A Year in Review, and a Visit from the Leather Genie

It would be easy for me to talk about everything I did last year...but I'd rather talk about the people in my life, who meant so much in my journey as a person and as a bootblack.

I.
I was sitting in the back of a Leather bar, a bar that had taken me almost 2 hours to drive to. In a dark corner, bootblack supplies all ready to go, and no customers. It was a low point for me. I was wondering if I was really meant to be a bootblack. I seemed to be making no progress. This was a fundraiser and I doubted I would have anything to donate. It was always an uphill battle. Always people asking me "what's a bootblack"? or "what do you get out of shining shoes?" as if it's a kink and nothing else.

But I pushed aside my feelings and watched the show; it was a fundraising event so there would be skits and speeches and such.

And then a Leather woman took the mike to speak and I will never forget the first thing she said:

"YOU MATTER."

She pointed to one side of the audience, and then another, each time saying, "And you matter. And you matter. We all matter."

The speech continued, elaborating on this point, and in that moment, after I heard that, everything changed.

Here I was, sitting around feeling resentful because no one was coming to me? What kind of attitude was that?

As it turned out, I did have several customers that night, and was able to donate something after all.

If someone believes that I matter, that I can make a difference...who am I to say they are wrong? To sit passively waiting for...whatever...but...if I can act on what I want, then...I need to understand WHAT I want, right? Hmmm.

II.
We were on our way to the Mr/Ms NJ Leather weekend and having lunch on the road. Another Leather woman, a class act who does not pull any punches. Between bites of our burgers, she asked me, "So, what's your focus? What is it you want to accomplish as a bootblack?"

I stared at her, my mouthful of burger in mid-chew. I swallowed. I was gobsmacked. I looked down at my napkin.

"It's okay if you can't answer," she said. "Just something to think about."

And I have thought about it.

III.
For a while, I worried that maybe all I wanted was a title. Recognition. A sash. Invitations to bootblack everywhere because I'm just da shit.

Now I am not putting down titles. Never, ever, ever. I am a big supporter of bootblacking contests. Some of my favorite people in the world are title winners (I'm talking to YOU, boy ed from Pittsburgh!)

But if a title is ALL you want -- I think there's something not cool about that.

If I ever find a magical shoeshine box, that when rubbed a Leather genie appears and gives me three wishes pertaining to bootblacking, here is what I would wish for:

• That more kink/fetish events would provide bootblacks. I want to see more opportunities for bootblacks to be seen and customers to learn and enjoy what we do. I would like promoters and presenters to understand that we can be an important asset to their event -- especially if it's for fundraising. In my mind, an event is not fur-real unless a bootblack is there.

• I wish to be that bootblack who, when walking toward the bootblack stand, people are happy to see me because they know I will take good care of them. That I will always have a smile and a clean cloth ready to make that customer shine, both boots and soul.
• A bootblack stand that's easy to transport and fits in most vehicles. LOL -- I don't think even a Leather genie could do that! :-)

IV. 

It's impossible for me to name everyone who's had an impact on me this year. All I can say is, to those Leather folks who have inspired me, keep doing it. Keep going. People do listen. Never give up. 

Now who's going to get the first shine from me in 2015? Or more important, who's going to be the first to inspire me? 

Update Since September

In a nutshell I have been cray-cray busy at work. Which means I have 0 left in the writing/creativity bit left at the end of the day.

This Sunday morning I am taking a little breather and will sum up what I've been doing leather-wise these past few months.

Here I am in Asbury Park, NJ, bootblacking at the Mr/Ms NJ Leather Competition (October 2014).

I had a blast coordinating the bootblacks for Philadelphia Leather Pride Night this November. Sadly, no pictures.

Last weekend I took a trip to the Baltimore Playhouse and I got the chance to work on these lovely silver Docs:

You can't see the improvement too well with the club lighting, but they really did look better and I was so excited to use my silver shoe cream!

Last but not least, I spent a few hours teaching a friend how to do a high shine, and with the incredibly generous tip I received, bought myself something off my Amazon wish list:

Yes, I am in Nerdvana.

