Shoemaking
Shoemaking is a traditional handicraft profession, which has now been largely superseded by industrial manufacture of footwear.
Shoemakers (also known as cobblers or cordwainers) may produce a range of footwear items, including shoes, boots, sandals, clogs and moccasins. Such items are generally made of leather, wood, rubber, plastic, jute or other plant material, and often consist of multiple parts for better durability of the sole, stitched to a leather upper.
Most shoemakers use a last—made traditionally of iron or wood, but now often of wood—on which to form the shoe. Some lasts are straight, while curved lasts come in pairs: one for left shoes, the other for right shoes.
The shoemaking profession makes a number of appearances in popular culture, such as in stories about shoemaker's elves, and the proverb "The shoemaker's children are often shoeless". The patron saint of shoemakers is Saint Crispin.
Some types of ancient and traditionally-made shoes include:
- Furs wrapped around feet, and sandals wrapped over them: used by Romans fighting in northern Europe.
- Clogs: wooden shoes, often filled with straw to warm the feet.
- Mocassins: simple shoes, often without the durability of joined shoes (although different types of leather have different wear characteristics).
The Society for Creative Anachronism offers some advice about making period shoes.
Current crafters may use used car tire tread as a cheap alternative to creating soles.
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People named Shoemaker
Well-known people named Shoemaker include:
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker, who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
- Willie Shoemaker a.k.a. "The Shoe" or Bill Shoemaker, record-setting U.S. horseman who rode thoroughbred horses to victory in 8,833 official races (including four times in the Kentucky Derby) during his career (1949–1990). He held the career record for more than 28 years.
- Sylvia Browne, the authoress who was born Sylvia Celeste Shoemaker.
- Michael Schumacher, F1 champion, and his brother Ralf Schumacher, another F1 driver.
- Henry Wharton Shoemaker (1880-1958), an American folklorist, diplomat, and writer, among other things.
- The Cobbler, The woman who gives people dirty looks outside Monaghan Boot Co.
- Macca, Famous Shoemaker of Sonning Eye for 40 years. Also forged a long standing career in bells. Current chairman of the Berkshire Guild of Shoemaking and Shoe Appreciation.
See also
- Cobbler
- Cordwainer
- Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, an American labor union of 50,000 shoemakers c. 1870
External links
- Historical footwear
- A Beginner's Addendum to Making Shoes — Addendum to a (non-available) article on how to make shoes
- Simple Shoemaking — Commercial site about shoemaking
- Bootmaker dot com — Various commercial and non-commercial resources about bootmaking
Categories
Footwear | Shoes | Shoemakers | Crafts | Artisans