I Heart Mukluks!

Several years ago, while attending Argyle Alternative I met a wonderful woman, Gloria. At the time she was working as a daycare provider in the school, looking after my daughter Ashley while I finished high school. Argyle has a strong focus on Aboriginal culture, however I found Gloria to be the most influencing. Besides her work at the daycare (which she as since left) she also is highly involved in rejuvenating the true essence of Aboriginal culture amongst the youth in our city. She teaches various classes, including how to make mukluks, I was fortunate enough to get private instruction, and made a beautiful pair of moose hide, fox fur and sheep skin mukluks!

This picture isn't the greatest at showcasing how beautiful the boots actually were but it's the only one I really have (plus I look kinda good here). The hide I bought from the Winnipeg Trading Post in the North End, and the fox fur was recycled from a coat I found at Value Village. For those of you who don't know Value Village is a large chain of thrift stores in Canada. Unfortunately last year my giant dog, Oslo the Great Pyrenees, ripped the fur to shreds. Definitely unable to buy new fox fur. I opted to cut up the rest of the coat, which was muskrat fur and recover the boots with that. They are not at all as beautiful as they once were, but they look alright and I am kind of impressed with my resourcefulness on this project. I will be making more as soon as I have the money to buy hide, and I will be keeping a look out for cheap second hand fur coats!