Continuing the theme about our winter boots...

Continuing the theme about our winter boots I want to tell you about what it is made of. I asked my grandmother to know more about it. And she told me that unty are made of camus (skin from deer's leg; yakut taba tyha). You need on an average from 10 to 12 camus to make one pair of unty, depending on the size. Our ancestors made unty by hand. This difficult work took about two weeks. First they streched and nailed camus to the wall till it was dry and harden. This process lasted about one week. Then  the main work started, which was continued from early morning till late at night for 6-7 days. First of all camus were fully and carefully handled from unnecessary sinews. Someone did it by special tool, someone used a knife and some did it by hand. Then people used fat or water to spread camus till it got softer. After that they cut camus in shape of legs with special sharp knife. You need special thread of dried cow sinews and special needle for fur to sew unty. And then all parts of camus were sewed together. After the main form was finished, work with linings started that were made of sheet wadding or cotton, trimmed with material on both sides. Then linings were sewed on the inside of the camus. The sole for unty was made of strong material - voilok or old felt boots (valenki). The sole was sewed to prepared camus and unty was ready. Now unty are made by master in special workshops. They can be different colors, different sizes and with different yakut ornaments, and female unty can also be embroidered with beads for the beauty.