If The Shoe Fits~~~~

I just love vintage shoe molds! Many of you who follow my blog, know, my great grandfather designed shoes in Italy. When he came to this country with his large family, his wife, 4 girls and 2 boys, he carried many shoe molds to continue his work to support his crew. I am blessed to own several that my grandmother gave to me and I cherish them always for they represent the hard work and care my great grandfather sacrificed to support the ones he loved.

  Some of the molds he worked with are displayed in my home in their original form. I love seeing the knicks and dents, scratches and wear from years of use. I would never paint these from great grandpa, but I have painted and designed many. Small molds for Christmas tree ornaments and larger styles for desk accents holding pens and business cards. Even bookends work well with these old treasures. Today I am linking to The What-Not Party from Etsy Cottage Style. As you might also know, every Monday from Etsy Cottage Style we have a unique weekly party. Since this month has an extra Monday, this unusual topic is the feature.

As it was explained, A what-not is a piece of furniture derived from the French étagère, which was exceedingly popular in England in the first three-quarters of the 19th century. It usually consists of slender uprights or pillars, supporting a series of shelves for holding china, ornaments, trifles, or what not, hence the allusive name. In its English form, although a convenient piece of drawing room furniture, it was rarely beautiful. The early mahogany examples are, however, sometimes graceful in their simplicity. So, this party will showcase What-Nots, be it a piece of furniture with a collection in it or just the collection itself. Thus, my What-Not is my collection of shoe molds that I display on a very high staircase ledge going to my second floor.

Recently my dear friend Ann, from Ann's Finds, and I, were talking about the molds while shopping in one of our favorite antique markets, when we saw a "high heel" shoe mold sitting on the checkout desk for customers to use the pen and take a card. They are most unusual and hard to find today, but the one we saw was designed into a desk holder for pen and business cards. Of course we just loved it and I said how much I would love to find the high heel shoe mold sometime to create something special for a desk accessory.

Anyway, long story short, Ann was at an estate sale and found not one, but two molds shaped in the high heel style. She got them both and brought them to me to style. Now the one we saw in the antique market, had a high heel glued on from a vintage high heel. So I began to shop the local thrift stores in search of a skinny high heel pair of shoes to design the two molds Ann found. I did come across a size 7 triple A slinky shoe with lots of bling and straps in black. I checked out the heel and could see this one could be taken apart to use and also I thought the bling from the shoe would be an extra bonus.

Did you notice the shape of the mold? Very rare and hard to find these today. Molds like this can never stand on their own without a heel or pedestal. This pic is the shoe I found. Perfectly chic!!

Now this is the best part. I brought the slinky shoes home and they fit the molds perfectly. I'm not kidding, I couldn't believe it. It was like the molds could have been used to design these shoes. So I did not have to remove the heel, but could use the whole shoe as is and embellish it for the desk accessory we both wanted.

This first one, I created for my desk using some extra gemstones, feathers and added my pen and business cards.

The next pictures are the mold for Ann with more bling, black feathers, leopard print ribbon, gemstone pen and blingy buttons.

This was so much fun and really looks great on the desk. My great grandpa would love it. I think, he may be the reason I love shoes so much. It's in the genes. LOL The following pics are a few more I've created and sold in my shoppe.

Thank you for stopping by to visit my What-Not post for Etsy Cottage Style. I hope you enjoy this last day of April before we start the beautiful month of May. See you soon. Hugs, Celestina Marie