Time to Make Some Boots

I am using Mary Wales Loomis' book on Making Your Own Shoes from http://www.marywalesloomis.com/ to remake these boots. These boots are fine as they are but the heels are a bit high for me, so they are going to be my shoemaking laboratory. Here are the boots originally, and the second photo shows them full of plaster. I am making a mold to shape the vinyl material on. A shoe form or mold is called a last. I thought it would be interesting to incorporate cut-work designs into the boots, so I made some sketches of the first idea I have.

There really aren't many books out there on shoemaking, and Mary Wales Loomis' book is good, quite detailed and affordable. I also just ordered a book on designing patterns for shoemaking from http://www.shoetrades.com/. It's called Pattern Cutting- step by step patterns for footwear.