Today I went to Comanche with Avis and two other friends who work for her. The purpose of the trip was 3-fold: to pick up custom made boots for Avis and Scott, to take a load of her belongings to her storage place in Comanche in preparation for her move there in January, and to take a tour of the house and property she is buying. It was a fun trip and we met up with our other friends Sharon and Marvin who live in Comanche and who will now be Avis' neighbors. There were a number of firsts going on during the trip but the one I will choose to focus on is the boot maker's shop, which was our first stop. I had never been to a custom boot business before and enjoyed looking at all the boots on display that were ready to be picked up by customers. But the really interesting thing to me was when I stepped into the "back" room where all the work is done to make these beautiful boots. What amazed me was all the colors of leather that they had hanging back there for a customer to choose from to begin the process of making the boots. Who knew leather could be died so many different ways from patterns to a rainbow of colors. It captured by imagination and intimidated me to think that if I were a person wanting custom boots, I would have to pick the leather and then live with the results! Avis's custom boots were a red ostrich--beautiful. Scott's had a Texas Realtor logo engraved in the top of the boots. I fear that this craft of hand-making boots will become obsolete at some time as most highly skilled craftsmen are being replaced by machines that can produce a lesser product for a lesser price and the public will be satisfied with that. It is definitely an art form.
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All along the sides are hides of leather--if you can blow this up, you will
see the beautiful colors. |
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| Machines used to craft the leather into boots. |
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