or nylon tape along the inside. You then cut slots in the margin at ten millimetre intervals away from the tape at rightangles and then apply evostic to the margin and 5-8mm inside the outer edge of the tape. You then stretch the leather over the former at staple it to the sole. You could use upoholsterers' pins or those big headed tacks like on 70s style clogs. Remove the former and then hold the shoe over a heat source to make the glue go tacky and fold the fingers under so you have a nice neat folded edge. If you had a post sewing machine you could do this before fixing the upper to the sole unit and stitch along the fold but if you had access to one of these you'd be a shoe maker anyway and wouldn't be reading this You may find that your first attempt may not fit but a bit of trial and error may yield the results you want.

[Dr. Shoe]

You get a block of wood which is of the dimensions you need to make the sole unit you want. Dont forget that if you make very high heel clogs you want the grain on the sole to go along the foot and on the heel it needs to go vertically downwards. On flats or low elevation you can get away with just a horizontal grain. Using a bandsaw or similar you cut out the profile then you paint the sole of your foot and stand on it with the paint wet so you can see where the foot touches the sole unit you mare making. Using a piece of sandpaper you hollow out where the paint is and repeat the process until you find that the paint will cover the sole unit completely, this will ensure a nice comfy sole. Next you cover the entire thing with clingfilm and then the forepart with a lump of car body filler which you can then shape by hand to the desired toe shape. After this has dried, remove the cling film and using blu-tac adhere the former to the sole and then cover with a piece of scrap leather lining, tack down and trim off until the leather is the shap you want. Press this shape down onto a piece of card and draw around it. Around the edge that corresponds to the top of the vamp, leave a margin of 5-8mm and then cut out. Cut the leather you want out remembering to turn the pattern over when you cut out the second piece so you have a right and a left. Shave down the underside of top edge (the said margin area) so you have a blade edge. Place the original piece of scrap leather against the underside and draw along the top edge and glue a narrow piece of ribbon or nylon tape along the inside. You then cut slots in the margin at ten millimetre intervals away from the tape at rightangles and then apply evostic to the margin and 5-8mm inside the outer edge of the tape. You then stretch the leather over the former at staple it to the sole. You could use upoholsterers' pins or those big headed tacks like on 70s style clogs. Remove the former and then hold the shoe over a heat source to make the glue go tacky and fold the fingers under so you have a nice neat folded edge. If you had a post sewing machine you could do this before fixing the upper to the sole unit and stitch along the fold but if you had access to one of these you'd be a shoe maker anyway and wouldn't be reading this You may find that your first attempt may not fit but a bit of trial and error may yield the results you want.

[hoverfly]

http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn

Firefox had this link posted at one time before. It seams to work well translating most languages to one you can understand.

Och!! Too bad the direx are in german.

[onyourtoes]

Over the years I've made a few stabs at making shoes. Mostly modifications or simple sandals with wood soles.

I've found a few books at the local library about making your own shoes -- generally leather sole flat sandals and moccasins, but once I found one that showed how to make high heeled pumps.

The author made lasts by filling old shoes with plaster of paris, or making a last from her foot with it resting on a heel. The heels and shanks, I think mostly came from old shoes.

Well, today I found the author has a web site and is selling the book. here it is.

Maybe there's a couple good ideas there, especially those of us who are "foot size challenged."

[Bubba136]

Shoes are so inexpensive these days I would be wasting time trying to make my own. However, I can fully understand guys that wear larger sizes trying to make them. You'd think at least one major shoe store would commission a manufacturer to make larger sizes to inorder to take advantage of a bigger market than most retailers are aware. Letter writing campaign? (Start with payless -- they already seem to carry some styles in larger sizes than most stores)

[Dr. Shoe]

Over the years I've made a few stabs at making shoes. Mostly modifications or simple sandals with wood soles.

I've found a few books at the local library about making your own shoes -- generally leather sole flat sandals and moccasins, but once I found one that showed how to make high heeled pumps.

The author made lasts by filling old shoes with plaster of paris, or making a last from her foot with it resting on a heel. The heels and shanks, I think mostly came from old shoes.

Well, today I found the author has a web site and is selling the book. here it is.

Maybe there's a couple good ideas there, especially those of us who are "foot size challenged."

Putting the plaster in a condom may prevent you having to destroy the shoe getting it out. Note that you may have to break the last to get it out of the new shoe though.

[micha]

It was a rainy sunday afternoon, when I decided to create my own heels. I had received my new knee high boots from Jean Gaborit (France) some days ago. The boots looked fine and the quality was OK but I didn't like the shape of the block heels. For the lenght of the boots they seemed too short and also too low. I preferred to have conical heels similar like woman cowboy boots. After designing a rough draw on a sheet of paper I started my project with 1-cm-plywood and a fretsaw. I nailed and glued 10 plywood layers together. The upper layer was grinded skew with the help of an abrasive wheel. In the same way as the outer shape of my still steplike heels. The original heels were nailed to the boot. I tried to remove them with a strong screw driver and it worked! Now I had to fix my new heels to the boots. In the back sole of the boots I found a steel plate with 6 holes (3 holes on every side). Instead of nails I used wood screws to fasten the heels. A good idea because its stable until today. After some rework (polishing the heels with colourless shoe-cream and repairing the inner soles with leather patches) I was keen on trying out my craftwork in practice (It's Tooltime - whooohooohooo! ). Running directly outdoors into my neighbourship wearing the shafts over the jeans. All went fine - I was really proud about my sunday afternoon work - besides a meeting with an elder lady staring at me, as if the invasion of the Vega had just begun. A moment later I realized that she was following curious the extraterrastrian invader. Obviously very interested in the newest intergalactic fashion I swear, it was not an easy job to control my urinary excretion .... :rofl: micha

[zorro071214]

Hi everybody I´m making may own wedges in my hobbyroom.They are dryíng right now.Each shoe is made of 4 woddpieces so they ar about4-5".Haven´t mesured them yet They are not heavy even thy are made of wood.Ihave a piar of extreme pumps,each shoe way more than one of my ownmade? I´m going to put real leather on top with open toe.The instep is going to be beige soft thin leather and at last the sides of the shoe is going to be with syntetic leather.I´ll post a pic when they are ready. Jankas

[Firefox]

Mary has some interesting ideas, but she should put her ideas on the internet in detail as well as selling the book.

[micha]

Hi everybody

I´m making may own wedges in my hobbyroom.They are dryíng right now.

Hi Jankas,

finally another amateur craftsman!

I already thought that this thread is completely dead. At the moment I'm pondering about a design for selfmade high heeled clogs. By my education I'm guaranteed NO craftsman (theoretical physics ). And my tools are poor compared to Tim Taylor's excellent Binford machines

But it's a challenge to solve all the problems that you will encounter by your own ideas. It's definitely not my interest to save money. I have enough money to buy the shoes I'm keen on. In my opinion it's a fascinating hobby to create your own shoes rsp. heels

curious on your result

micha

[zorro071214]

Hi Micha Like you siad I´m not doing this to save money or anything just trying to make a stile of my own(mixed favorites).I´ll post a pick just have to get the right glue first.Think i´ll get it from a friend who is a shoerepairer. If it turns out well maybe I´ll make some more differentshoes.As many say here on the forum:TOOLTIME Jankas