Studying the essence of a high heel

For those that missed my morning announcement on facebook; I'm currently having a three day educational period in Kankaanpää, as a part of my Master Shoemaker studies.
When I first came this morning, I had no idea what was going to happen. So I made a mistake by not bringing some high heel lasts or previous patterns I had made. Even though it was all awkward for me, my instructor quickly guided me to begin a test project from a pair of vintage heel lasts.

Let's see  what happened today:

This is the last. Now, I won't modify it in any way, just design something and eventually make it.  Luckily, they had some components ready: the heels and the insoles are ready :) which makes my work alot easier.

I'm currently not a big fan of pointy heels. Maybe that'll change some day?

As another proof of their antiquity: they've been cast on a wooden block.

A wooden filling inside a brass tube. You ain't gonna see this kind of construction anywhere anymore. These babies have to be nailed.

The insoles are an almost fit. Needs some tinkering.

This is the sketch I did. A full brogue oxford cut. Well planned is half done.

Next up was making the tape copy.

And that 3D shape transformed into 2D.

And this is waiting for tomorrow's mockup.

Making High Heel Boots - Part 5 Fixing

There was only a few things to fix with Niina's lasts, but I managed to spend a good full 10 hours on them last weekend. Mostly because of my uncertainty about the changes. So I really had to sit down alot and think about what changes would affect which parts of the lasts, and how would that work while worn. All in all last shaping appears to be something magical, but it's not rocket science. It's bloody challenging and hard, but it's not too much so. It's a trickery between a few things: anatomy, bio-dynamics and aesthetics. And one has to find the perfect balance between them.

Let's see why:

I first circled the areas that needed some more mass. Just a few millimeters thick though.

Here's the cork/rubber sheet pieces glued on the lasts.

After smoothing out the excess and checking the measurements, I decided to go for a boot  styled lasts. So I attached a block of wood with a screw on it.

I grinded the meeting joint to zero and added a plastic "cup" on it. The idea is, that when you take the boot shaft out you'll still have lasts ready to be used for low cut shoes as the original lasts were meant for pumps, not boots. My bad.

I added a ridiculous amount of cork/eva sheets to the back and front, as I had barely a thought of what I was doing.

And there it is. Smooth shapes, and a last that now looks alot more like a boot last instead of  pumps. I decided also to make the shaft a lot lower, since it would've been a headache to figure out the measurements.

Next up, it's either having the second fitting, or I'm going to start to finish them. I haven't decided which.
Pahoitteluni kaikille suomenkielisille. Postaukseni menevät aina niin myöhäiseen että käännöksen pähkäily kaiken tämän päälle tuntuu usein ylivoimaiselta. Sori.