Chopine, Zoccolo, and Other Raised and High Heel Construction

As a treat for being attentive little readers and staying loyal even though I’ve missed a couple of weeks, I reward you with a blog post from France! A group of several of us 18th century costuming enthusiasts got together and let an 18th century chateau for two weeks, located in Pys, in the south of France, about 40 minutes from Toulouse. This is a magnificent place, and although the pictures speak loudly for themselves, a few additional words would not be untoward.

This is the second brainchild of Kendra Van Cleave and Trystan Bass – the first was a costuming event held at Blo Norton Hall in Norfolk, England back in 2010 (read Kendra or Trystan’s posts on the topic). We had such a delightful time dressing up in a 16th century manor house, cooking period food, singing songs, dancing, and the like that we had to reprise our visit, but this time, in an 18th century chateau in France! And, just so you know that I’m not making this all up, here is a picture of my shoes in front of the chateau itself (look very closely for the two small black bumps in the center next to the glass of champagne). What does all of this have to do with Paste Buckles, you might ask? I’m so glad you asked!

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I have to preface this by saying that these are *children’s* shoes, and all the photographs are of said child wearing them. =) My thanks and copyrights on all of these images to Jeremy Tavan, 2012. I had promised the lovely mother of young Master Corwin a pair of shoes for the young gentleman, and I was delighted to be able to finish them within just a short time frame (two days). That included taking measurements for other shoes, chatting with passers-by, and talking about historical shoes at the Much Ado About Sebastopol Renaissance Faire.

Astute observers might note that the grain on this leather seems a bit pronounced – indeed, that is because I had neglected to bring appropriate upper leather, and a lady at the faire was kind enough to provide me with some leather that, although not perfect, did the job quite well. The leather was chrome tanned, so it did not retain the shape of the last as well as it might have were it vegetable tanned, but I really did want to see these complete.

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