I have wanted for some time to better understand this strange material, leather, that I work on. It was once living skin, and then with an incredible amount of work, it is turned into something magnificent. I want to understand better how that happens.

Currently I am reading the book index and learning such wonderful new words. Did you know that the element Actinium glows blue in the dark? It is what we envision when we think of radioactivity as glowing. What better way to spend a day than learning something new?

Pittsburgh Leather Pride Weekend 2014 - Thoughts

So this was a huge event for me.

My very firstest-Leather Pride bootblacking gig.

A few people were surprised that I would drive 5 hours to do 4 hours of bootblacking.

But that's cause they don't know me.

Let me move away from Pittsburgh for a few moments and explain some things about me.

I have struggled a lot with my identity as a bootblack.

I have issues. I am a cis-gendered female, mostly femme, mostly heterosexual. I am closing in on age 50. I am plain and struggle with my weight. I am shy and introverted.

I am not an appropriate choice to work at a men's Leather bar. Which I don't resent, by the way. It's just the nature of what bootblacking is. Gay men generally do not want my girl cooties on their boots.

Even kink events, I'm not the popular choice. Why have a middle-aged plain overweight lady do your boots when a sexy young hot thing can do them instead.

I totally get all this.

But I love bootblacking with a fierce passion.

Often I have wondered why I feel so strongly about bootblacking, when I simply don't have the right equipment to get a decent number of opportunities. I have shaken my fist, a-la-Salieri, at the heavens for punishing me.

But I've been working through it.

I believe there are reasons for the way things are, reasons that I probably never will understand. And that's okay. Life is too short to wonder why things are the way they are. Better to do what I can and be happy with that.

So every bootblacking event I have the honor to work at, I give myself, 100%. If you sit in my chair I can guarantee you are getting the very best of my skills and love. I try to remember that every opportunity I get, might be my last. It should not be squandered.

Now. Back to Pittsburgh.

What a wonderful weekend I had. I probably worked closer to 6 hours. And met some amazing people. The first night, Friday, at Leather Central, I could not believe how busy I was. That some of my customers were old-time Leather men and they were happy to sit in my chair and have me work on their boots, girl cooties and all. God damn. I could have cried.  I did, actually, in my car on the way back to my hotel.

The second night was the conclusion of the title contest. This was at a different place and the two of us bootblacks were in the back of the bar. Again, I was honored to do the boots of just the nicest Leather men, who were just happy to have someone fuss over them and their boots. It is such a fulfilling feeling, to have someone walk away from your chair, not only with their boots shiny and glowing, but their spirit shiny and glowing too.

This is why I love what I do. And if I don't get to do it as often as I'd like...oh well. Perhaps it is this way so that I may feel this joy as profoundly as I do.

THANK YOU PITTSBURGH!! HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!

Fog

One of the most frequent questions I get, when someone sits for me, is "What attracted you to bootblacking?"

Most of the time it's a conversation starter, but some people do actually want to know. Why would I want to spend time at someone's feet, cleaning and polishing their boots.

Some people ask me if it's a foot fetish.

At first this question made me very uncomfortable and I had to bite my tongue, but then I realized it's not the customer's fault, they're just trying to figure it out. (I'm sure some bootblacks have a foot fetish...it's just the question that annoys me...the implication that bootblacks only do this work to get their jollies.)

The answer to the original question, though, is extremely complicated.

At first it was just watching bootblacks work that intrigued me. Here are people actually doing something useful. And look at the connection they have with the people in the chair. How cool is that, I thought.

And then I talked to a few. Learned a little bit about what they do. An interest rapidly turned into the thought that I might actually want to do this, which led me along a winding and sometimes bumpy path to where I am now.

Over time I started befriending more people from the Leather community. I joined the Philadelphia Leather Alliance. I got to know more bootblacks from throughout the country. I found myself attracted to the values often attributed to the Leather culture: service, integrity, loyalty, etc. I liked being around Leather people, as I found that more often than not, I could find real friendship and trust, much more than that of the kink/fetish community, and even the nilla world.

