Category Archives: Design & Materials

Design & Materials

Cowboy Boot Photo Glossary – Overlay

Overlay:

A decorative technique that adds layers of leather on top of a boot top. Overlay can be quite delicate, like filagree or scrolling, and is often combined with inlay.

Sometimes a bootmaker will place cotton batting or additional leather behind a piece of overlay in order to give it a raised or “puffed” quality. Overlay can be stitched using large or tiny pieces of leather.

Here… see how the thorny black leather is stitched onto the the red leather boot top? See how the petal of the yellow rose is  stitched layer upon layer? Overlay can give a cowboy boot a wonderful carved or sculpted texture.

Photo by Marty Snortum. Boot top by Dave Little’s Boot Company (San Antonio, TX.)

(This photo glossary is a new feature on my website. Let me know what you think! …using the comments below. And, you can send me an email suggesting which bootmaking terms I tackle next.)

Art & Culture, Cowboy Boots, Design & Materials, Vintage Boots

Triad Cowboy Boots

I think “triad” cowboy boots are once again picking up speed. So, what is a triad boot?

A triad boot is a cowboy boot made with three piece construction rather than the traditional four. In this style of boot, there is no heel counter. The boot top extends all the way down to the sole, and the vamp stops inches short of the boot’s side seams, giving this style the look of overlay.

In the 1980’s these were a popular style of dress boot. A couple of attributes make them fancy.

One, when you take away the fender stitching and the heel counter …the vertical styling of these make a girl’s legs look longer, not unlike a pair of uncuffed pants.

Two, these boots work well with exotic and extravagant materials. Since the vamp doesn’t wrap around the sides of the cowboy boot, you can showcase a lizard, snake or stingray skin without extra seams or patchwork piecing.

Today’s triad styles feature hand tooled leather and buck stitching. A new shorthand for luxury. Heritage Boot does a great job of filling their boot tops with stitchwork and balancing the weights of the contrasting leathers (see photo.) I like that.

Sheplers, Timsboots.com and eBay each have a selection of triad cowboy boots, go take a look.

“Riding High”

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.: President Ronald Reagan shows off his triad cowboy boots after signing the largest budget and tax-cutting measure in U.S. history August 13, 1981 at his “Rancho del Cielo” ranch. Reagan called it “only the beginning” as he set his economic recovery program in motion with the signing at the ranch, where he was vacationing.

CREDIT: UPI 8-21-81 Ron Bennett …purchased on eBay. (Zoom)

Cowboy Boots, Design & Materials

Leather Carving

Customer: “I want a fearsome battle scene between a bear and a bull, with horns and claws and bloodletting. I want a patriotic tribute with stars and stripes, an eagle, swords, golden arrows and military artillery. I want a tangle of thorny roses. Lots of them. I want a spewing oil rig, lotto-sized dollar signs, rattle snakes and roosters… and I want the rooster tails to mimic the artistic energy of the aforementioned oil well. I want a lifelike portrait of my hunting dog ‘Champ.’ I want a herd of wild mustangs thundering across my cowboy boots. I want a hundred dollar bill so real looking I could get arrested for counterfeiting.”

Bootmaker: “Yer crazy.”

Peter Main: “What color do you want those roses?”

Photo courtesy of www.PeterMain.com.