| I've been a lifelong fan of "The Wizard
of Oz," and my fascination with the Ruby Slippers goes back to early childhood.
Seeing the film every year on television was an exciting event for me.
The Ruby Slippers have always embodied the magic and glamour of the film
that make it so special to me. I became an Oz collector in earnest
about ten years ago around the time of the 50th anniversary. After
reading Rhys Thomas' book, I was fortunate enough to obtain a pair of replicas
from Jack Townsend. His slippers inspired me to create my own pair.
In 1991, I completed a pair of replica Ruby Slippers using the same
technique that Mr. Townsend used, gluing strips of metallic, craft store
sequins over a pair of vintage 1930s pumps which I had acquired.
While I created a reasonably satisfactory pair for my first try, I confess
that I was never truly satisfied with them. I even had a lucite case
made for the pair, in which I displayed them for a number of years.
Finally, after viewing all the wonderful
replicas that other club members had created, I decided in 1999 to make
a more definitive pair. I was fortunate enough to locate and acquire
through Ebay an excellent pair of vintage 1930's pumps to make my replicas.
Though the pair is a size 6/7, they roughly match the dimensions of the
Bauman/Landini pair at Disney World, although I had to make a few minor
modifications to them to achieve a more accurate shape. Using an
embroidery hoop, I spent months sewing the small, translucent sequins that
I acquired from Shannon (Thanks, Shannon!) onto ruby colored satin using
a pattern that I made of each shoe. Since my shoes were leather,
I upholstered them first with a red cotton fabric and sewed my sequin overlays
over that. For the bows, I used lab rubies (corundum) rather than
rhinestones, and was lucky enough to find some vintage, faceted glass bugle
beads from Czechoslovakia to use in the bows as well. For my lining,
I used some very fine leather that I bought from Tandy Leather Company.
Although thicker that I would have liked, it has the luxurious feel
of chamois. I did take a few liberties in creating my pair, using
red velvet on the soles rather than orange felt. I also opted not
to use prongs on the smaller stones in my bows.
Overall, I am pleased with the outcome,
and creating the replicas proved a very challenging and fun experience.
I hope that it will give all of you as much pleasure seeing them as it
gave me in creating them. Enjoy!
- Mark |
