Bike Chic, Bike Shoes And A Plan

For those of you who couldn't make it to the Bike Chic fashion show today, here are some photos of the finished shoes - later, I'll post some shots from the show itself!



Something that resembles a plan:

Over the last year in the studio I’ve been trying some new things and continuing explorations already in progress – in a roundabout way, it’s been about feeling out a direction to take my work. I’ve decided to focus most of my studio efforts into developing and making cycling footwear and accessories. This is a subject that will allow me to continue to explore many of the things that I enjoy – such as materials research, last design and shoe/object making. Refocusing my studio work will require some changes both directly and indirectly related to my practice.

To focus on cycling stuff, I need to commit to some research and development, as well as some further professional development. I’ve decided to finish my prerequisites to sit for the Certified Pedorthist exam. Getting certified is partly for research, and partly for credentials to help me get a job. I think having my C.Ped will be useful if I’m making shoes that need to be particularly bio-mechanically sound, plus while I was taking the pedorthics course two years ago, I learned some techniques I can apply to engineering footwear. This should be a win-win situation – I’m expecting it to take a while to see the cycling shoes project bare fruit -- and having my C.Ped will keep me employed until then.

I'm still taking commissions - not only bike shoes, though that's going to be my main focus moving forward - plus right now, I am seeking something to help pay bills and opportunities to fulfill the intern hours required for pedorthics certification.

Finally, I still have my small leather goods for sale on Etsy - they want to make you look sharp and hold your keys, cards and cash for you!

Bike Chic Thursday!

Thursday at noon at Daley Plaza downtown Chicago is the Bike Chic fashion show!


Probably without the killer heat - bonus!

Hope to see you there.

Bike Chic Fashion Show Is Next Week!

Hey everybody! Just a friendly reminder that Chicago is presenting the Bike Chic fashion show on Thursday June 9th at noon in Daley Plaza!

I'll be providing the shoes to designer Seth Meyerink-Griffin's two looks on the runway. We should be doing the fittings on Saturday and I'm waiting until the show to post the final pics of the shoes.

On a related note, I've updated my About page a little bit, and I'll probably be making a significant post after the show next week.

Have a good weekend, and I hope to see people at the show if you're local!

Bike Shoes Progress

Things are certainly coming along with the shoes I'm making for the Bike Chic fashion show - here's a look at them so far:


The shellac isn't as nice as the trial I did last year, but I think for now it turns out how it turns out, so they are ready for soling, which starts tomorrow.

The fittings are this weekend, so that is my deadline - maybe I'll have a chance to make up the red ones before the show?


Oh, and visit my Etsy Store and buy things!

Appearing Soon!

I wanted to let people know what stuff to be on the look out for coming up really soon.

On June 9th, Chicago is presenting the Bike Chic: Commuter Fashion show as part of it's Bike to Work Week, being put on by Bike Chicago.

A while back when I found that a friend, Seth Meyerink-Griffin, was possibly taking part in a bike fashion show, it seemed like an ideal time to take my bike shoe explorations off of hiatus.

Well, Seth is doing the show! As of now, my participation is kind of unofficial, but I will be providing the shoes worn by his models for the Bike Chic show. The shoe lasts I was modifying recently are for one of the pairs of shoes being modeled.

Here are a couple images I'm basing my designs off of - just a couple quick sketches from my sketchbook. These aren't the final designs and I'm working with Seth to keep the color story coherent, so this is just a little something:


Bike related things have been at the forefront of my brain for a while now, and I'm happy to have found something to spur new activity on the bike shoes.
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In other news, I've had a delay with the hardware for the small leather goods, so I can't finish them up before I go out of town for family stuff. Final assembly will happen Monday and Tuesday, and I'll be listing things on my Etsy site in the evenings as they are finished.

I will be doing a new style of single key fob, as well as the old ones, but in new leathers. I am introducing two wallet styles - one is a chain style with the double looped fob, and the other is something to put in your pocket or bag and can be outfitted with a grommet for a chain if desired. Here is a shot of the prototype chain wallet with fob:

... and here's my little assembly line:


So that is all for now. I'll definitely put up a post when I get the Etsy listings up and running, but I also have had some things on my mind that I'm pulling together. They're related to current projects and I'd like to get some feedback on them, so I'm going to put some of them to text while I'm on the train.