Since then I have bootblacked in as many venues as possible. TESFest, The Floating World, Boot Camp, Black Phoenix, Aviary a few times, Philadelphia Leather Pride Night.

Where has all of this led me?

I have a few bootblacking gigs coming up during the fall. Of course I'm excited about those.

But otherwise, my future as a bootblack is unclear.

There just aren't many opportunities for a female-identified bootblack to do regular work in the Philly/NJ/DE area.

(Side note: Things could be worse, after all...I could be a male-identified bootblack. In the tristate area I cannot think of even one.)

I need to know that what I'm doing has some purpose, some long-term result. As a spiritual person, I tend to believe that if we follow our passions, our bliss, our life journey will be that much more fulfilling.

My purpose, my place, my role in the scheme of things is so unclear right now. Like I'm standing in a foggy street waiting for it to clear up and reveal what's ahead.

I can't just sit around and twiddle my thumbs. The clock is ticking. I'm almost 50.

So, with nothing else to do, I am determined to continue work on my apprenticeship projects. To be the best bootblack I know how to be. To remember that although my opportunities are few, I must make the absolute best of each one.

In the end, the fog will clear. I am sure of it.

And, for a picture, here's a saddle I worked on recently. The top is before, bottom is after.

When it Comes to Bootblacking, My Glass is More Than Half Full!

Most people who know me, know that I'm not Miss Sunshine and Rainbows.

I consider myself a "realistic optimist." I know that things aren't always going to work out for me. The task is to do my best with the hand I'm dealt. People who are 100% happy all of the time make me a little suspicious. 

So with this in mind, I will talk about a Leather event where I bootblacked this weekend. 

It was a charity event, with entertainment and a silent auction, and I was the sole Bootblack (heh heh heh she said "sole").

I advertised as much as I could beforehand, letting people know a Bootblack would be there.

The attendance was fair, I would say, considering it's a Saturday night in August.

I had three customers.

Now some Bootblacks might not be too happy with that number, for which I totally understand. We take our time, for a whole evening, possibly driving for a couple of hours, just for three people?

And that's when Miss Sunshine and Unicorn Rainbow Farts comes out.

I was so deliriously happy to have these three customers sit for me. More would have been great, of course.

But I remember each one: 

A young handsome man with beautiful oil tan engineer boots and leather chaps and an adorable mustache and bubbly personality. And it was his first time sitting for a Bootblack! Bonus points!

A beautiful young woman, a Leather title holder, who needed her Harley Davidson boots tended to (also oil tans).

And finally, I was approached by a lovely lady wearing black soft leather shoes. "The are almost new," she said. "But they're scuffed on the toes. Is there anything you can do?"

I looked at the scuffs and looked back up at her. 

"There's nothing you can do, is there?" she sighed.

I beamed back at her. "Are you kidding?" I answered. "I will have these looking like new in a few minutes!"

So yeah, I had three customers. But they were wonderful people. And they will remember what a Bootblack can do and they will seek us out at other events. 

Each time we provide this service, we are educating someone. We are letting people know we are here, that we still exist, and always will as long as there are Leather folk.

Strip Teased

Last weekend I had the honor of bootblacking at a party hosted by the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference at the William Way LGBT Center. During the evening I worked on this wonderful pair of pink Dr Martens. Here is the before:

Please note, the pictures aren't fantastic because I'm at a kinky event and trying to be discrete when using my cell phone. These were pretty dirty and the pretty pink stitching was all icky and black. Here is the after:

I gave them a cleaning with glycerin soap, wiped down the laces, and polished with Terrago brand shoe cream. The closest tint I had was "Rose", a very light pastel pink; I could have used something darker but I think the results came out well. I scrubbed the stitching and added a few swipes with an alcohol pad to get as much dirt off the stitching as I could, then with a tiny paintbrush I painted the Terrago on the stitching. The only thing I couldn't help was that bit of scuffing on the one boot. I managed to lighten it and of course the cream polish will add a little conditioning to it.

And on to my newest project! I give you another pair of Dr Martens, which I got off of eBay super cheap.

