Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: barefoot shoes

Happy Shoe Year!

{shoes made at The Village Continuum festival 2015 workshop}

Sorry about the terrible pun, I just couldn’t resist! I’ve loved puns ever since I was a teenager and met the step dad of a good friend. He was a softly spoken man who would let loose with a quiet grin and some of the best puns I’ve ever heard. Now I pun away any chance I get.

So that explains my very daggy love of puns. “But why the shoe reference?” I can hear you thinking.

Aah, that’s because this Australia Day long weekend I’m running a two day barefoot shoe making workshop. I don’t run them very often but when I do, I have a blast. I love teaching people how to make shoes and sharing my skills and experience. There’s an incredible synergy and generosity when people come together to make. They inspire, share and teach each other (and me) so much! Watching someone learn and master a new skill is so satisfying as is seeing them unleash their creativity to make their shoes unique and personal. It’s a great antidote to the mass produced, factory-made products that are such a ubiquitous part of our lives.

Five very different people made five very different pairs of shoes at the shoe making workshop I ran at the Village Continuum 2015 festival. Different choices for leather colour, sinew colour, opening, suede or grain, lacing or buttons led to the five pairs of shoes you can see in the picture at the top of this post. What would you choose for your shoes?

The workshop is part of the Little Village Continumm weekend and is being held on a beautiful organic farm that is converting to biodynamic. Bordering Wombat Forest and just five minutes from Trentham, it’s a gorgeous place to spend a weekend with traditional crafts.

The shoe making workshop runs for 2 days – you can come and camp overnight or just come each day for the workshop. I’ll be supplying the tools, leather and know how to make your very own pair of barefoot shoes. You’ll need to bring your sunny selves and food to munch on (and camping gear if staying overnight). If you've got a pair of sewing scissors, bring them along too – I'll be supplying all other tools.

Workshop cost is $295 per person (includes tuition, materials and camping). Places are limited as I believe in small, intimate classes where we can really get to know each other.

I need a minimum of five people to run this workshop. If that's you, send me an email – indrani at indraniperera.com. Can't wait to meet you and make shoes!

January 5, 2017
Nerve-wracking

I recently rekindled my shoe making passion with this project. I love those soft soled moccasins but given that it's now summer here in Melbourne, I needed some sandals. After a little bit of googling I discovered the exciting new world of huaraches. Huaraches have been worn by the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico's Copper Canyon for hundreds of years. They were popularised in the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall which was published in 2009. Apparently they were also mentioned in On The Road by Jack Kerouac. I may be a little late in discovering these awesome and super easy to make shoes but I'm making up for lost time by wearing my new huaraches any chance I get.

My passion is using natural materials to make the things I need. These huaraches are no exception. They have a 6mm crepe rubber sole, veg tanned deerskin upper and the laces are 100% cotton Maverick laces. I made the upper and laced it before glueing it on to the rubber sole. This way the laces don't come into direct contact with the ground and will last longer.

Even though I make lots of stuff, I still get nervous when making a new project. This one was no exception. I did a whole lot of surfing on how to make my huaraches. Hunted around for the most natural materials. I took my time over the lacing, watching the video tutorial over and over again. Glued the upper on to the sole. And then took a really deep breath when I was cutting it out. It was the moment of truth. Was it going to work? I was really nervous and the only way to find out was to dive right in.

So how do I rate my latest barefoot shoes? (That's them up there on their first outing in the wild!). They turned out great and like I already said, I've been wearing them everywhere and anywhere. That said, the sole at the front of my left foot gets a bit flappy at times and the laces at the back of my right foot have a tendency to slip off the heel. I'm figuring that with tighter lacing and more experience in making patterns and positioning lacing holes, the shoes will improve. At any rate they are fabulous enough to have me hooked on barefoot sandals. If you want to make a pair, check out the great tutorial over at DIY Footwear. They even sell huarache kits!

January 7, 2016
Teaching Shoemaking

{Leather, tools and shoes}

Last weekend I ran my very first shoe making class. Over the years I have attended a lot of craft classes. However, this was my first experience of being a teacher rather than a student. The workshop was held in beautiful Gembrook on my friend Kate Horne's 1/4 acre block. It has gorgeous views of the mountains and backs onto beautiful bush. On the last afternoon a wallaby popped past to say hello. Stunning setting for a barefoot shoe making workshop, I'm sure you'll agree!

{Kate making her shoes}

There were three students for the class – River, Kate and Jacqui. Everyone already had some craft experience. River is a free-from crochet queen, Kate makes gorgeous clothes and Jacqui does eco dyeing. It was so much fun teaching what I knew and watching everyone as they created their shoes. The most exciting time for me was on Sunday when the first shoe was sewn and fitted on to the foot!

{River modelling her moccasins}

I'm so chuffed with the results. The shoes look amazing and River and Kate got to go home wearing them. How awesome is that? Go away for a weekend and come home wearing a pair of shoes you have made with your very own two hands!

Don't worry if you missed out on this class. I'm going to be running it again in November at the The Village Continuum. Check out the courses page for more details.

September 24, 2015
Dive Right In

There are days when I leap out of bed, fired with enthusiasm. And days when everything seems to drag and I just want to bury my head under the pillow and pretend the world doesn't exist. There are projects that I zip through, completing in next to no time. And projects that languish on my desk for months. This pair of soft soled leather boots was in the languishing category.

This is only the third pair of leather shoes that I've made so I am still figuring things out. Once the boots were sewn and worn in, I needed to put on soles so I didn't ruin the boot itself. But I put it off cos it was fiddly, needed patience and as I'm still learning I knew that it wouldn't be perfect. It's hard to let go off that desire to be perfect and have everything just "so". But the more I do, the more I laugh and the more relaxed I become.

I finally did dive right in and get those shoes soled. It turned out all I needed was the right motivation. In this case, going to see the exhibition Inspiration by Design from London's V&A Museum at the State Library in the city.

June 11, 2015