Wednesday, July 22, 2009

If the Shoe Fits . . .

Theme Thursday and I could have walked a mile with a gazillion things on this week's theme of

'Shoe'.


There is always something special about buying your baby's first pair of shoes. It's one of those rights of passage when they actually need some support for those stumpy little toes. I still have my first shoes. For some reason my mother decided they were worth keeping. A little pair of white Clarks leather baby shoes with a buckle on the side and tiny perforated flowers along the front as decoration. They're worn and powdery with too much chalky white polishing (they never did get white polish right) and they're hidden in the Red Case on the top of my wardrobe for posterity or Narnians or the things that go 'boo' to find, whoever is brave enough to delve there first.

So taken was I, with my own ankle biter's little pitter-patter of tiny feet, that I've preserved their first shoes, well not quite their first but Clare's first satin ballet shoes and Adam's first pair of soccer boots, by having them bronzed. At great expense I might add but they did look rather cute on their shelves until they became as passe as My Little Pony and Duplo. Unfortunately, the ballet shoes are no longer on display and whilst they are safely tucked it was too big a project to retrieve them for a blog post. Rooms have changed as have tastes and little Queen Anne bedheads and nick-nack shelves have been replaced with a slick and colourful double bed and modern wall unit adorned with little else than hats, scarves and jewellery and, oddly enough shoes! The 'boy's' room now has a modern black cube unit, adorned with a Playstation and flat screen TV and another persistently unmade double bed. His little Puma soccer boots however were handy enough and once divested of the thick pall of dust that seems to congregate on his shelf unit, reasonable enough to photograph.

You can go "Awww" now . . he's a size 11
Were his feet ever that small?


My sister was quite impressed with the bronzing and so I offered to do the same to my little nephew's first shoes as a Christening present. What a lovely gesture on my part. Because I wouldn't normally have spent that much but hey, he's special. He's little when the other nephews have all left home. He's sweet and fragile and I rarely see him these days so . . bronzing was just never going to be too good for this little poppet's teensy footwear. . .except . . . .

He's now 10 years old! This theme Thursday finally prompted me to grab these little blue sandals which I've had safely tucked in the wardrobe for a decade . . . in order for them to be bronzed!


I'm such a procrastinator . . .well, you know what they say ". .if the shoe fits!"

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

AWWWWW! Never did understand the reasoning for the bronzing, other than for preservation. I mean, where did it all start? And size 11? You won't believe my post when it goes up( early, HA! ).

Nice of you to offer up this as a gift for your nephew, as well :)

Brian Miller said...

ha. good for you! cool wat to capture those menories. have seen shoes like that but never bronzed anything ourselves, you gave me a scare this morning...thinking i had my days screwed up. smiles. hope you have a good one.

Baino said...

I know weird init. Sorry Subby . .I give you curry when you post early. I should have scheduled it. Just me being organised, it's actually Wednesday night but I'm pressed for time tomorrow. Yey well haven't actually DONE it yet but I will. He won't be impressed, he'd rather have a transformer.

Sorry Bri, very unusual for me to be first off the block (Holly beat us all and posted yesterday biatch)

nick said...

Those bronzed boots look rather wonderful. I don't think I have anything left from my childhood except a few photos (and a few dental fillings, ha ha). I wonder what's the strangest childhood momento that anyone's kept?

i beati said...

I so wished I had bronzed Cades I must be daft..sk

Leah said...

What a nice idea! I haven't been able to part with Hedgie's baby shoes...not any of them. Perhaps I should have a pair bronzed and forgo the multitude of tinies...

Christopher said...

At least you're just bronzing the shoes. I've heard of people bronzing (or at least preserving) other things, such as the umbilical cord...

On the theme of shoes, though, remember never to criticize someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way you're a mile away when you start criticizing him, and, hey, you've got new shoes!

laughingwolf said...

i could never see any reason for it, so could not be bothered with my three...

but hey, 'if the foo shits'... as my sis useta say ;) lol

Tom said...

We've saved a few things, like Christening outfits and such, but little shoes never made much sense to save...i'm with Subby, what's up with that? As for posting early i do, and others also, the night before...it's hard to get up at 4 a.m. to do it!

Candie said...

This is a real cool post Baino and nice memories through that little pair of shoes.I have kept my son's first shoes,well for now..he's only 20 months old,lol,so with years who knows where they might end up!My son is growing up too fast!Got to go before I'll go too emotional,bloody french people!lol :)

Mike said...

Hmmm, I wonder if bronzing would work better than Viagra? LOL! 10 years! You really do put stuff off! HAHA!

Anonymous said...

Baino, HA! I knew it-LOL! And hey, I like curry! No worries!***GRIN***


@Tom, I work 3rd shift so I just post ere I leave( I don't trust the auto-pub thingy ). I figure it's already Thursday when Baino reads these, right? Right?