Since I got these for nothing, I decided I didn't care much if I destroyed them...thus, I call them Frankenboots.

They are vintage 1980s, made in the UK. The original owner cut the tops off. I don't know why. More on this in another post.

I decided that I would try to strip the color off the toe box area and re-dye it something funky like purple.

Whenever I read about stripping boots, it doesn't sound that difficult. "I just stripped the boots and dyed them and then conditioned...yadda yadda..."

But it's a ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS. Either that, or I'm doing it wrong.

I'm using acetone, which is the main ingredient in nail polish remover. Applying with cotton balls, wearing gloves, and working outside because the label says to use it in a well-aired area.

The goal is to strip the areas "to the gray." I soaked the cotton ball and rub it on the leather. A lot. Black will start coming off right away. Move the ball around so you're using as much of it as possible. Toss the ball into a trash bag. Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

I thought I could do this in one night, but I was wrong. Here is a photo after my second session, or about 2 hours of the stripping process total:

Not the greatest picture but you can see that the black is pretty dull. Here is another:

After tonight's 3rd session:

I think we are finally getting somewhere! I can definitely see a contrast coming out.

I will post more pictures as work progresses. 

Another thing I'm thinking about is, how good is this for the boot? Well it's not good, I can imagine, practically soaking leather in acetone and rubbing it in like crazy. I'm going to try to finish this project but I am not sure I will do it again. I don't like hurting leather like this.

Bootblack Stands Build Day

Last Saturday we did something that I've dreamed about for a long time: building bootblack stands.

I was truly scared to death that something would go wrong. It would rain. No one would show up. The design plans would be too difficult to follow.

Thankfully, I was wrong on all counts. The day was gorgeous. Everyone showed up on time. In less than 6 hours we had built and painted three bootblack stands.

It's hard to believe that we started with this:

And got to this:

And then of course we had to do the painting:

On the left is Kristine, Mid-Atlantic Leather Woman 2014, who stopped by on her busy travel schedule to help out! On the right is my friend necro, who is just all sorts of awesome.

The stands are not complete -- there is more painting to do. I will update my blog as they are completed!

Thoughts from the Leather Leadership Conference 2014

Last weekend was the Leather Leadership Conference here in Philadelphia. The highlight of my weekend, besides bootblacking, was attending Leslie J. Anderson's presentation. Leslie is a pillar of the bootblack community, having won the title of International Ms. Bootblack in 1999, and spends much of her time working with the Leather Archives & Museum..

During her talk, Leslie focused on the definitions and differences between leather restoration, preservation, and conservation.

(Just one caveat: I am paraphrasing Leslie's words; if there are any inaccuracies, the fault is mine alone.)

Restoration is pretty much what it sounds like. It means you are making "like new." Taking an old pair of boots that seem destined for the dumpster, and making them wearable again. Stripping the old polish, filling in the gouges, redying, repolishing, presenting them back to the owner who will be astounded at your magical skills.

Preservation is something entirely different. You are preserving the item in its current condition, and making sure the item does not degrade further. Leslie showed us a photo of a set of leather restraints from the LA&M collection, covered with tiny white spots. The spots were the residue of the salts and other organic material left from the wearer(s). In the case of this item, the desire was to leave them in their current condition so that others may see their history.

Then there is conservation. Conservation has to do with the environment: humidity, light, air circulation, etc. Making sure the conditions are right for the leather to be preserved. Ever see a leather vest or pair of boots that have been stuffed in a closet for years? Or worse, in a humid basement?

I've been thinking about these three terms -- restoration, preservation, and conservation -- and how they might relate to my personal journey in bootblacking.

As I spend more time getting to know Bootblacks all over the country, I have some concerns about the future of bootblacking. Many have said to me that they are seeing more and more empty chairs.

It's possible that people just can't afford to buy leather these days. That's certainly true for me. Of my own personal collection, I own a vest, three pairs of shoes/boots, and a vintage 1980s studded bracelet. I'm saving my pennies for a pair of Wescos but that will take a while. :-)

But I also wonder if the art might be in decline because people just don't see us. I was involved in the lifestyle for four years before I even know what a Bootblack was, much less observing one.

