My fascination of The Ruby Slippers happened the first time I saw their supernatural image on film as a child. Years later on an evening news broadcast I first heard of the Ruby Slippers being sold at auction, the whole thing was amazing, these magic shoes that seemed to be in some far away fantasy land were,,,you might say,,,,,,"In my own backyard" 

It was then that I became interested in the reality of the movie and this most famous pair of magic shoes. I read everything I could on the making of the film and much later I found the book by Rhys Thomas,,, this is where it all began!!!!

I was so inspired by the book, and I wanted a pair of Ruby Slippers, but of course I knew I would have to win the lottery to afford such a piece of Movie History.

So I made my own pair, and this is how I did it.

I first set out to find the proper shaped shoes at the store but soon realized that they didn't make shoes now like they did in the 30's

So after much planning and researching, I decided to get as close as possible, I would have to sculpt shoe lasts and heels and make my own . I collected as many pictures of the originals as I could and even drove nearly 6 hours to St. Louis, Mo. to study and photograph "The Witches Shoes" owned by Philip Samuels. After looking for sequins,, I realized that store bought sequins were not only the wrong shade of red but they were metalic and not translucent like the real ones as well as not being the right sequin diameter.

I ordered several thousand custom made sequins (the minimum order) from China, They were the proper 3/16 diameter flat sequins with a rich translucent burgundy ruby color and all were loose sequins!!!!

I sewed each sequin by hand ( as they were on the originals) onto the shoe forms that I made from the lasts. It took me two years of working on it now and then. The heels and the soles were made out of polyester resin and covered with leather (on the sole) and sequins (on the heel). The bows were all hand sewn on a hand colored cloth and the center emerald cut jewels were custom made and cut by a jeweler.

The final touches were made with the help of my dear friend Roberta Bauman who lives close to me , I aged the shoes a bit with an airbrush and some sequin ruffling and there they were!!!!

So after two years of painstaking work,, I have a pair of Ruby Slippers, that not only remind me of the wonderful sentiment, but also in making them has given me a greater appreciation of the artistry of costuming in the motion picture industry.

Sincerely,

Shannon -