Shoemaker- Making a Shoe Pattern

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Shoemaker- Making a Shoe Pattern

I love to travel and, until recently, until I became a mother and wife, all my belongings was placed in a huge suitcase. During my studies I imagined  my life as a concept,  that I will  travel from one place to another, with my tools in the suitcase, doing my craft, making shoes all over the world.

Time passed and things have changed, but the suitcase is still with me. In it I keep some patterns and lasts, and for all my tools and equipment I have accumulated  I had to rent a studio. And now I sit in my studio, thinking about the past and dreaming about the future. It all began with the ordinary course of shoe modeling in Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem. 

Influenced by nostalgia that came over me, I had an idea to show you how to make a basic model (camicia- Italian). Frankly speaking,  it was the thing that draw me to this profession in the first place.

Several comment 1. Cut the attached pattern with a knife, or you can use abrasive paper. 2. At the end of the heel, step in 2 mm to round the corner of the pattern, and draw a line from the middle of the heel to the end. 3. When checking the paper pattern, it should be formfitting the last. 4. For those who have insole ready , should attach the paper pattern to the last together  with the insole.

That's it for today, If got any questions about this post and the video, you can leave a comment or contact me directly. Thank you for reading.

I'll be back next week with new stuff, stay tuned. 
Sveta Kletina

You can find more information about me at :
www.sk-shoes.com http://pinterest.com/svetakletina/my-designs-timeline/
http://svetakletina.blogspot.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/SKDEZIGN?feature=mhee http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sveta-Kletina/221543161271318
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SKshoes?ref=si_shop

 

Cutting clothes and a shoe pattern

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Cutting clothes and a shoe pattern

In the world there are so many interesting things! I am always amazed by talented people who can create complex things in a very simple way. In my opinion the approach to clothes modeling of Japanese designer Shingo Sato is genius.
I learned about him accidentally  about 7 years ago after seeing interesting book with patterns and instructions, when I was studying in  Italy. The book was in Japanese, so I didn't know who wrote it. Only now, once again discovering Shingo Sato, I realized that it was his book.
I really liked his way of creating clothing with weave technique . So I decided to try the same principle in modeling shoes when I was at my internship in the "Vicini" factory, and I was allowed to try anything (and I did!).

 That's what came out

Now, looking through his training videos, I find many similarities between his technique called Transformational Reconstruction and how I create model structure on the last, driven by my love for 3 dimensional forms .It inspired me to further my search for the boundaries of the possible and "impossible" in shoe design.  Look at his training videos and you'll understand what I mean.

Here is one of them: 

Sveta Kletina  

You can find more information about me at :
 www.sk-shoes.com
http://pinterest.com/svetakletina/my-designs-timeline/
https://twitter.com/#!/SvetaKletina
 http://www.youtube.com/user/SKDEZIGN?feature=mhee http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sveta-Kletina/221543161271318

How to make a sandal

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How to make a sandal

I have not written posts and totally abandoned my blog. Perhaps those who read it before, had lost all interest in him. Anyway, I decided to continue my blog and my first post after a long inexcusable break, I dedicate to my video tutorial, where I show how you can make a sandal without special equipment, without shoe last, all by yourself. It was my dream for long time to develop this simple technique, that will allow anyone to make a sandal for themselves without living the house. I want to show you how to do this with so-called "biblical" sandal as the example, and you already can vary based on it. In this post (after you watched the video- both parts),I want to draw attention on a few important moments.

 Here is the list of things you need  to get it done.

- A4 paper

- duplex cardboard

- pencil

- eraser

-colored markers

-Stanley knife

-masking paper -punch -leather glue

-ruler

- punch

-buckle 2 cm wide

-abrasive paper

-drill

-scotch tape

-hammer

-leather for the upper& leather for insoles and soles -pin

-spoon (yes, a spoon)

Notes to the first part

1. The front of the sandal can be done in any shape: oval, square, pointed, asymmetric, etc. 2. You can use your old sandal to shape the insole . 3. Width of the straps should be the same as the width of the buckle. In my case it is 2 cm. 4. When attaching the straps, the inside (of your foot) strap should be put closer to the base of the thumb and the outer strap to your pinky. 5. Be sure to mark the inner side of each strap.

Notes to the second part

1. Marks on the inside and outside of the insole shall follow the same line, except for the front marks. 2. Add 1.5 cm to each strap (This will be the part which should be glued to the insole). Be sure to cut the mark out in order to identify their position. And then mark it on the leather. 3. The holes for the buckle should be with an interval of 7 mm-1cm. 4. To get a better and straight cut of the leather straps, tape the cardboard straps to the leather using the scotch tape. 5. You don't have to drill the insole for the straps, but it will be easier to glue the insole to the sole in the end. 6.When you put the second layer of glue on the insole and the sole, it should be left to dry for 24 hours. 7. The heel can be in any shape: oval, round, asymmetrical, square (like in my video). For those who size 37, the length should not be above 8.5 cm. 8. Important: It's better to glue the heel to the sole before gluing sole to the insole. 9. You can attach a rubber heel-piece, to prevent the heel grinding. 12. When polishing shoes and insole edges, wet it with water and grind in one direction to obtain a smooth surface. That's it for this post, feel free to write and comment if you got any question. If you got your sandal done, send me the picture, I would love to post it on my blog.

