Edwardian Shoe Blacking

Hello darlings!

I made a post in 2023 (has it really been that long??) on how to polish shoes the Edwardian way. I promised in that post that I would try making my own shoe polish one day and here I am- only two years later!

This post is part of a two-part series. Next month, I'll be detailing how to use this shoe polish (or blacking) the proper Edwardian way.

I wrote this blog post as a supplement to my YouTube video; I don't script my videos so sometimes I miss out on things or want to go into further detail without making the video too long. If you like the videos I've been doing at the moment please give it a like- it helps me know I'm on the right track!

The Recipes

For the shoe blacking recipe, I'm referencing a book called 'How to Make and How to Mend' from 1900. The shoe blacking recipe can be found between waterproof leather blacking and stove blacking. This book is so helpful and has so many vintage recipes, one day I'll go through it and mark out all the recipes I want to try!

There are four different recipes for shoe blacking. I'm going to do recipe 1 and recipe 4. The first includes lampblack which should make a good polish for black shoes, and the last is clear so it should make a good polish for any colour shoe. The 2nd recipe includes hydrochloric and sulfuric acid which I don't want to use, and the 3rd recipe also uses lampblack.

The recipe uses ounces and drams, I've converted everything to grams for ease.

Recipe 1

Ingredients:

• 113g mutton suet

• 28g beeswax

• 28g sweet oil (olive oil or vegetable oil)

• 1.8g sugar candy

• 1.8g gum arabic

• 14g turpentine- not being used in this tutorial

• Lampblack ‘to suit’

Materials:

• Saucepan

• Metal or glass bowl

• Scales

• Tin(s) for putting shoe polish in. This recipe makes roughly 90ml of polish.

Tips:

Mutton suet can be found in butchers shops, either online or physical. I'm using mutton tallow in this recipe, which I found on eBay.

Beeswax pellets can be found in candle making shops.

Sugar candy is often used in Indian desserts, so it can be found in the international food aisle or foreign food shops. You can also make your own by following this tutorial. You can also just use plain sugar.

Gum arabic and lampblack can be found in paint supply shops.

Don't use kitchen supplies that you plan on using for food later. If possible, have a bowl that you won't use for food prep, and a old sponge for cleaning up afterwards.

Tutorial

1. Set up a bain-marie.

Start heating the water so it's boiling by the time you've measured everything.

2. Measure and add ingredients.

In the video I add things in the order that they're listed on the page, but if you're using the same measuring device for all the ingredients (as I did), then I think this is a far more sensible order:

• 1.8g (2g if you're scale isn't that sensitive) sugar candy

• 28g beeswax

• 113g mutton suet

• 28g sweet oil (olive oil or vegetable oil)

• 1.8g (2g if you're scale isn't that sensitive) gum arabic

Wait for all of the ingredients to melt down, stirring occasionally to ensure they're properly combined. The sugar candy and beeswax may take longer than you expect.

3. Add lampblack 'to suit'.

I used two teaspoons, but I think even one would be enough when properly stirred through.

4. Transfer to tin(s).

This recipe makes roughly 90ml of shoe polish so find or purchase a tin, or multiple tins, for decanting the finished polish into.

Top tip: When I did this, I found that all of the lampblack sunk into the bottom as I poured it. To stop this from happening, stir the solution as you pour it into the tin so the lampblack is evenly distributed.

If there's any leftover that can't fit into your tin, pour it into something disposable and throw it away. Don't pour it down your sink.

5. Clean up.

Do this IMMEDIATELY after finishing, while everything is still hot or it'll be a nightmare to clean.

Start by using paper towels to scrape the inside of the bowl to remove as much of the polish as possible. Once you've removed as much as possible, and the polish has probably hardened, boil a kettle for hot water. Pour it into your bowl, swill it around and pour it out to unstick any remaining polish and to start removing the grease. Once you've removed as much as possible, use an old sponge (or one that you don't mind throwing away afterwards) and use hot water and dish soap to clean the rest of the grease.

6. Enjoy!

Tune in to next month's post to find out how Edwardian's would have used this polish!

Recipe 2

(But really 4)

Ingredients:

• Tallow the size of a walnut

• 1 tablespoon hot flour paste

• 113g moist sugar

• 946ml warm water

• A little gum arabic

Materials:

• Saucepan

• Metal or glass bowl

• Scales

(The same materials as the previous one.)

• Measuring jug

• Jar for storing shoe blacking

Tutorial

Spoilers- this recipe does not work in the way I expected it to! Because of the amount of water, it's not a shoe polish that we're familiar with, something that can be set and stored in a tin. From a cursory google, I'm guessing that this recipe is for 'shoe blacking oil'- something watery and runny that is rubbed into shoes (and also stoves and doorframes).

I was not aware of this at the time of filming the video so I thought it a failure and didn't keep any to try- I regret that now, it would have been interesting to see the results compared to a hard, set polish that I'm familiar with. Maybe I'll try the recipe again in the future and test it.

1. Make hot flour paste

   
   

Follow this tutorial to make hot flour paste. Set aside to cool.

2. Set up a bain-marie.

3. Add tallow 'the size of a walnut'.

4. Add 1tbs hot flour paste.

Ensure your hot flour paste has cooled, otherwise don't add it until the very end.

5. Add 113g moist sugar.

   
   

To avoid wasting sugar, measure out 100g, then add a dash of water and stir it through. Measure the mixture again and if it needs to weigh more, add more sugar. You need surprisingly little water to make it all moist.

6. Add 946ml warm water and a splash of gum arabic.

   
   

This is a lot of water!

7. Pour into a jar and leave to cool before screwing on the lid.

As you can tell by now, I didn't know at the time that this was blacking oil and so I haven't planned to make any tutorial on how to use it. If you yourself know how, or find a resource which describes how to use liquid shoe blacking please let me know in the comments!

I hope you enjoyed my shoe blacking adventure! Let me know if there are any other historical tutorials you would like to see in the future.

Until next time,

Aisha x