Well, I went to Chicago! Yep, 5 days in Chicago making shoes. It was incredibly awesome. I had a cool apartment that was a mile walk to the shoe school. Luckily, I found out that Chicago is incredibly flat and the walk was lovely. The other student was a wonderful lady from Detroit named Molly. Molly and I had a great time together and with Sara, the teacher. We went on a field trip one morning to downtown to visit a shoe repair supply store. Talk about shoe makers heaven!
Here are the pictures:
The School Room
One shoe top!
But we are making TWO shoes:
Both tops
Time to cut soles:
I covet this machine!
Now before I move on to the new and exciting machines I got to play with, here are some pictures of the neighborhood where I stayed:
The school in Ravenswood neighborhood
Along my walk to school
Cute houses in Ravenswood
Fall foliage
House across from shoe school
Before we move on to MACHINES, I want to show you the glue cabinet! This puppy has a light and an exhaust fan to ameliorate the toluene in the glue. Really need to have one of these made for myself!
Glue cabinet
Okay, one of the main reasons that I went back to Chicago was to learn how to make soles and finish the shoes. Molly and I got to break in the new “Finishing” room at the school! We sawed, we sanded and we practiced to our heart’s desired. I was in heaven!
The Band Saw
For reasons I cannot remember, I only have one sawing picture and several sanding pictures. I think I was still in awe that we were using these machines.
Next up, we sanded:
Sander
Working it!
Concentrating
Work Cathy, work
Molly also got her time on the MACHINES and I did get a picture of her working hard:
Molly sanding
At the end of the day, or in this case, 3 days, we had shoes! Mine are the brown ones and Molly made darling purple and red shoes.
Cathy’s shoes
Molly’s shoes
Except for the flying part, this trip was fabulous! I learned a truckload about shoemaking, I had a blast with Molly and Sara and I came to really like Chicago!
Well, I am currently on a holiday for a few days, so check back to hear about that!
Please leave a comment! I love comments.
9 Comments
I love your shoes!!
Also, what a lovely little neighborhood you stayed in. Maybe I’ll have to do some exploring there this weekend.
Go to Lincoln Square area. It was so cute and there is a really good restaurant that we went to. I can get the name if you need it!
I LOVE your shoes, too!!! You could totally sell them for a fortune. What great colors and what a great design! What is the machine you covet? I mean what do you use it for?
The machine is called a Landis 5 in 1 but the function I use is to cut the midsole and the outsole. Holler if you find me one!
And so, how do the shoes feel? Will you make more? They look comfortable!
They fit very well. Yep, I will make more. This is my 4th pair and I am going for 20!
I’ve seen the shoes in person and they are amazingly cute! And the neighborhood looks wonderful — very Brooklyn ha ha…
Absolutely fabulous!
Just checked back in to see if there was a new post. Still super impressed with these shoes.