This Shoemaker Needed an Elf

The Grimm fairy tale begins with a poor shoemaker who has given away his only pair of shoes to a woman needier than him.  He has only enough supplies to make one more pair of shoes and he leaves them out overnight in preparation for his next day's work.  While he sleeps, elves come to make his new pair of shoes which he sells for above his asking price the following day...

 

Unfortunately for me, no elves came the past few nights to help make my little shoes...and I really could have used their help as their fingers are much, much smaller than mine.

That being said, I did have help from a wonderful teacher named Diane Keeler. Diane is a figurative sculptor and dollmaker who taught an online class on shoemaking for dolls.  I took the class a few months ago knowing that one day I would be making a pair of shoes for Mrs. Rose.

The class was offered through Adele Sciortini's A for Artistic website.  Though most students taking the classes are dollmakers, I have found many of the courses translatable to my work.  Much thanks to Gerry Krueger who turned me onto Adele's site and her free quarterly newsletter.

I was able to use many of Diane's techniques and supplies with some modifications.  Even though her shoes were a few inches in length, my shoes for Mrs. Rose are about 2cm which required some trial and error to get it right.

Per Diane, I first sculpted a foot and ankle "last" around which I would build my shoes...



I had to make one full-size foot and one half-size foot since Mrs. Rose's back foot is attached to the canvas.  That means I would be making one full-size and one half-size shoe...



Once the lasts had cured in the oven, I used them as forms around which to mold wet muslin which I had sprayed with fabric stiffener...



This muslin became the pattern for my shoe.  I ended up not using this white muslin "pattern" since it added bulk to my tiny shoe.  In a later version, I made the shoe using this same method and a thin black muslin, skipping the step of making the pattern...

I used those tiny rubber bands kids use on their braces to hold my "shoes" tight to the form while they dried.

The bottom of the shoe was made from a piece of cardboard covered with a very thin black suede.  I tried using the black suede for the entire shoe but it was much too thick.

To sculpt the heels, Diane recommended using Apoxie Sculpt.  I'd never used it before and found that it served this purpose very well.  It's a two part epoxy which requires mixing and takes 24 hours to cure...

Those little heels are about 5mm wide.  Given that my finger is about 15mm wide, I did have a treacherous time trying to sculpt those little guys.

After letting those cure overnight, I was ready to fit Cinderella with her slipper...



It fit like a glove so I laced up her shoe using size 50 YLI silk twist...

And proceeded to give Mrs. Rose her final fitting and sew the half-shoe onto the attached foot...

I added some scuff marks and worn areas to the shoe with a colored pencil.



It might look a bit severe close-up with a macro lens, but from far away you can see how the shoe needs some shading to give it dimension...



Here's a pic with two of my reject shoes...



You can see that the ultrathin suede was too thick.

Mrs. Rose always wore those black old-lady lace-up shoes...
   

So I'm so grateful to Diane and Adele for offering the class.  I highly recommend taking her class when it is offered again.

Have a great weekend everyone.  This cobbler is off to rest her eyes from tiny details...

P.S.  Thanks for all the comments on Mrs. Rose's hose and specs!  And thanks to all the wire-workers and miniaturists who gave me advice on twisting wire.  I now know there are much better ways to accomplish that task!