Mud Boot Making, how is it done?I often get asked how mud boot making is done. I think some people would like to have a go at decorating their own. I understand this perfectly! Unfortunately, although you can paint up your old wellies with oil paint, there's no paint on the market that will give you the desired result: something that sticks when it rains! Not only that, the paint needs to stay on when the rubber bends and moves as you wear the boots. Another point I need to make before going any further: I have never put a lot of information up about how we decorate our boots because of others wanting to copy our process. We have recently obtained copyright to the process we have developed. I don't want to boast, but it was yours truly, who, together with some help, developed a process for hand painting rubber boots. When we finally got it right, it was a WORLD first!
Our mud boots start as flat pieces of rubber. The rubber goes through a process to make it white first, then the shapes are cut out according to the size. The paints take several days to prepare and take some skill to work with. The painter needs to know exactly where to place the motif, so that when the rain boots are 3-D objects, the motif sits in the right spot. Also, as we sell the boots in pairs, as you do!, we need to have a left and right that match together.
The rubber is stacked in a special way to let the paint dry. Once the paint is dry, the mud boot making process begins. For this, steel moulds are used to shape the boot. The mould is clad in cotton lining first, then the rubber goes on.
This is done at a long table. The soles and tops get put together.
The boots are assembled, ready for their trip to the big 'oven', where they'll be cooked to perfection!
After they come back from 'cooking' the boots are ready to be trimmed and quality checked.
The pairs are put together.
The product is packed in bags.
The boxes are packed, 12 pairs per box. The Boots and Kloggies are now ready to start the next part of their journey. THey are shipped all over the world, ofcourse also to Australia where they'll be in our warehouse until someone orders them!
Once our customers receive their Boots or Kloggies, they get put to good use. Return from Mud Boot Making to the Homepage
|
