YouTube video by Kirby Allison with Dominic Casey showing and telling the process of last shaping the backpart and waist for Kirby’s bespoke order
Notes
- foot tracings on the bench
- starts from rough turn
- no character
- just a lump
- enough wood to take down
- last build-up versus last shaping
- really likes to carve from a block of wood
- [rough turn already has a scoop block cut out]
- conscious of cuneiform bone on Kirby’s foot
- lays on the tracing
- widest parts of foot transferred to the rough turn from the tracing
- want to be able to align the last over the tracing repeatedly
- measuring marks on the rough turn from dome-headed nails
- widest part of the last
- entire outline of foot covered by rough turn
- when made, should be able to look down and see the line all the way around, due to the width of the tracing pencil
- not complicated tools
- first: get back and sides in, then can look at the front
- back first, then the front later
- can see that have more than enough wood for any toe shape
- Kirby was narrow under the clip, the rough turn is “just a blob” there
- tools
- Surform, 10-inch, rasp style, for taking off bulk of the wood
- rasp, half-round
- four-in-hand
- sanding stick, straight rolling pin with sandpaper wrapped around
- sculpture
- “just experience”
- students may make a beautiful last at course
- advice: but have to make another next week
- curves must be related to all the other curves
- if you change one curve, affects all others
- thinking about the sides and even the width of the front while carving the heel
- “wood chips will flow”
- length at the back
- probably a size too long to start
- into last vise, toe down
- center lines marked with pencil
- Surform rasping down through heel and waist
- not thinking about too much shape yet
- “the shape comes along quite quickly”
- checks against tracing again
- scratches waste on the waist with pencil
- another half size out of the back
- [he’s thinking in terms of size as a unit]
- planning fuller heel shape on the inside
- toe-down in vise again
- [last is moving quite a bit in the vise as he rasps]
- [the scoop blocks in the rough turn go quite far back into the top plane, close to where the thimble would be on a mass production last]
- [grain definitely runs straight lengthwise along the bottom]
- thinking about where center line will run on bottom, where to put heel cuboids
- back to tracing
- comparison of working last to fellow rough turn
- comparing over the tracing again
- “not slavishly follow the shape of your foot”
- last shape and shoe shape not the foot shape
- Kirby’s inside heel flatter than on the outside, but Dominic trying to create a balanced shape
- more accommodating areas
- where fleshier
- e.g. where pressed on outside waist when measuring
- want a flowing line down the outside
- most people have “bulk of flesh” there that can be moved
- building heel shape
- drew center line down backpart
- marks back height
- lost shape through cuboids while taking down
- marks line halfway up to back height
- draws design lines horizontally across main axis
- inside ankle sits higher than outside, so line on that side higher
- draws a curve up toward the top plane for the clip
- outside: convex curve
- inside: slightly more concave
- mounts toe-down again
- montage: more checking tracing
- can still see curve lines drawn on, but waste hatch marks taken away
- now thinking about the back curve
- “6 mm clip”
- uses a woodworking square under the heel seat to judge curve
- will “underrun it” (remove material below the wide point of the heel]
- bringing in makes sure the bulky heel counter doesn’t create a bulky heel shape
- mounts toe-down again
- using half-round rasp and Surform now, not the surform
- now can see tracing all the way around the back
- don’t want to bring the cuboids too tight, will create a bulge when worn
- side-by-side comparison again
- sides
- outside pretty much in
- need to focus on inside line
- will affect the arch under the foot
- now mounting heel down
- pencils in arch lines and heel seat
- marks to create a convex heel seat
- review
- cone now an inside cone running toward big toe
- marked the protruding cuneiform form
- next: refine and look for measurements
- toe shape usually the last thing
- marks a straight line from the outside ball forward to the toe on the tracing
- took about 30-45 minutes up to this point
- usually make a pair of lasts in a full day’s work
- making one is sometimes easier than fellowing
- carves the fellow with the same tools
- checks the angled ball girth, still a lot to remove
- always leaves them full at the balls so can take measurements
- checks instep girth
- [uses “full” to mean “having too much girth”]
- aim to not need leather build-ups
- until you make a shoe on it, never know exactly how it fits
- have to rely on client to give feedback
- “can never tell, until your client’s worn the shoes for three months”
- maybe nothing needs doing
- “commit yourself to the process…relationship”
- [doesn’t really show forepart shaping]
- [cuts to meeting on street with finished last]
- chose a toe shape for him
- “club Oxford cap-toe shape”
- straighter sides
- not as round at the sides as an almond
- high peak
- very English
- “Negroni style”
- prominent right side cuneiform bone given a lump to accommodate
- bottom
- square in seat and forepart, soft in waist
- next: paper pattern
- e.g. lenght of toe cap, where vamp begins
- will fellow by hand
- left foot a half size smaller
- but will make another size 10, for the pair
- one foot will sit shorter in the shoe
- “a pair, but you haven’t got a pair of feet”
- “different, but similar”