Shoe Making by ed telling

Shoe makers

The photography in this book was taken at Barker shoes in Northampton, England. Barker shoes have been an English tradition for over a hundred years. Only the most carefully selected leathers are used and the uppers are shaped on the last by hand. Many other traditional shoemaking methods are still employed including slow natural drying and polishing. This is why Barker English shoes have a unique quality that no machine can ever match. Barker have been making shoes in the Northamptonshire village of Earls Barton since 1880.

Leather stocks

Clicking & cutting

Closing

Bottom stock preparation

Lasting

Welt sewing

Soul stitching

Burnishing and finishing

Leather stocks Leather is a natural product. Like real wood and wool it has a life of its own with a distinctive quality look. Leather is both protective and uniquely comfortable. Leather shoes retain their shape and grow old gracefully. Properly maintained, like good wine, they improve with age. Leather is made from the skin or hide of any reptile animal or bird by a process called tanning. This process preserves the skin or hide, which would otherwise decay.

A skin can come from four sources:• Small or young animals (e.g. calf, sheep, goat, pig). •Reptiles (e.g. snake, crocodile, lizard) •Animals or mammals, where the hair is left on as a feature, such as calf, pony, reindeer, or antelope. •Birds (such as ostrich). Leather manufacture is carried out in two stages:•The preparation and tanning of the hides and skins •The procss of finishing the leather.

A most important characteristic of leather as far as the shoe trade is concerned is that it has a fibrous structure, which allows it to transmit water vapour (i.e. perspiration). Leather breathes and controls the foot's temperature, permeating out the foot's moisture. The leather industry normally refers to a hide as coming from a large animal (such as a cow, elephant, buffalo) and it is necessary to cut and divide a hide in order to assist subsequent processing. 3

Clicking & cutting The cutting of upper leathers is an important branch of the manufacture of boots and shoes. It requires a knowledge of the materials to be cut, and the keen judgment to dispose of the various parts of the skin in the most satisfactory direction. Rigid adherence to the systematic placing of the pattern on the skin cannot be advocated, owing to the character of the material cut into uppers. Skins which come from the same class of animals differ in their quality. The various parts of the skin differ in their relative quality, so that it is impossible to give rigid instructions in the cutting, which would not have to be considerably modified in the practice of actual cutting. Although the want of uniformity in the skins prevents the utilization of defined systems, the study of systems of placing the various patterns, the disposition of the leather in the boot (either to produce a cheap cutting or a good quality line) to produce the best results in manufacture or wear, etc., is not to be despised. The very want of uniformity in the material operated upon demands the systematic training of the mind and the ready manipulation of the patterns upon the skin. "The Manufacture Of Boots And Shoes: Being A Modern Treatise Of All The Processes Of Making And Manufacturing Footgear", by F. Y. Golding

Closing To produce an upper, the various upper sections are marked out and stitched together. They are then shaped in preparation for Lasting where the true form of the shoe takes place.

Bottom stock preparation This is where the process of cutting and preparing bottom components (such as soles and insoles) takes place.

Lasting Gathering and shaping the assembled uppers on the last and fixing the upper on to the insole.

Welt sewing A welt is a strip of leather, rubber, or plastic that is stitched to the upper and insole of a shoe, as an attach-point for the sole. The space enclosed by the welt is then filled with cork or some other filler material (usually either porous or perforated, for breathability), and the outsole is both cemented and stitched to the welt. This process of making shoes is referred to as Goodyear Welt construction, as the machinery used for the process was invented by the son of Charles Goodyear. Shoes with other types of construction may also have welts for finished appearance, but they generally serve little or no structural purpose. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sole stitching Exactly what it says, after welting and the upper form is completed the hard wearing sole is stitched on. Like all the processes before it this requires diligence and concentration, there is only one take on each shoe.

Burnishing and finishing The shoe has survived the torrid affair of being manufactured. Leather being pulled, compressed and twished. Now the gentle art of polishing the shoe till it shines comes as a relief.

Ed Telling is a freelance photographer living and operating from Crystal Palace, London. He is just as comfortable in the studio as out in the field. Well travelled and enthusiastic about the subjects, his realization of the infinite scope and creativeness photography has to offer is his strength in the subjects he photos. Ed trained in graphic communication and leans towards images that are often graphic, vivid and rich in detail. He has an interests in travel photography, architecture, entertainment, industrial design and people at work.

ÂŠ 2010 Ed Telling Photography