When we started, we had a xerox copy of the out of print book Primitive Shoes by Margrethe Hald,  a printout of Footwear in the Middle Ages, by I. Marc Carlson, several art and archaelogy books on the Celts, a couple of paper patterns from a local tannery (now out of business) and one of our number had made numerous shoes for Renaissance Faires.  It was a brave beginning, and we made the most of it.  Now that some time has passed and more information is available, though, I'd recommend a somewhat different approach!

There are foot measuring instructions at the  Footwear of the Middle Ages  website, at the  Native Tech web site  and in some books on leathercrafting.  My absolute favorite is (of course) out of print - The Make-It-Yourself Shoe Book, by Christine Lewis Clark, Random House, 1977.  I am trying to locate the author for permission to publish some parts of her book here, but in the meantime, try your local library, inter-library loan, or ask   Amazon.com   to search for a used copy for you. If you happen to know this Maine shoemaker, please by all means ask her to contact me! There are other books that people like, of course, and I'll mention them in the book list when that appears...

So, you've gotten a friend to help you measure your feet, cutting out both a left and right sole pattern, first from an unfolded paper bag, and then transferring that to more durable medium like thin cardboard, bearing in mind that a quarter of an inch sloppiness is nearly a shoe size, so caution and exactness count, right? So you're ready to move on to more exciting stage -

p. 366

"An examination of the material shows that it is possible to divide the shoes into five main groups. [Note: this is the origin of the designation Lucas type 1, etc., which you may find in other secondary sources] Of these, four are comprised of shoes of a single-piece type, the shoe, in each case, having been cut in a single piece out of the leather or hide, all the parts being left attached to each other and no addition of separate pieces being made. In the remaining group, the shoe is built up of a number of separate pieces stitched together.  It is proposed, in the first place, to describe the main characteristics of each of the five types and, in the second, to attempt to relate the types to such chronological data as are available."

I'm in the process of getting this article, or at least the illustrations, ready for the Web, but it might take a few months to get everything together and permissions are by no means assured, so in the meantime, you can order yourself an offprint of this article and be much farther ahead than you were!  I would also suggest chasing down a copy of Primitive Shoes, by Margrethe Hald, and looking at the  Footwear of the Middle Ages   website, being cautious about Carlson's designs, as they are not exactly congruent with Lucas.  I do think his page on  Recreation vs Interpretation   is a real contribution,  why not look at it now, then come back?

Consider everything on this site as a serial, growing as the material comes in and my understanding of it solidifies. I'm just going ahead putting up the fragments as they  are written, due to the high volume of requests ;-)  If you make a pair of shoes you like, please be sure to send me a picture, and if it's in .jpg or .gif  I may just put it up here! A very simple alternative to hunting up a scanner is to send out the film for developing where they'll produce a good quality digital frile as well. All of my film images for several years have been developed and sent to me on CD from Seattle FilmWorks

Check them out - I've tried other services but never been as consistently satisfied with the results. And let me know what you think.

Bibliography and Sources

I. Leatherworking

• The Make-It-Yourself Shoe Book, by Christine Lewis Clark, Random House, 1977, ISBN: 0-394-41057-2 (out of print)
• Brendan's Leather Book by Brendan Smith, Bookpeople,1972, ISBN: 686024060 (out of print)
• Shoes for Free People by David Runk, Orenda Unity Press,1976, ISBN: 0913300446 (out of print)
• The Vanaheim Guide to Gear Making, compiled by Jennifer Bray, reprinted by Harpy Music, 1996 (70 pp. $US10.00 plus tax & shipping,  Harpy Music, 5838 Fremont St. #2, Oakland, CA 94608-2612, (510) 654-6635) This is a very interesting small booklet by the Vanaheim group of the British Norse Film & Pageant Society that includes good discussions of period leather and leather working, as well as designs for an Estonian "porszni" pampootie-type shoe and 10th century CE turnshoe. A good complement to Hald and Carlson.
• Footwear of the Middle Ages, by I. Marc Carlson, electronic version 1996.  A well-thought out and thorough book-as-website on recreating footwear of many ages.  I don't agree with his research conclusions in some areas, but none the less it's well worthwhile, and I have a printout of the entire site that I refer to often. His technical advice will help you...
• Craft Manual of North American Indian Footwear, s.l.:n.p. 1969, carried by Tandy Leather for $US 5.49. A small pamphlet full of information on making center seam, unturned shoes similar to a Lucas Type 1 or 2.
• The Art of Hand Sewing Leather by Al Stohlman, Fort Worth, Tandy Leather Co, 1977. Carried by both Tandy Leather and Leather Factory stores and mail order catalogs.
•  Native Tech Center Seam Moccasin pattern , a comprehensive manual on making a simple center seam moccasin of the  US Eastern Woodland type.  Really, really good practice for making an Irish or Scottish center seam shoe and understanding the basic concepts before getting into elaborate detail.

2.  Celtic Shoe Design Sources
 

• "Footwear in Ireland", A.T.. Lucas,  Journal of the Archaeological Society of County Louth, Vol. XIII, No. 4, pp. 309-394, 1956, available for inter-library loan offprint in the US at the Boston College O'Neill Library.  Start here, that's my advice! Check back now and then to see if I've gotten more parts of it up on this site.
• Primitive Shoes: An Archaeological-Ethnological Study Based upon Shoe Finds from the Jutland Peninsula, Margrethe Hald, National Museum of Denmark, 1972, ISBN: 87 480 7282 6.  The English version of this just went out of print in early 1997, though I have been unable to find a dealer who has a copy.  Try interlibrary loan, there's a lot of copies in academic libraries all over the US. This is a very thorough study of early shoes throughout Europe, includes photos of many of the shoes that Lucas only illustrated.
• Ireland's Traditional Crafts, by David Shaw-Smith, Thames & Hudson, 1984, ISBN: 0500013217.  (Out of print)  2 very thorough pages on making pampooties in the traditional style, with clear photos of modern Aran Islanders doing so with a pointed stick! You could make a pair of traditional pampooties from these two pages alone.

• Hide & Leather House 595 Monroe Street, Napa, CA 94559, In California (707)255-6160, Outside California (1-800) 4-LEATHR.  Call or write for a catalog, they're my favorite, and if you're in the vicinity they're open M-F, 8am-4pm PST.
• Tandy Leather & Crafts, in many malls across the US. 1-800-555-3130 to find the store nearest you, or  Tandy Lather Company  to order a catalog, find a store, or read their really nice article on how leather is sold ( formulas for prices, diagrams, leathercraft term definitions, etc. Recommended.)
• The Leather Factory, also a large chain with a very large mail-order catalog of leathers and tools.  They operate as a sort of franchise operation, as far as I can tell... with 22 warehouses in the US & Canada.  When I have a spare hour, I'll make a pages with these contact numbers, for now, just try the Yellow Pages.

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