the year of handmade, 4

gday howzit going, yeah good thanks.  (Aussie terms of great endearment)

So, I’ve been going for four months now wearing 100% made-by-myself clothing and shoes, yay! I’m a third of the way through!  Only eight months to go!!!  Oh dear, that’s slightly depressing.  I do not want to look at it in that way at all!  8 months, eeek!

Above is a selection of some favourite outfits for the past month, the entire shebang so far can be viewed in my Year of Handmade Flickr album here…

Do I have anything new to report? well the making of my winter boots felt like a mini game changer, I just love those things so much and feel like they go really well with my preferred winter uniform of a little skirt or short dress with tights.  When wearing them my feet are perfectly warm, and I feel comfy and confident and dare I say it, awesomely shod!  Yes, I dare!  I love them THAT much.  So please excuse a bit of preen-y, prideful boastfulness, ahem.

Everything is chooffing along just fine.  My yellow tape shoes are wearable, but I’ve worn them in the country, in the rain, and in the dirt and so they’re embarrassingly dirty and a wee bit revolting now.  That’s ok, I don’t mind having a pair of hard-knock shoes! so I haven’t tossed them out or anything.  I’m also using my black taped derbies for walking Sienna in the mornings too.  At least the dirt doesn’t show up on the black!

Something (obvious) I have learnt: DIRT AND WATER ARE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL  SHOE DAMAGE  Seriously.  Dirt is bad, water is bad, dirt and water combined? well good luck to your poor old shoes surviving that!!  Walking on the beach, or through fully wet and muddy grass is like the worst things you can do to the life of your shoes.  Yes, I did say it was obvious.

I’ve had to perform minor repairs to several pairs of shoes during the last month, however I’m pretty confident that they’re hanging in there alright and that each time I’m repairing something I’m learning more about how to improve them at the same time so the same little issues won’t happen again.

Also; I avoid mud and puddles like the plague now! or at least, immersing my shoes in those things… 😉

So, maybe this is a good time to talk specifics; my ongoing shoe issues are all bound up with identifying and then obtaining high quality glue and soling materials here.  It’s not so much that good gluing and soling materials are not out there, obviously good supplies are out there, since plenty of shoemakers are making awesome shoes.  Let’s just say, it’s more a case of; the information is in obscure and often out-of-date places, and even when someone is using a particular product and you can and do get hold of it for yourself; there is scant information on the correct application, and then almost nothing by way of review, telling you whether it actually worked for that person long-term, or not!  This has made it quite frustrating at times.  Those of us delving into making shoes have to play this game of trial and error and sort it out of ourselves.

Soling: I’m still using rubber sheeting from Bunnings, which is fine really, considering there’s nothing else in Perth.  Trust, me, I’ve looked!  However, after much umm-ing and aah-ing  I have taken the plunge and bought a sheet of crepe soling from the US, at heinous expense.  Fairly excited to see how it’s going to measure up, and perform.  Results to appear here, in due course.

Glue: I’m currently using Parfix Gel Bond Contact Adhesive.  Advice from a local shoe repairer was to get hold of Bostik Gel Contact Adhesive, which is apparently available in Bunnings.  However it has not been in stock in either of the three Bunnings stores I have visited which is why I bought this brand instead.  This has been pretty good, but I’ve learnt a few valuable lessons on getting the maximum performance from it.

Here for posterity are my current findings; and please note: I am far from an expert, and it could be that a proper trained shoemaker disagrees with the following and I am actually doing something else completely wrong that I just haven’t worked out yet.  However, adhering (hehe) to these guidelines has ensured me a pretty well problem-free experience since.

Better results are obtained in a slightly warm environment… say 20C and above.  If it’s a very cold day, I’ve found it’s better to warm up the rubber in front of a heater.  My experience is that rubber moulds to the bottom of the shoe far better when it’s a bit warm.

Thoroughly “rough up” all surfaces before use by giving them a good solid sanding down.  Use high grit sandpaper, or even start off with a rasp or metal file.

Wipe off surfaces with a dry cloth to remove all “bits”, and then follow manufacturer’s instructions for application and wait time.  When putting the two layers together I use a hammer to gently hammer all over; in the case of the shoe sole, I apply the hammer pretty liberally and firmly.

Can I just say, the hammering bit is enormously satisfying  *evil chuckle*

You can leave the tin of adhesive open for a while and even leave the brush perched on top and unwashed for up to, say, three quarters of an hour with no problems.  Any longer and it’s better to wash the brush; soak and swoosh and dab it around in turps, and then remove the adhesive pretty promptly.  It’s actually quite easy to pluck and roll the adhesive out from the bristles after a good “turps”-ing; it becomes quite rubber-y and not particularly sticky and can be pulled out without much fear of it gluing together your fingers.  If you want to do some more adhering, use a fresh brush, or wait until the first brush is fully and completely dry of turps.  Do not let the adhesive get turps in it, because it seems to slightly spoil it, and it becomes just a little bit less effective the next time you use it.

OK, my year of handmade report deviated somewhat into shoe-talk.. whoops, sorry about that!  Well, I guess it was inevitable that the “challenge” for me in my Year of Handmade was always going to be all about the shoes!