@otin-LMAO!

Cinema Minima said...

A can of spray paint might be cheaper, though it may not preserve them properly, but you could 'silver' them, or gild them.

My Mum's had my sister's baby booties bronzed and hangs them on the Christmas tree.

California Girl said...

I like the reminisces, especially the reference to your "ankle biters".

Ronda Laveen said...

Who knew blogging would be the catalyst to get those sandals bronzed? I hope you post a pic when the are finished. I've never seen sandals done. I am sure they will be adoreable.

River said...

I always meant to get my kids first shoes bronzed, but never got the chance. I don't even have them anymore. They were given away along with a bunch of other outgrown clothes to the kids who'd lost a lot of stuff in the Brisbane floods one year. Some time in the 70's.
I worked for Clarks shoes, but not in the children's section.

Kate said...

Fascinating - I have never heard of bronzing anything - let alone shoes... I still have my sons satin Christening pods - they are over 30 years old now and really look it too - maybe I should have found a way of preserving them!!

Harnett-Hargrove said...

"Awww". It's a great tradition. -Jayne

xxx said...

Brilliant!
it kinda made me feel a little sad too...
where does the time go?
I now wish I had kept my little man's first shoes :(


Love your stuff Baino..

best wishes
Ribbon

Alan Burnett said...

Smashing post. Tremendous idea getting the shoes bronzed. I did manage to get my son's head bronzed a few years back - my brother is a sculptor - but luckily it was done without dipping him in moulten metal.

Tess Kincaid said...

"Awwwwwww" is definitely in order. Their sweet little feet don't stay that way long. I always kissed them while I could!

Betsy Brock said...

I'm with you on the amazement of our kid's big feet when they're grown! I have a size 12, 11 and two 10.5's!
And I think they are all still growing! I also have kept all of their first shoes...those tiny, sweet little pairs!

Kate Hanley said...

I never thought of bronzing shoes but now I wish I had. Great post, it's sending me back to when my kids' feet were small. No longer, my 10 year old can almost wear my shoes.

Unknown said...

Atre these metal shoes?

Debo Hobo said...

Well...awe they are cute...they grow so fast don't they.

Did you really bronze them or paint them?

kj said...

i cannot believe your are going to bronze these shoes, baino!! will you forgive me for thinking 'yuk'?

i imagine pristine little neat barely used shoes when i think of bronzing shoes, if ever i do, so you've tossed my imagination somewhere else altogether!

xoxo

Baino said...

Oh Nick that's a little sad. I don't have a lot but we have a 'family' Christening Dress and I've maintained a little 'time capsule' for the kids when they finally move out!

Ouch! Now I know that Cade is your son!

You have all of them Leah? You must have a much bigger wardrobe than mine!

Haha. I've heard that one Chris, umbilical chords? Eeeeuuwww.

Oh Wuff that's not very sentimental!

Tom I've been in a rush this week and completely forgot about scheduling it.

Trust me Candie, you'll look back in 10 years and wonder where the time went!

Crossing my legs now Otin!

Nah, paint wouldn't preserve them TMATP . .they're very heavy so you'd need a bit Xmas tree!

Hmm another one of those Australianisms sneaking in there Cali

Ronda now you've put the pressure on! I'll have to do it soon!

River I'm normally a tosser but kept the shoes for some reason.

Yep Kate they do bronzing, gold plating or a silvery job, not sure what metal they use.

Yeh kinda cute Jayne

Thanks Ribbon. Yep I know. These days he's wearing man shoes and banging the bjeeezus out of drums at night clubs!

Lucky indeed Alan . .how nice to hav someone so creative in your family!

Haha . .yep Willow, had a bit of a baby foot fetish myslelf!

Betsy I don't think they stop till they're about 25!

Kate, the boys seem to absolutely explode as they grow!

Ropi they are now but they were a pair of Leather Puma soccer boots, dipped in real bronze but they're very rigid.

Debi, they're bronzed. I'm not sure how they do it, just prepare them and dip them and polish them up.

Sorry kj, I love the idea that they're all worn and scrunchy. It humanises them. Sort of the Pompei factor!

Sorry folks, it's been a massive week but it's Friday morning, one more day of work and I'll catch up with all the blogs tonight and tomorrow!

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I wonder where our baby shoes are? I have five pairs somewhere.

Pick a Peck of Pixels

Kath Lockett said...

I've got Sapphire's first two pairs of shoes - still unbronzed but kept in a box next to the tiny plastic wristband from the hospital - it fits on my middle finger!

The Silver Fox said...

He's doing what?!?!

Oh. "Drums."

lettuce said...

:-)

so sweet
I'm glad I kept LG's first shoes just as they are - but the bronzed shoes are pretty gorgeous

tony said...

I,d Love To Wear Bronzed sandals.......But ,I Guess,I Would Have To Wear Bronzed Socks to Match?