Why I make the cowboy boots

I don't think of it as the family business; it's really just my father and i; dad got into it because of his older brother Rafa who was a cobbler in Mexico. Dad took it further and learned shoe-making and when he moved back to the U.S., because he was born in Kansas City Mo., he learned boot-making.
If one of my kids were to become a boot-maker/cobbler then i would start calling it the family business; i doubt they would and i don't encourage them, although they are welcome to come and learn. We tell them to get a
higher education and find something they love to do that would pay a lot more than what a bespoke boot-maker like me can make.

Bespoke is an old English term that just means made to order and when i think of myself as a bespoke boot-maker it makes me feel special. So, what
Nocona, Justin, Acme, and many other boot-makers do is mass produce their boot in many sizes; they design it, choose colors, and type of leather
to be used. Most of them make some beautiful boots and when i was a kid
i wanted some Acme boots because i was sure you could get them with little rocket engines in the heels that would propel you up onto any nearby cliff. True story.

What father learned here in Burkburnett Tx. from an "old timer" boot-maker that sold him shoe repair supplies out of Lubbock, was how to measure feet to make the wooden or plastic form (the last) that will give the boot it's shape and size and how to make patterns to cut the pieces of
leather to be sewn together that will be soaked and stretched around the
last. All that dad passed down to me, so i make boots designed by the customer; i don't make them my boot, or they would all be wearing cool pointed box toes, 2-1/2 inch riding heels, and 8 inch tops with an inlayed butterfly on front and back. That's why i don't like to show pictures of the
boots i make; i do have a photo album on my counter with pictures of boots
i have made for customers; i want people to see my work. What usually happens is: they happen to see some high heeled boots first and they want to know if i make short heel boots; they see a picture of a round toed boot
and they want to know if i make any other style. I tell people those are pictures of my work; you design your own, if it is within my means, i will
build it for you.

That's what i do, why i do it is because when i was a child my father made me work in his shop and learn shoe repair, i had no choice in the matter.
When i was about 31 years old, and there were two children in la casa, dad
asked me if i wanted to supplement my income by making boots for him;
now, i had been working for him since i was seven years old, it took a long
time for me to want or feel the need to learn this new craft. Some of it was
intimidation, when you don't know how you get flat pieces of material into
the form of a boot and make both of them match, it can be intimidating and i had been around it all my life. Some of it might have been me saying: you forced me to learn shoe repair, you're not going to force me to learn anything else. Anyway, when i did start learning i was hungry for something new and challenging, and it has been that and continues to be that. I am crafty, slightly artistic, but not a mastercraftsman, not there yet.

I'm tempted to have my own boot, like some bespoke makers do; so, if you were to like my boot, i would just measure your feet and make them for you; you would have the option of putting your brand or initials on the tops to personalize them.

So, i like working with my hands, with leather, and i like creating things that can be worn and enjoyed.