Let's say you lasted your shoes, you made your heels, attached your outsoles, you have your new, done, finished pair of shoes. Only thing left to do is to take them off the last. Last week as I finished my Ballerina Shoes Course I encounter a dilemma, maybe not a dilemma, but I wanted to figure out a simple solution for my students to take the shoes off. Now, if you don't have the proper shoemakers tool you can use the hook method: you make a hole in the last, place the hook inside it and using the strength of your feet and rope ,you pull the last out. I find that method not that comfortable to say the least. I wanted to come up with something that anyone can make in their home fast, simple and cheap. So in my last lesson of the Ballerina Course I drilled a hole in a side of my old, heavy sewing machine and placed through it, 12 cm screw with 1 cm thickness, so it will fit the top hole in my last. That's it, simple is this.
You need screw and something heavy, so it will not move when you will pull the shoe. I know many shoemakers with their own solutions and tools for this and other process. So if you have, or come up with your own solution for this or other problems, you are welcome to share it on this blog.
Now as I promised shoemaking courses online platform will launch online store for shoemaking tools and supplies by the end of this week. As I still working on assembling more tools and more suppliers to enrich the platform more products will be added in the next two weeks.
In the online store you will find items like knifes, shank board, texon board, reinforcement tape, topline tape, awl, hammer, shoemakers rasp, lasting pincers and shoe lasts. More products will be added as we go and depending on the demand.
On the launch day of the store I will place 3 types of used lasts on sale in very low price. When I say used, I mean that some worked been done with them, so there are traces of nails and few scratches here and there. You can judge by yourself on the pictures below.
