[Steppes] Shoes for 12th Night

[Randy Shipp]

(cross-posted from the Steppes forum...references this shoe pattern:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shoe/construction.html)

I'll see what I can do. Inexperienced as I am I'm a little wary of wading in
without someone looking over my shoulder saying, "Don't worry, that won't
completely screw it up!" [image: :-)] I traced my foot, took the pattern to
FedEx (I *hate *not saying Kinko's for some reason!) and, with the help of
barely-remembered algebra, figured out we needed to blow it up 250%, which
we did. Then I went to Tandy Leather and promptly got serious sticker shock
and -- dare I say it? -- cold feet.

There were a couple of issues there that maybe someone here can help me
understand. First, the instructions I'm looking at say to use 2.5-3.0 mm
vegetable tanned leather for the sole and 2.5 mm vegetable tanned for the
upper. I'm assuming this means that dyeing or painting the leather has to
happen after it's put together, as the vegetable tanned stuff isn't a lot
more attractive than a dog's rawhide chew. Second, the man at Tandy's and I
estimated that 2.5 mm leather was in the neighborhood of 4-6 oz. leather.
And that stuff, even at the thin end of that spectrum, is pretty stiff
stuff. I find it pretty difficult to picture turning a shoe sewn from that
stuff inside out. Are the instructions nuts? Am I way overestimating the
weight of leather that is approximately 2.5-3.0 mm? So, being sure about
which leather to get for this turn shoe is a problem.

Then there's the price. Ow. The leather is only sold in fairly big pieces.
The ~2.5mm piece I was looking at as a possible upper (4-5 oz.) was
something like $80, then perhaps another $30 for a smaller piece of 5-6 oz.
for the sole. That's a bit a steep for me during the holidays. Of course,
it's not THAT expensive when you consider that there would probably be
enough there to make three pairs of shoes...it's just a lot to eat in one
bite.

Any suggestions?

_________________
--Antoine