Professional sole for felted boots.

preview_player
Показать описание
Part 10. Attaching a sole: using adhesive.
Let us talk about soles. Hand-made felt is always thicker than leather or rubber and the thickness can be slightly different inside the same boot.
Imagine what happened if I buy an industrial sole according to my “normal” shoe size (one we use for buying shoes) and then adjust the felted boot to this sole. Such a shoe will be too small for my foot because of the felt thickness. Moreover, it will be very difficult to fit the felted boot in the industrial sole because of the natural irregularities of the felt.
How to solve this problem? In fact, there is a great sole disputer in the crafter community.
One solution is to use custom-made soles. You can order special individual soles for your one-of-a-kind felted boots or cut the soles from special rubber sheeting yourself. Such soles will fit your boots perfectly.
I have developed another strategy which allows me to use industrially made soles. Thus I save time and money and have a big choice of soles. Many of my students (who are professional crafters) are also using industrial soles; my method has been used for years by my students and customers.
I will share my method with you today. Of course, you can also try to order and to attach a custom-made sole; they are pretty expensive but can look very stylish. I encourage you to give me feedback and share with me the list of materials used.
The main rules are:
1) The sole should be bigger than the foot size;
2) I apply one more shaping step AFTER having attached the sole.
I mostly use two different type of soles: PU (polyurethane) and TPR (thermoplastic rubber). Here is the first, the PU one; I like this shape: high edges and rubber toes makes the felt boots suitable for wet conditions.
Рекомендации по теме
Комментарии
Автор

If you are in the U.S. and looking for a Vibram sole, such as the one used here, I sell them on Etsy at WoolEnvy

ChristiDea
Автор

What is the name of the adhesive or silicone you use to attach the felt to the sole, please? Also, where can these soles be ordered from, please?

SallyGulbrandsen