i am currently a senior at the ohio state university and i am about to begin my senior thesis which is focused around environmental shoe design…i am a little worried about the modeling proccess for my shoe though…does anyone know of any good sites or information that might help explain the process of making a shoe, somewhere that i could outsource a custom shoe, and / or anything about this issue…i know the basics, and have dissected a few shoes to get the general idea, but i would still love to know what other people have done in this situation or any ideas that are available…thanks so much for any help you can give
look here, the link in this thread is bang up to date
If you go to shoeinfont.com, theres a list of schools there - you should be able to book a one or two day shoemaking course, to learn the basics.
THanks, ok…bit of a typo there 
thanks guys…i dont know if i have enough time to enroll in a shoemaking course, but the suggestion is appreciated…im really hoping that someone who has done a similar project is out there and willing to help…if anyone has ever modeled a shoe, what worked and what was frustrating…was there any good methods outside of actual construction…anything…thanks again though for the links though 
i don’t understand what you mean by “modeling a shoe”, sounds like you’re thinking of making it out of clay…? or are you thinking of litterally making a real shoe?
if it’s a real shoe then the whole production process is not so easy to explain in a few words. you have to understand that there are many ways of making shoes depending on the results / look / type of shoe you want. just look at this:
http://www.podiatry.curtin.edu.au/shoo.html#style
those are some of the ways of lasting a shoe, but there are so many other ways.
give us more information about what you are actually planning on doing and maybe we can help you more.
if you just want to mock it up visually for photos, I would sculpt it out of foam.
hey everyone thanks for the advice…what im trying to do is create a realistic enough shoe that on the day of my senior show i can place it on display… most likely i will be taking yo’s advice and sculpting it from yellow foam…i just didnt know if there were any tricks like using real laces…covering the foam with materials…making the sole and midsole out of foam and using fabric for the rest…i i figured some ppl in this forum might have gone through a similar problem, and i was hoping to hear what they had done and maybe see some of their results…if there is still anyone out there like that please let me know …thanks.
When I was at school I managed to make shoes - I read some books on how they were made and tried to copy the instructions - I made ‘lasts’ out of clay and the outsole out of old car tires that I cut up. I went to a place that sells foam and vinyl sheeting for industrial use in London and used that for my upper materials. It depends what you are trying to acheive, really.