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Pointe shoe 'wings'


Gargouillade

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Hi there, I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable members of this forum have any advice on how I can prolong the life of the 'wings' of my pointe shoes. I have really compressible feet and a hereditary bunion on my left foot, so the moment the 'wings' of the shoe break down, I start to sink into the box of the shoe and onto the bunion, which aggravates it tremendously. The 'wings' of the shoe I am wearing break down really easily and I am looking for an alternative model but any advice on how to prolong their lifespan would be appreciated! I have tried shellac but it does not help much. Thank you!

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Hello Dancedancedance, my DD has highly compressible feet but not any bunions as yet. She does however prefer pointe shoes with wings as they give her more stability. As she has long toes and a big gap between her first and second toe she wears a silicone toe spacer to improve the alignment of her first toe. Perhaps this would help to reduce the stress of your bunion on the winged part of the shoe? Also DD has found the box liners by Gaynor Minden very useful to fine tune the fit of her pointe shoes and prevent her sinking, they can be used with any brand of pointe shoe. The link to the free PDF guide is https://dancedesire.com.au/files/pdf/GMFitting.pdf

There is also a book (available as an e-book) on modifying pointe shoes which we have found very useful. Angela Reinhardts book Pointe Shoes Tips & Tricks, DD has it so I can't check to see if there is anything about bunions.

Edited by Lucinda
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Using Jet Glue (or Daniel's Pointe Shoe Glue, same thing) down the wings and sides of the box helps to extend the life of the wings of my dd's Freeds a little bit. She too wears toe spacers as she has a bunion on one foot and they do really help.

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Many thanks to everyone for the advice!

 

Shellac didn't work too well for me but I will try jet glue as Anna C recommends. I am wearing toe spacers as well but they don't seem to be helping my bunion... if I were to align my big toe properly with the joint - which I have done with physio tape before - the gap is about an inch! Have purchased the extra large spacers from Bunheads in the hopes that it will work better.

 

I have used the Gaynor Minden box liners to help fill in space when the box has become stretched out from use - maybe some day they'll make some long enough to help with the wings of the shoe!

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I've got similar compressible feet & the box liners helped, & also a big tip on my big toe to take the pressure off. I found that the box liners seem to be made from almost the same materials as craft foam - if you get a sheet of the thin enough kind maybe you could create something to extend up the wings? I found shellac not great for wings either but superglue better (actual jet glue probably works even better!)

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