I’ve formed the bike shoe test upper over the last – I need to make a few minor tweaks to the pattern, but I like the way it looks so far:
To provide additional stiffness and protection to the external stiffeners, I applied a few coats of shellac. This is a bit of an experiment – shellac is popular with some vintage bicycle enthusiasts for treating handlebar wrap, and I though it would be a nice addition on this shoe- as it is based on vintage styles. It gives it a nice shine and didn’t darken the leather a much as I feared- just a nice warm tone that goes very nicely with the orange leather: 
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This is one of the test shoes on the new flat last I’m testing – just a basic slip on with contrast topline binding:
I’m still working on getting the binding consistent, but it is coming along nicely. I’m going to tweak this pattern a bit, plus I have two styles lined up for patterning tomorrow.
