Cowboy Boots

Jentrification


As I’ve mentioned before, I was inspired by Maggie Mason to write down a “Mighty Life List.” However, Maggie is persistent in her inspiration… so now, I’ve expanded my list to include one hundred (100) things which I want to do during my lifetime.


I’ve highlighted the cowboy boot items below. See them, there? What do you think?
What’s on your list? What do you want to do before you go?


– – –
1  Look into a volcano
Ride my bike to work (done! 5/13/2010)
Ride a bike with no hands
Thank Dwight Yoakam in-person (done! 10/16/09)
Learn 50 49 ways to cook a delicious fish
Learn to drive a stick shift again
Listen/speak good boot shop Spanish
Start a cowboy boot museum
Write another book
– – –
10  Help fix my little neighbor Mikey’s teeth
Make granola (done! now I make it all the time)
Go on a camping trip in my old skool camper
Present something smart at SXSW
Get a swell author photo taken
Teach Shane how to draw a swan
Visit the Bata Shoe Museum
Learn to do a decent 2 step
Make another pair of cowboy boots
Redo my web page (Oh yeah! 5/18/10. Again, 5/13/15)
– – –
20  Go to Dollywood
See Savion Glover dance up-close and in-person (done! 8/3/2013)
Improve my picture-taking skills… ✔7/17/10
Learn the names of the farmers who sell me food each week
Spend a winter in Santa Fe
Visit León, Guanajuato
Wrangle a sky-high character balloon in a holiday parade (done! 12/4/10 and twice more.)
Learn the right way to sew a button (done! 3/4/10)
Be a guest on Charlie Rose
Start a fire without matches… ✔12/20/09
– – –
30 Go on a 10 day meditation retreat
Make a pin and sequin “Mrs. Ferrara-style” Christmas ornament ✔10/8/11
Go on a Black Panther Party tour of my neighborhood… ✔11/5/11
Replicate my Grandpa’s fudge (11/23/12 & 12/9/12 …not done.)
Take a first aid class… ✔ 6/17/15
Knit a 100 97 wonderful things
Play a game of bocce
Go hiking in snow shoes
Drive across the US
Shake hands with 500 bootmakers *
*Currently, my bootmaker list has only 250 names on it… but you see,  I plan to live a very long time.
– – –
40 Join a sports team… ✔ 12/1/13. Go Team Tilth!
Become a wiz at drawing 10 different dinosaurs…and a cowboy boot
Take the ferry to San Francisco… ✔ 4/28/12
Visit Death Valley in the Springtime
Join a knitting group
Go to the premiere of a Tim Burton movie
Catch and hold a cricket in my hand, eeeek!… ✔ 6/30/12
Learn to ride a horse
Plant a fruit tree and watch it grow… ✔ 1/16/12 MLK Day of Service; Watching it grow, now.
Be in a blockbuster movie
– – –
50  Listen to my Aunt Rose Anne sing in church
Go to a fancy party hosted by the Autry Center
Interview Arnold Schwarzenegger
Teach a dog to “speak”
Try to climb a wall
Recite a beautiful poem by heart
Tour South Texas boot shops
Learn to recognize 100 West Coast birds
Take some banjo lessons
Visit Yellowstone in the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter
– – –
60 Dance a polka in Texas dance hall
Make an unlikely friend
Go to the poetry gathering in Elko
Learn the parts of a saddle
Fix a bicycle flat
Bake a loaf of bread… ✔ 10/21/12
Hang out at Boot Star
Be recognized in an airport by someone I don’t know
Hug Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī
Spend a night at the Mission Inn (Riverside, CA)… ✔ 12/26/13
– – –
70 Get my palm read
Meet Manuel Cuevas at his studio... ✔ 8/13/14
Visit friends in New York
Roll over in a kayak, eeeek!
Learn to recognize 100 Texas flowers
Fly 1st class… ✔ 7/15/2015
Take a train ride through the desert
Do 2 pull ups
Learn how to put on (girlie) party make-up
Visit Jakub and his little house in the Czech Republic
– – –
80 Keep some backyard chickens
Learn the rules of soccer
Become an expert on the Autry Center’s cowboy boot holdings
Place flowers on Ty’s gravesite
Visit the places where butterflies sleep… ✔ 1/28/12 Fremont, 1/29/12 Richmond, 12/23/13 Pismo, 12/24/13 San Diego, CA.
Celebrate a 1,000 small successes
See the art in Marfa, TX
See a Sam Shepard play… ✔ 8/5/12
Ride a mule in the Grand Canyon
Go on a spooky tour of the Winchester Mystery House
– – –
90 Inspire a songwriter
Write a million dollar check to a charity
Lie on a black sand beach… ✔ 7/17/15
Float over New Mexico in a balloon
Mail a thousand picture postcards
Milk a cow
Learn to tie 20 useful knots
Spend the night in one of the Madonna Inn’s wacky rooms ... ✔ 12/22/13; Rock Bottom Room #143.
Own a fabulous winter coat
Help Shane build a snowman
– – –
100 Find my birth family (private)


PHOTO: Bootmakers, from left… Tex Robin, Gary Cunningham, Floyd Case and Paul Bond. I didn’t take this photo. I think Mark Fletcher or Marshall did?