Now this is NOT a complaint about people not buying leather or not respecting us, etc.

If anything it's a personal call to action. And thus back to Leslie's three words.

Restoration -- what can I do to restore the art of bootblacking in my community?

Preservation -- for the many experienced Bootblacks in our community, what can be done to keep them involved, to let them know that their skills are urgently needed, especially for mentoring, so that they may pass on what they've learned to the next generation?

Conservation -- how do we open up opportunities for new Bootblacks? It's not enough to give a "Bootblack 101" class without some consideration as to where and how one can continue learning. You can learn to polish a pair of boots in 10 minutes. But figuring out where to go to get shine time, how to get introduced to the "right people" -- that took me a LOT longer to achieve.

So, these are my final thoughts from LLC. I hope I don't sound priggish or self-important here. I am not wagging a finger at the community -- in fact I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities I've had, which would not have been possible without the help and support of my friends. THANK YOU.

Update: Where I Am Now

Since my last post, I've been crazy busy. With work and other stuff. And bootblacking as much as I can.

In March I attended Southern Sole, an intensive weekend of bootblacking classes and chicanery. ;-) It was intense but fantastic. Oh and I was sick as a dog but I kept my germs to myself and ignored it.

Last weekend was the Leather Leadership Conference in Philadelphia, and I spent an amazing 3 hours with Leslie J. Anderson from the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, as she presented a talk on Leather Care, Preservation, and Conservation.

I was also at the opening ceremonies at LLC, but no customers. I think they wanted to watch the show. I don't blame 'em; it was a great show with entertainment from the Liberty City Drag Kings.

On Saturday night I worked at a party affiliated with the LLC and worked on a lots of good folks and their boots. Although I did almost make a huge boo-boo; the lighting was really bad so I assumed this one guy's boots were black when in fact they were a deep cordovan color. This is how talking to your customer can save you from disaster. We stepped into an area with more light and matched the polish.

In other news I have initiated a bootblack stand build day on May 3. The lack of bootblack stands around me is a real pain in my ass. And back. And neck. etc etc. Also it makes it impossible to see me at an event until you walk right into me. Pictures to come!

Next up: bootblacking at a club this Saturday night. I have also been asked to present a class on bootblacking at the NDDs Boot Camp VII coming up in June. And I'm serving as the bootblack minion at The Floating World.

Hoping to post more frequently!

Snowy Sunday Night Thoughts

As I sit at my computer, I can see soft flakes of snow falling gently by the streetlamp. So pretty. It's been a hell of a winter in my neck of the woods. Snow storm after snow storm...but thank the God(dess), we've not lost power (knock on nearest wood).

So a few things have been going on with me since I last wrote.

First, a pair of boots. Here's the before:

I love working on military boots. And the stories that go with them. "The scuffs on the toes," my customer said, "are the results of hundreds of push ups." LOL!

They are certainly not the worst pair I've ever worked on, but they quite dull and definitely needed some love.

After cleaning, I dyed them with Fiebings leather dye, then added a few coats of black Chelsea leather food:

Not the best photo...dang camera phones. But trust me, they felt a lot better with some conditioning.

During the past few weeks, I've struggled with a lot of self-doubt. Why am I on this journey, anyway? Why did I find bootblacking so late in life? Our society is so youth-obsessed...as if once you pass age 35, it's all downhill. Maybe physically, but does it have to be in everything else? 

Here's the boots after a couple coats of black Meltonian shoe cream:

So how busy am I these days? Currently I'm a resident bootback at a monthly party. And I just did a party last night, a charity event in Allentown. In March I'm going to Southern Sole Bootblack Weekend, in Augusta Georgia. Very excited about this. 

After four coats of black Angelus shoe polish, a shine is starting to show:

I ended up with a several layers of polish, probably 10 or 12 on the toe areas. I used a few layers of Angelus blue, as well. I like how the blue reflects in the light. 

Finished boots:

I have several pairs of boots waiting for me to work on...and I won something very cool at the party I worked at last night, which I'll show on my next post (after I've finished working on it).