Diary for the Prescott & Mackay Shoemaking Evening Class
Anyone still remembers the yellow thing I showed in the first class’ diary? Well its name is shoe last, and we are going to ‘last’ the shoe in two classes. I nail the prepared insole onto the shoe last first, put my chosen leather thong through the marked holes on the shoe, and then wrap it around the last:
还记得第一节课见到过的黄色鞋楦吧？这两周的内容就是把皮上楦。第一步要做的是把一块鞋中底用几个钉子固定在鞋楦底下，然后把我们上节课做好的面和里按照之前做的标记打好洞，穿入我预先挑选好的皮绳leather thong（我可喜欢这款皮绳的颜色啦），往鞋楦上一套：
leather thong tied, before lasting
Then we start lasting the lining first. Nails are put onto the leather bit by bit to fix it in place.
然后终于开始lasting了！顺序仍然是先面再里，用鞋钉一点一点固定几个基本点，然后逐步增加钉子：
lasting the lining: preparations
After making sure the position of the lining is completely alright, I apply glue between the lining and the insole and stick them together, then remove the nails – it looks like the picture below. How neat! (I couldn’t help being proud for a second…) If anybody wants to know what the white edge along the lining is, it’s called toe puff, which is also lasted onto the shoe, and it can help to keep the shoe in shape. There is the other one on the back of the shoe!
完全定位后，上粘胶，粘合，拔除所有的钉子，切割掉多余的重叠皮料，就成了下图这样，多么整齐呀！（自豪一下:p）有人也许要问鞋头包着里料边缘的白色部分是什么？那就是能够防止鞋头变形的前趾垫toe puff，不仅前面有，后跟也有一块哦。这也是全鞋和拖鞋的区别所在。这个东西也是要象lasting那样上上去的，所以也颇费了一番功夫呢。
lasted lining and toe puff
It’s the turn of the upper. Lasting is so important because it directly influences the comfort and beauty of the shoe – if you pull the leather too tight you may break the stitches or make bumps between the lining and the upper; if you pull it too loosely there will be wrinkles on the shoe.
鞋里这样就上好了。然后该轮到鞋面了。如果钉钉子时扯得太紧，有可能把鞋面扯破，并有可能导致面和里的松紧度不一而中间起褶皱；如果扯得太松更不可取，因为鞋面是否光滑无痕完全取决于拉扯皮料的力度，这就是为什么lasting的步骤那么重要了——它直接影响到鞋面是否美观和穿着是否舒适呢。
shoe upper: before lasting
Keep nailing and hammering….
然后就是一再重复的挥舞锤子和钉子的过程咯。
lasting the shoe upper
Does anyone still remember the blue printed fabric that my classmate Dominique used for her shoes? Let’s have a look at her nearly finished upper lasting…
让我们来看看Dom同学已经基本上好了的鞋面…还记得她的蓝印花棉布么？
Dominique's shoe: the upper is lasted
Well, everyone’s shoes look much much closer to their final designs! I look forward to the next class, which is our last class in this evening course! Getting too excited…
总而言之，鞋子已经越来越接近完成的样子啦！下一节课就将是本次晚间课程的最后一节了，让我们一起期待完工的美鞋吧！
Read more:
Making shoes in the evening – week 1 to 4
Making shoes in the evening – week 5 to 7
Making shoes in the evening – week 10