Design & Materials, Featured Bootshops

Cowboy Boot Photo Glossary – Inlay

Inlay:

Shapes are cut out of a boot top, and layers of colorful leather are placed underneath. The inlays are held in place with one or more rows of stitching.

A simple, wonderful pair vintage boots. The the red hearts and the white flashes are inlay …bordered by 2 rows of yellow stitches.

Inlay can be crude, like it was pounded out with a cookie cutter. In the 1950’s, the factory makers of kids cowboy boots were clever at this—simple punchy shapes like pistols, stars, longhorns and ponies. Yee haw!

Inlay can be fancy. Here is a special “behind the scenes” look at leather inlay. The cowboy boots made by Texas Traditions (Austin, TX) have an undeniably elegant look… this photo essay teaches you a few of the shop secrets. Even their simple designs get a fine touch. The shapes are cut into the boot tops using a sharpened blade fashioned from a sewing machine needle. The leather inlay pieces are thinned down at their edges with a sharp knife (“skived.”) And, the rows of stitched are placed one at a time. Beautiful.

You can see more finished boots made by Lee Miller, here.
Unfortunately, the shop is no longer accepting new customers.

Photo by Marty Snortum.

Design & Materials, Featured Bootshops

“Houston” by Wheeler Boot Co. (Part 2)

Here’s a recap. The photo on the left is “before” …on the right, “after.”

“After” Dave Wheeler spent 200+ hours drawing, cutting, piecing, stitching and hammering.

I am intrigued by this class of cowboy boot, the “wowie-zowie” or “killer” cowboy. The cowboy boot that is more decorated than not. The boot that holds your attention for a very very long time.

It takes a special bootmaker paired with a unique customer to build a boot like this. The bootmaker needs to be on top of their game… with a special eye for color and symmetry. Creativity only counts for something if you have the stitchwork to pull it off.

AND… this same bootmaker needs to keep the shop’s other customer orders moving along, even as this landmark boot gets built piece by piece. A true talent. Dave estimated he put in 10-12 hours, every 2 weeks, for more than 8 months… and then each and every weekend nearing the rodeo deadline on his “Houston” boots.

The customer needs a heart-felt passion for the project, unwavering confidence in their bootmaker… and a credit card.

Tips on building your “killer” cowboy boot…

  • Become your bootmaker’s favorite customer. I’m COMPLETELY serious…. you need to be ordering matching belts, sending Christmas cards, and bringing in boot orders from your friends.
  • Try and convince your maker to enter a contest or competition. Most folks order plain boots, your boots  represents a unique chance for the bootmaker to show-off.
  • Resist the urge to micro-manage. You are paying the bootmaker for their expertise, let ’em use it. Besides, no bootmaker is gonna want to spend 200 hours on what feels like a paint-by-number project. If you’re hovering over the stitches and thread color, you’ve gone too far.
  • Don’t even think about ordering these “for Christmas” …or worse, a wedding. No way.

Cowboy Boots, Featured Bootshops

“Houston” by Wheeler Boot Co. (Part 1)

 

 

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer




When I call a cowboy boot a piece of art, I mean it …before I say it out loud, it’s something I argue back and forth in my brain. I take these things very seriously.

These “Houston Boots” by Dave Wheeler are a work of art. Layer upon layer of tiny leather inlay and overlay in 11 shades of green, 9 of blue, 6 of tan, 5 of red and 3 of pink. Colored thread sewn and knotted, in some places every 2 or 3 stitches. Amazing.

(Here is a bigger photo.)

Give these boots a quick look and you might mistake these leather tops for Peter Main’s carved leather or some new-fangled laser printing. But no, every leather piece was hand cut, hand skived, hand pieced, placed and stitched by Dave Wheeler… and no single piece bigger is than an inch or two.

These custom cowboy boots were made by an extraordinary bootmaker, for an extraordinary customer. For more of the story, read: For Houston boot buyer, city is his heart and sole: Local landmarks, sports teams adorn businessman’s fancy footwear, an article by Allan Turner for the Houston Chronicle.

And, let’s get something straight… these boots don’t get to be called art just because they took Dave a long time to make. I’m calling these art, because I have never seen a finer portrait of Houston, TX. When I think back upon my trip to Houston, I can picture the kind folks at Wheeler Boot Company …and then, the city I remember all around them… a dense tangle of landmarks, logos and interstate signage.

Truly… Houston leaves me baffled. I want to pick these boots up in my hands just so I say “Dave, point to where I can find breakfast.”

Custom made, vintage and popular cowboy boot brands. Advice from author & expert, Jennifer June (& others) about buying cowboy boots online.

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