 I'll be back next week with new stuff, stay tuned. 
Sveta Kletina
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My website :www.sk-shoes.com

Shoe Exhibition- Wrongs and Rights

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                  Shoe Exhibition- Wrongs and Rights 

Three days at the GDS shoe exhibition in Dusseldorf  passed like a moment, and most of what I remember is not an exhibition or the preparation for it but the route, hotel-exhibition and back with a suitcase in my hand. This reminded  me a film starring Steven Martin, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles". I was the John Candy character, always on the road , just me, my products and the suitcase .

 I participated in the exhibition of such a global scale for the first time, so the lack of experience lead to many errors. Some of the mistakes I made  are strategic errors and  I want to mention them in this post, perhaps, this information will help other young designers to avoid them.

 First, book the hotel as early as possible, at least few months before the event. This will save you a few dollars, as the prices for rooms in the hotel grow during the exhibition. Second, you can arrive on the first day of the show, if you have an early flight. You can build your stand on the same day in the morning, arriving just straight  from the airport to the exhibition. Don't worry, if you're not some big shoe company, then you will have enough time to get everything set up and you will be ready for your visitors. Anyway, at the first day there are no many visitors during the morning hours. 

The most important thing is, to bring biggest collection as much as possible, I would say everything you have done from all seasons! Since it absolutely no matter if you have mixed different  seasons on your stand. The main thing is to present as much, models of shoes, as possible to the public, this is what draw attention. Believe me, designers bring everything they got. If you think you can pull it off with a small but impressive collection and the right buyer will find you, you are wrong. The buyers don't have much time to waste and they will pass your stand without even noticing. 

After the first time participating the exhibition you will find out what is the best place for your stand, usually the organizers stick the young designers way far at the end of those big halls. My suggestion for you is to look for some kind of a food&beverage stand, it always the most crowded spot and will be a great place to get your stand notice. 

I almost forgot, one thing you MUST DO. Few days before the exhibition, please send by email an invitation to your customers to the event, even those with whom you are not working yet, but feel that they can be your potential customers. The exhibition gives you a chance to invite guests with a free pass, it is very useful and your clients will appreciate it. Don't forget to mention the number of your stand , Hall number and even make a map, how to get to your stand. 

There are still lots of small things that need to be taken under consideration when preparing for the exhibition, but it will come to you with experience, all the main points I have mentioned here.

 See you at the next event and good luck to all! 

Why I love Cristóbal Balenciaga!

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Why I love Cristóbal Balenciaga!

For nearly a year now, I cannot get designer Cristóbal Balenciaga out of my mind. To be completely honest, I did not know about him before that, but ever since I stumbled upon his works on the internet, I keep coming back for more. 

I was amazed by his collections of clothes, especially considering the fact that his career began in the 1930s. I will not mention here facts from his biography or list his numerous contributions to modeling and fashion in general.You can look it up your selves.. Instead, I will simply try to express my fascination with him. 

When thinking about his gowns, the only associations that come to mind are very poetic and colorful. The cut of his gowns is so accurate and masterfully executed, that it seems to me as they are some kind of streamlined living organisms. The lines of his designs are so vivid that they look like some sort  of wet animals, and that’s why each crease and detail in the fabric is accentuated even more.   

The  reason I began the discussion with the cut of the clothes and not their design and it is because in Balenciaga’s case, the cut is the design . There is not a single useless detail that isn't planned to be an  essential part of the cut. He is a Master of his craft not only because his creations are beautiful, but because this beauty was born out of the wish to create new dimensions in fashion while masterfully handling shapes using his unique sense of design.

Perhaps it is exactly due to his excellence as a designer and couturier that I fell in love with the Balenciaga 's works.

Some people go back to reading their favorite book or watching their favorite film in order to cheer themselves. I, on the other hand, go back to browsing Balenciaga’s works.

If uninspired or doubtful in regards to my latest design of shoes, I go back to Balenciaga's designs again and again to regenerate my spirits.

 

I am no expert, but in my opinion, Cristóbal Balenciaga is one of the forefathers of modern fashion design. Simply Look at the works of Galliano, McQueen or Yamamoto (also some of my favorite designers) and you will see the familiar Belenciaga lines . The silhouettes and the styles of our clothes have been created by him way back in the 1950’s!

Cristobal Balenciaga's dresses on my pinterest board

Once again, I must say that I am in awe of his art as a designer and a couturier. I think I'd like  to sign off with Balenciaga’s motto, which, I adopted and is now something I strive for: “a Couturier must be an architect for design, a sculptor for shape, a painter for color, a musician for harmony, and a philosopher for temperance”.  

PS: If anyone who has read this blog has any detailed information about Balenciaga that is not found on the internet, I’d be very thankful if he/she could share it with me.

Thank You.

svetakatalina@gmail.com

My website www.sk-shoes.com