pattens

I'm not at all a carpenter, I'm not good with wood and I don't have the power tools neither so, this will be a test of what I can attempt to make without the help of a professional ! Since I've never tried-on pattens before and I really don't know what's confortable and practical over what's not, I'm gonna give a try at two models ; A flat one made out of one piece like image B above and a higher one with two heels made out of two peices and articulated as well like fig. A.
I find fig C's staps practical and convenient so, I'm gonna give a shot at this model because I fear that the "nail attachment type" would rip too easily.

I made a stylised pattern from the shape of my foot and traced it on my wooden pieces. The small inter-lines are my actual foot tracings. The doted line is where my foot bends when i'm walking so this will be the line where I split the sole in two. I fliped the pattern over to make the other foot. The first piece is 1 1/2" thick and the other one is 4" thick.

Surprise, surprise, I realised that my pieces of wood were cracked so I bought a 4X4 and started over. While I was at it, I revised my strategy. I decided to cut the vertical shape first, it will be easy to draw the pattern of the sole on top of it. Way easier than the other way around. This time i'm going with the wood's grain instead of fitting my pieces in a diagonal position. I decided to base my sole's design on the pattens shown on the floor of Jan van EYCK's "Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife". I'll modify the shape a little so that they are more comfortable and easier to walk with. I'll still go for the lacing shown on the third type of pattens shown on top of this page though.

I've worked a little more with the shape and than I've made them very smooth with the help of a sand-paper machine (still don't have a clue how to call it in english ! ). I used fairly thick and heavy suede to make the foot tops. First I've cut some trapezoïd shapes and than cut off the inside... My 'lil boy is always there to suppervise how the work is comming along ! LOL!!!

I've rolled the top edge and finished it wih a blanket stitch. I than punched out the lacing holes and hammered the pieces to the wooden soles. Here's how they turned out... Now it's my little girl's turn to supervise my work !