Alan James Raddon
Weaver weaves shoes.
These Rope Soled Slipper Shoes took months to make. I commissioned Michelle Williams to weave the Uppers in July 2010. From raw wool of the Marino and Wensleydale sheep Michelle first dyed a large palette of colours with natural and synthetic dyes. Once dry she then spun the raw wool into thread, adding touches of silk and synthetics to add sheen and sparkle. Most weaving are rectangular in shape, the Uppers of a pair of shoes have many curves, so were incredibly difficult to make. The scenes are based loosely on scenes from the countryside and seascapes of West Wales. The beads at the end of the laces are hand made by Michelle too. The laces are square to reflect the 200ft of 5mm thread that I plait into square ropes to make the rope soles. Once she had woven the 8 pieces of Uppers I lined them with soft, full grain Italian leather in British Racing Green, sewed them together, plaited the soles and invisibly stitched the Uppers to the soles. They are signed and dated 3.4.11.
To contact Michelle go to
If you would like to buy my book 'How to make Rope Soled Footwear.' contact me on
www.alanjamesraddon.co.uk/index.html
Email:-
AlanJames@AlanJamesRaddon.co.uk
Weaver weaves shoes.
These Rope Soled Slipper Shoes took months to make. I commissioned Michelle Williams to weave the Uppers in July 2010. From raw wool of the Marino and Wensleydale sheep Michelle first dyed a large palette of colours with natural and synthetic dyes. Once dry she then spun the raw wool into thread, adding touches of silk and synthetics to add sheen and sparkle. Most weaving are rectangular in shape, the Uppers of a pair of shoes have many curves, so were incredibly difficult to make. The scenes are based loosely on scenes from the countryside and seascapes of West Wales. The beads at the end of the laces are hand made by Michelle too. The laces are square to reflect the 200ft of 5mm thread that I plait into square ropes to make the rope soles. Once she had woven the 8 pieces of Uppers I lined them with soft, full grain Italian leather in British Racing Green, sewed them together, plaited the soles and invisibly stitched the Uppers to the soles. They are signed and dated 3.4.11.
To contact Michelle go to
If you would like to buy my book 'How to make Rope Soled Footwear.' contact me on
www.alanjamesraddon.co.uk/index.html
Email:-
AlanJames@AlanJamesRaddon.co.uk