Classical leather tanning

[Crispianus]

There are probably other variations of 3 but its difficult to tell.....these were the ones that were clear enough to see some details, most if not all seem to be very close on the foot as the arches are quite clearly shown and some may have had more pointed toes...

I would be inclined to reinforce the edges of the quater and just continue the top one as the strap, with the eyelet types add a suitable reinforcement to the inside it should be enough...

The Alexander shoe looks identical just very eroded details, but separate vamp, quarter, tongue and single knotted lace the end hanging down the side forms a very faint line just forward of the faint edge of the quarter.....

[Dan D'Silva]

This is good. So in summary, what we are looking at in 3 and on the Sarcophagus is three slight variations belonging to the early Achaemenid, transitional and Hellenistic periods.

I'm collating all this into an overview. With luck it'll help any make any new reenactment footwear more accurate. Thank you very much.

[Crispianus]

I made one of these yesterday as a trial piece, it took 5-6 hours, the straps are thin goat skin stitched on using a whip stitch, but I think its best done with a straight stitch...
Its made as a turn shoe from some spare leather and is 1.75-2mm thick it was cheap....

   

The shoe sole to upper is made as a turn shoe with a simple flat seam, the seam where the quarter to vamp overlap is stitched on the inside using a few whip stitches mostly to hold the upper together whilst stitching the sole seam on, its advisable to use a last but could probably be done without... only a few tools are needed... a good sharp knife a pair of scissors and.....

All the stitching could be done with a tool like this or something similar although I used two threads and needles:

http://awlforall.com/merchant2/index.html

Add an insole from thick felt to improve comfort, felt is easy to make....

Soling... there's are number of choices....
1. leave it as is but it wont last long on any kind of hard rough surface.
2 add a welted or tunnel stitched sole which can be replaced, the shoe will likely last for many years with occasional replacement of the additional sole.
3, Glue one or more thin layers of leather to the sole.... easy and quick but need a powerful glue.
4.glue on a piece of thin light buff coloured rubber soling.... definatly my last choice but a simple, cheap and quick option, would need a specialist glue though, or get a cobbler to do it

The look of the leather.....
The grain side on this piece is rather too pale to be convincing, but greasing it with leather grease(from a tack shop) has some effect in changing the colour and look and the added bonus of waterproofing.... the reddish piece, has a little red brown good quality shoe polish(Kiwi) rubbed into it after greasing...

   

The flesh side greased this I think would work well as the out side as well....

   

Essentially of moccasin type you may find a little book called "Craft Manual of North American Indian Footware" by George. M.White useful, at least it has everything you would need to know...

[Dan D'Silva]

Nice work. Is the quarter stitched down to the vamp along the vertical seams?

I fail pretty hard at getting scratchbuilt footwear to fit properly, that's why I'm just trying to improve the Minnetonkas for now. Managed to rip the heels off cleanly last night -- a very small improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

[Crispianus]

Inside the shoe, the outside when your making the shoe, are a few whip stitches that dont go through the full thickness of the leather, however if you use a straight stitch for the strap/decorative edge you can go all the way through as its only there to hold the vamp to the quarter so its easier to attach the sole.

Shaping is a common problem and requires experience in the way leather moves, this can to some extent be short cut by using a last, preferably wood... anything will do, a light wood like poplar, willow or birch is easiest to shape..... you need a wooden last not just for shaping but also to hammer the seams down.

I wouldn't be too concerned about low heels at this stage.... as going from heels to no heels is a big step that takes some getting used to...