I have (1) large buckskin I'm tanning with hair on and (2) smaller does skins I'm doing hair off. I really want to make myself a pair of Eskimo style Muk-Luks *sp? but cannot seem to locate a good source. My initial thought is to do two leg tubes with hair on and one with the hair off. I was going to encapsulate the first tube with hair under a tube without hair, so the hair is caught between the two leathers, then stitch the final leg tube over the top with hair out. This way I end up with (2) deer hair layers. The foot would be done the same and then a double layer sole as well. Any thoughts or patterns for something like this?
http://www.skillsforwildlives.com/2010/02/making-traditional-mukluks/
This is a simple turorial for mukluks. This appears to be just a bisic "beef" shoe or canadian moc with an attached upper. I like the idea of the encapsulated hair but I'm not sure it will be practical for the main foot portion. I would go with an elk, moose, or even buffalo lower with your encapsulated hair on upper. I would line the lower portion with wool because it breaths so much better and if your feet sweat it will wick away. thmbsup
I like the wool idea. Maybe I'll cut a layer from some military wool blankets to use for my foot lining. I really want to do it with my own hides, but we'll see how they go. ;)
Wool boot liners would be a real easy way to go. In fact mukluks.com sells them for 17 bucks. I have used these in the past for winter mocs and they rock! I hate to admit this but I also have used bread bags over my feet to keep them dry. Gotta be real cold for that because once again, your feet will sweat and wont wick.
No pattern but thry're basically a moccasin with a knee length top. I wore mukluks made by Eskimos for about 2 yrs. in the Artic about 50 yrs. ago and think I still have my last pr. sealed up someplace. I said sealed because Seal blubber and skin smells terrible until you get used to it. Guys that went igloo crawling had a saying about the Eskimo ladies, that if you could get your nose past those sealskin boots, you had it made. They were Walrus bottoms and hair Seal tops and we used thick felt liners. I think you can still get the felt liners made to go in shoe packs. We also wore heavy wool socks, sometime it was close to 70 below zero, you probably won't need that much protection. here's a pic, the Eskimo women could make some pretty ones. Hank, sorry about the quality of the pic.
(http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo111/baymuoibay/001-51.jpg)
Yah, that was more the style I had seen, but never got my hands on to see up close. What do you think about the layer of encapsulated hair in between? I just got 3 more deer skins salted to dry. Hopefully soon will have a good bit of leather to work on. ;)
Just some more thoughts. I know that mukluks are used mostly in cold/dry conditions, but I am thinking that encapsulated hair/on skins would great wet and be VERY difficult to get dry again. Conditions in the lower 48 tend to be more moderate (read more chance of wet) than in the far north.