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).