Clinton News-Record, 1984-05-09, Page 51Page 26
The story behind the "Klompen"
Mr. John Kraus will once agahf display
his handmade Dutch wooden shoes at
this year's Klompen Feest. The craft-
sman travels all the way from Breslau,
near Kitchener, just for the event.
"Klompen" is the Dutch word for
wooden shoe, and it is derived from the
sound they make. The traditional use of
wooden shoes in Holland is now confin-
ed to the countryside, usually for use on
wet or muddy grounds.
Handmade shoes have become a
skilled craft that takes a long time to
learn. Only a few individuals take part
in making shoes this way. These shoes
are sold directly from the workshop
where they are made. Most of the
business is done in the factories.
Many make the shoes by machine.
These shoes are sold to stores in bulk
and to other countries. One who buys
handmade shoes may pay more for
them, but they last longer and are more
comfortable, to walk in. Often they are
made to fit on an individual basis. If, for
example, a person bought a pair and
found the heel or inner parts to be tight,
a return visit to the craftsmen would
soon solve the problem. Factory -made
shoes are made from a mold and are
processed in bulk. .
The making of the wooden shoe, for
the most part, follows the same pro-
cedure, whether factory or handmade,
except the factories use a mold. A tree
is kept wet until ready to be used. It. is
then cut into a square about the size of
the required finished shoe. It is split in
certain places outside the shoe. The
piece of wood is then put into blocks and
the inside is completely hollowed out
and shaped using several different
steel, spoonshaped scoops. The: outside
of the shoe is sanded when the shoe has
dried,out thoroughly.
There is very little waste from the
original piece of wood. The procedure,
if done by hand, is hard work but the
shoe is "personally made." A skilled
shoemaker might be able to cut out the
inside of 10 pairs of shoes in a day, while
a factory machine is capable of produc-
ing many adore in the same time.
The most common style (even today)
is the round top. In place of round top
portion, some shoes had leather strips
on top. This style was called "leertje
'clomp,' a leather strip wooden shoe.
During the , war a wooden bottom,
leather topped shoe was popular. The
only other variation to the basic style
first mentioned was made for use m
_ turf (peat). Tills style was made with
leather or rubber tacked onto the wood
to make a boot.
Designs and colors of wooden shoes
Turn to page 2 7
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