Tag: clogs

Summer sandals

I might have splashed out a little bit on some new sandals for the summer. These are Think! Schlapfa Clogs, bought from Shoon. They were in the sale… and then you could buy a second pair of sale shoes for half price, so I thought I might as well have both colours! I’ve actually been looking for a plain black pair of these for several years but I’ve never managed to grab a pair in my size, and they never seem to be reduced to a price I can afford, so I’ve just kept on wearing my ancient ones and hoping they wouldn’t fall to bits.

I’ve had my old pair since at least 2004, and I’ve worn them ever such a lot. Because they have anatomically-shaped footbeds I don’t need to squash my orthotics into them, and I can wear them all day without ending up with achey feet. They’re so comfortable, and although it’ll take a while for the new ones to mould to the shape of my feet they do feel pretty good already.

Think! bring out new colours of these sandals every year, but usually they’re blues or greens or something else that doesn’t really go with my wardrobe. As it turns out almost everything I’m wearing at the moment is either grey or pink, so this sale couldn’t have been better timed! I’m not going to throw out my old pair just yet either. They’re plain pink (extremely grubby) suede, but I’ve got a bottle of shoe dye, so I’m going to attempt to dye them black and see whether I can make them last a little bit longer.

If these two new pairs last me as long as my trusty old pink ones, I won’t have to go shopping for sandals again until 2018! Please remind me of this next summer, when I tell you that I’ve got nothing to wear…

Shaharazad

This is a little picture of “Shaharazad”, a mechanical organ owned by Boz Oram.

Today we went to Crofton Beam Engines with the Aldbrickham Clog & Step Dancers, to dance at their end of season gala. There were some vintage cars, a few different steam engines and this mechanical organ. (And the enormous beam engines, of course.)

It was very loud, but we stood and listened to it for ages, and I eventually plucked up the courage to be a little bit cheeky and ask Boz if I could have a look inside.

Oh my goodness, it was AWESOME.

Boz showed me all the cards of music, and how they fed through, and explained how he makes them (he makes them himself!) and I was gutted to have to run away after only a few minutes because it was time for me to play the recorder again.

It was absolutely mesmerising to watch the wheel turning and the holes in the cards slowly moving along – I was surprised how quickly I could read the holes, and understand what the music was going to do next.

When I run away and join the circus, I’m definitely going to have a mechanical organ. (And some earplugs. Very loud!)

I had an absolutely fabulous day. Apparently I’m even more of an Industrial Revolution nerd than I’d thought.

Summer shoes

So, the weather’s just starting to get to the point where it might be warm enough to take off my Doc Martens, and start looking for some pretty shoes for the summer. A colleague came into work today wearing a pair of these. I was very well behaved, and didn’t wrestle her to the ground and steal them – if only because they would have been too small. (And I’d have been fired.) They’re from Shoon, and I find them sorely tempting. The double straps make them easy to fit, and that scalloped edging is the perfect detail.

The Inga from Sweden website reveals that the clogs come in eight different colours, but I haven’t yet managed to discover where I might be able to buy them in the UK – beyond the black ones that they have in Shoon.

I know I’ve written about my love for swedish clogs before, and seeing this pair in Schuh yesterday has definitely set it off again. The temptation to grab as many pairs as possible while they’re fleetingly fashionable is very strong.

Originally I’d planned to buy these lovely pink comfortable summer shoes from Clarks. Unfortunately for them, the customer service in my local branch was so poor that I left without buying them. I’m still vaguely thinking about buying them online, but I’m very torn now between these and the clogs.

New clogs!

New clogs!

Hooray, my new clogs have arrived!

Anne is right, and Walkley clogs don’t really have curved enough soles for dancing in.
But these were the only pair of clogs on Ebay, they happened to be in my size, and they were very cheap indeed. So these are the clogs that I’ll have to make do with, until such time as I can afford to buy a more appropriate pair.

They’re actually really comfortable. Certainly more comfortable than you might expect from a pair of shoes made from heavy leather and wood! They’re also ankle boots, which I didn’t realise from the Ebay pictures. This is good. I like boots.

The other thing I couldn’t tell from the Ebay pictures is that these clogs have partial rubber soles, which is also not very good for dancing. Maybe it’ll be possible to remove the rubber.

The clogs that I’m coveting are these beautiful styles by Jeremy Atkinson. Scroll all the way down and have a look at the “pixie” clogs. Aren’t they adorable?

I discovered a little while ago that Countryfile Magazine are having a feature about keeping traditional crafts alive. I don’t know whether clog making can be described as a country craft, but I’ve sent in a form telling Countryfile that I’d love to learn more about it!

I’ll be taking my new clogs for a spin in a couple of weeks, with the Aldbrickham Clog & Step Dancers.

Coveting clogs.

Ever since my visit to the Museum of English Rural Life, I can’t stop thinking about clogs.

The pair above (which I believe are the same ones that you can try on in the museum) are an eight-eyelet farmer’s style clog made by Walkley Clogs. I’ve been coveting a pair of these for years and years, although I’d probably cheat and go for the padded derby style instead.

Back in 2001 I had a stall (selling waistcoats and jewellery) at a clog dancing festival. I took just enough money on the stall to buy myself a pair of clogs. They were a gibson style, black at the quarter, but with a fabulous crackle printed black and purple vamp. I was told that they were made with offcuts of Dr Martens leather, hence the unusual pattern.

I sold the clogs to a dancer a few years ago, after I was told that I shouldn’t be wearing any type of footwear without an orthotic inside, and my insoles wouldn’t fit into the clogs. I also worked as a Library Assistant at the time, so I didn’t get to wear them very much. Despite the full rubber soles, they were still a bit noisy for the library!

I’ve found out since that these were the one pair of shoes that I could have safely worn without the orthotics, and I very much regret getting rid of them. It seems unlikely that I might find another pair in such an unusual style.

I’m quite tempted to buy a new pair of Swedish clogs to wear in the summer – and to remind me of my student days. I thought that I’d end up with a plain black pair, and then I found these! Now I can’t decide between flowers, spots, dinosaurs or skulls – or perhaps I should go for the plain black ones, and then paint them. Decisions, decisions…